I think it was in my second grade that I was caught drawing the bust of a nude by Michelangelo. I was sent straight away to my school principal, and my school principal, a sweet nun, looked at my book with disgust, flipped through the pages, saw all the nudes -- you know, I'd been seeing my mother draw nudes and I'd copy her -- and the nun slapped me on my face and said, "Sweet Jesus, this kid has already begun."
Mislim da su me u drugom razredu uhvatili kako crtam nagu bistu, od Mikelanđela. Smesta su me poslali kod direktorke škole, a ona, simpatična časna sestra, pogledala je moju knjigu za gađenjem, prelistala stranice, videla aktove - znate, viđao sam mamu kako crta aktove i kopirao sam je - i časna sestra me je ošamarila i rekla, "Isuse, ovo dete je već počelo."
I had no clue what she was talking about, but it was convincing enough for me never to draw again until the ninth grade. Thanks to a really boring lecture, I started caricaturing my teachers in school. And, you know, I got a lot of popularity. I don't play sports. I'm really bad at sports. I don't have the fanciest gadgets at home. I'm not on top of the class. So for me, cartooning gave me a sense of identity. I got popular, but I was scared I'd get caught again. So what I did was I quickly put together a collage of all the teachers I had drawn, glorified my school principal, put him right on top, and gifted it to him. He had a good laugh at the other teachers and put it up on the notice board. (Laughter) This is a part of that. And I became a school hero. All my seniors knew me. I felt really special.
Nisam imao pojma o čemu je pričala, ali to je bilo dovoljno ubedljivo da nisam više crtao do devetog razreda, zahvaljujući jednom stvarno dosadnom času. Počeo sam da crtam karikature svojih učitelja u školi. Postao sam veoma popularan. Ne bavim se sportom. Jako sam loš u sportovima. Nemam najnovije sprave kod kuće. Nisam najbolji u razredu. Meni je crtanje dalo neki osećaj identiteta. Postao sam popularan, ali sam se bojao da će me opet uhvatiti. Tako sam na brzinu sastavio kolaž svih nastavnika koje sam nacrtao, veličao sam direktora škole i stavio ga na sam vrh, i to mu poklonio. Dobro se nasmejao ostalim nastavnicima i postavio kolaž na tablu obaveštenja. (smeh) Ovo je deo toga. A ja sam postao školski heroj. Svi stariji su me znali. Osećao sam se zaista posebno.
I have to tell you a little bit about my family. That's my mother. I love her to bits. She's the one who taught me how to draw and, more importantly, how to love. She's a bit of a hippie. She said, "Don't say that," but I'm saying it anyway. The rest of my family are boring academics, busy collecting Ivy League decals for our classic Ambassador car. My father's a little different. My father believed in a holistic approach to living, and, you know, every time he taught us, he'd say, "I hate these books, because these books are hijacked by Industrial Revolution."
Moram vam reći malo o svojoj porodici. To je moja majka. Mnogo je volim. Ona me je naučila kako da crtam i što je još važnije, kako da volim. Ona je pomalo hipi. Rekla je, "Nemoj to da kažeš", ali evo ja to govorim. Ostali iz porodice su dosadni akademici, zauzeti sakupljanjem nalepnica "Ajvi Lige" (Ivy League) za naš starinski Ambasador auto. Moj otac je malo drugačiji. Moj otac je verovao u holistički pristup životu, i svaki put kada bi nas učio rekao bi, "Mrzim ove knjige jer ove knjige je otela industrijska revolucija."
While he still held that worldview, I was 16, I got the best lawyer in town, my older brother Karthik, and I sat him down, and I said, "Pa, from today onwards I've decided I'm going to be disciplined, I'm going to be curious, I'm going to learn something new every day, I'm going to be very hard working, and I'm not going to depend on you emotionally or financially." And he was very impressed. He was all tearing up. Ready to hug me. And I said, "Hold that thought." I said, "Can I quit school then?"
Dok je još imao taj pogled na svet, ja sam imao 16 godina, uzeo sam najboljeg advokata u gradu mog starijeg brata Kartika, seo sam s njim i rekao "Tata, odlučio sam da ću od danas biti disciplinovan, radoznao, naučiću nešto novo svakog dana, naporno ću da radim i neću zavisiti od tebe, emocionalno ili finansijski." Bio je veoma impresioniran. Zaplakao je. Spreman da me zagrli. A ja sam rekao, "Zapamti tu misao." Pitao sam, "Je l' mogu da napustim školu?"
But, to cut a long story short, I quit school to pursue a career as a cartoonist. I must have done about 30,000 caricatures. I would do birthday parties, weddings, divorces, anything for anyone who wanted to use my services. But, most importantly, while I was traveling, I taught children cartooning, and in exchange, I learned how to be spontaneous. And mad and crazy and fun. When I started teaching them, I said let me start doing this professionally. When I was 18 I started my own school. However, an 18 year-old trying to start a school is not easy unless you have a big patron or a big supporter.
Ali, da skratim priču, napustio sam školu da bih gradio karijeru crtača. Mora da sam nacrtao oko 30.000 karikatura. Radio bih na rođendanima, venčanjima, razvodima, bilo šta za bilo koga ko je želeo moje usluge. Ali što je najvažnije, dok sam putovao, učio sam decu da crtaju i u zamenu sam učio da budem spontan, lud, blesav, zabavan. Kada sam počeo da ih učim, želeo sam da počnem profesionalno to da radim. Kada sam imao 18 godina otvorio sam svoju školu. Međutim, osamnaestogodišnjaku nije lako da otvori školu, osim ako ima velikog pokrovitelja ili nekoga ko ga podržava.
So I was flipping through the pages of the Times of India when I saw that the Prime Minister of India was visiting my home town, Bangalore. And, you know, just like how every cartoonist knows Bush here, and if you had to meet Bush, it would be the funnest thing because his face was a cartoonist's delight. I had to meet my Prime Minister. I went to the place where his helicopter was about to land. I saw layers of security. I caricatured my way through three layers by just impressing the guards, but I got stuck. I got stuck at the third. And what happened was, to my luck, I saw a nuclear scientist at whose party I had done cartoons. I ran up to him, and said, "Hello, sir. How do you do?" He said, "What are you doing here, Raghava?" I said, "I'm here to meet the Prime Minister." He said, "Oh, so am I." I hopped into his car, and off we went through the remaining layers of security. (Applause) Thank you. I sat him down, I caricatured him, and since then I've caricatured hundreds of celebrities.
I tako sam listao "Times of India", i video da premijer Indije dolazi u posetu mom gradu, Bangaloru. I znate, kao što svaki crtač ovde zna Buša, i da treba da ga upoznate bilo bi to smešno jer njegovo lice je poslastica za crtače. Morao sam da upoznam mog premijera. Otišao sam na mesto gde je trebalo da sleti njegov helikopter. Video sam redove obezbeđenja. Izkarikaturisao sam prolaz tri reda tako što sam ih impresionirao, ali zaglavio sam se. Kod trećeg. Na moju sreću, video sam jednog nuklearnog fizičara na čijoj zabavi sam crtao stripove. Otrčao sam do njega i rekao, "Dobar dan gospodine, kako ste?" On je rekao "Ragava, šta ti radiš ovde?" Rekoh, "Došao sam da upoznam premijera." Rekao je, "O, i ja sam." Uskočio sam u njegov auto i prošli smo kroz ostatak obezbeđenja. (aplauz) Hvala. Postavio sam ga, nacrtao sam njegovu karikaturu i od tada sam crtao stotine poznatih ličnosti.
This is one I remember fondly. Salman Rushdie was pissed-off I think because I altered the map of New York, if you notice. (Laughter) Anyway, the next slide I'm about to show you -- (Laughter) Should I just turn that off? The next slide I'm about to show you, is a little more serious. I was hesitant to include this in my presentation because this cartoon was published soon after 9/11. What was, for me, a very naive observation, turned out to be a disaster. That evening, I came home to hundreds of hate mails, hundreds of people telling me how they could have lived another day without seeing this. I was also asked to leave the organization, a cartoonists' organization in America, that for me was my lifeline. That's when I realized, you know, cartoons are really powerful, art comes with responsibility.
Ovog se rado sećam. Mislim da se Salman Rušdi naljutio jer, kao što vidite, promenio sam mapu Njujorka. (smeh) U svakom slučaju, sledeći slajd koji ću vam pokazati - (smeh) Da li da isključim ovo? Naredni slajd koji ću vam pokazati je malo ozbiljniji. Dvoumio sam se da li da stavim ovo u svoju prezentaciju jer je strip objavljen ubrzo posle 11. septembra. Ono što je za mene bilo naivno zapažanje, pretvorilo se u katastrofu. Te večeri kod kuće su me sačekale stotine mejlova mržnje. Stotine ljudi koji su mi govorili da su mogli da prođu kroz dan i da ne gledaju ovo. Zamolili su me da napustim organizaciju, organizaciju strip crtača u Americi, koja me je održavala u životu. Tada sam shvatio da su stripovi stvarno moćni. Umetnost nosi odgovornost.
Anyway, what I did was I decided that I need to take a break. I quit my job at the papers, I closed my school, and I wrapped up my pencils and my brushes and inks, and I decided to go traveling. When I went traveling, I remember, I met this fabulous old man, who I met when I was caricaturing, who turned out to be an artist, in Italy. He invited me to his studio. He said, "Come and visit." When I went, I saw the ghastliest thing ever. I saw this dead, naked effigy of himself hanging from the ceiling. I said, "Oh, my God. What is that?" And I asked him, and he said, "Oh, that thing? In the night, I die. In the morning, I am born again." I thought he was koo koo, but something about that really stuck. I loved it. I thought there was something really beautiful about that. So I said, "I am dead, so I need to be born again."
U svakom slučaju, odlučio sam da bi trebalo da napravim pauzu. Napustio sam posao u novinama, zatvorio školu, spakovao olovke i četkice i mastila i odlučio da putujem. Dok sam putovao, sećam se, upoznao sam jednog fantastičnog starca, dok sam crtao karikature, koji je ustvari bio umetnik u Italiji. Pozvao me je u svoj studio. Rekao je, "Dođi u posetu." Kada sam otišao, video sam najjeziviju stvar. Video sam njegovo mrtvo, golo obličje kako visi sa tavanice. Rekao sam, "O bože, šta je to?" Pitao sam ga, a on je rekao "O, to čudo? Noću umirem. Ujutru se ponovo rađam." Mislio sam da je skrenuo, ali nešto u vezi s tim mi je ostalo u pamćenju. Jako mi se svidelo. Mislio sam da je to stvarno divno. I rekao sam, "Ja sam mrtav i trebalo bi da se ponovo rodim."
So, I wanted to be a painter like him, except, I don't know how to paint. So, I tried going to the art store. You know, there are a hundred types of brushes. Forget it, they will confuse you even if you know how to draw. So I decided, I'm going to learn to paint by myself. I'm going to show you a very quick clip to show you how I painted and a little bit about my city, Bangalore. (Music) They had to be larger than life. Everything had to be larger. The next painting was even bigger. And even bigger. And for me it was, I had to dance while I painted. It was so exciting. Except, I even started painting dancers. Here for example is a Flamenco dancer, except there was one problem. I didn't know the dance form, so I started following them, and I made some money, sold my paintings and would rush off to France or Spain and work with them. That's Pepe Linares, the renowned Flamenco singer.
Poželeo sam da budem slikar kao on, samo što ja ne znam da slikam. Otišao sam u prodavnicu za umetnike. Znate, tamo ima na stotine vrsta četkica. Zaboravite, zbuniće vas čak iako znate da crtate. Tako sam odlučio da ću sam da naučim da slikam. Pokazaću vam vrlo kratak klip da vam pokažem kako sam slikao i malo o mom gradu, Bangaloru. (muzika) Morale su da budu izuzetne. Sve je moralo da bude veliko. Sledeća slika je čak i veća. I još veća. Za mene je bilo izuzetno, morao sam da plešem dok slikam. Bio sam tako uzbuđen. Čak sam i počeo da slikam plesače. Na primer, ovde je plesačica flamenka, ali postojao je problem. Nisam znao kako se pleše, pa sam počeo da ih pratim, malo sam zaradio, prodao slike i žurio u Francusku i Španiju da radim sa njima. Ovo je [nejasno] renomirani flamenko pevač.
But I had one problem, my paintings never danced. As much energy as I put into them while making them, they never danced. So I decided -- I had this crazy epiphany at two in the morning. I called my friends, painted on their bodies, and had them dance in front of a painting. And, all of a sudden, my paintings came alive. And then I was fortunate enough to actually perform this in California with Velocity Circus. And I sat like you guys there in the audience. And I saw my work come alive. You know, normally you work in isolation, and you show at a gallery, but here, the work was coming alive, and it had some other artists working with me.
Postojao je jedan problem, moje slike nisu plesale. Koliko god da sam uložio energije dok sam ih stvarao, one nisu plesale. Odlučio sam - imao sam ludo otkrovenje u 2 ujutru. Pozvao sam svoje prijatelje, slikao po njihovim telima i rekao im da igraju ispred slike. I odjednom, moje slike su oživele. I onda sam imao sreće da izvedem ovo u Kaliforniji sa "Velocity Circus". Sedeo sam kao vi, u publici. I video sam kako moj rad oživljava. Znate, obično radite u izolaciji i predstavljate radove u galeriji, ali ovde, rad je oživljavao i neki drugi umetnici su radili sa mnom.
The collaborative effort was fabulous. I said, I'm going to collaborate with anybody and everybody I meet. I started doing fashion. This is a fashion show we held in London. The best collaboration, of course, is with children. They are ruthless, they are honest, but they're full of energy and fun. This is a work, a library I designed for the Robin Hood Foundation. And I must say, I spent time in the Bronx working with these kids. And, in exchange for me working with them, they taught me how to be cool. I don't think I've succeeded, but they've taught me. They said, "Stop saying sorry. Say, my bad." (Laughter)
Plod saradnje je bio fantastičan. Rekao sam da ću sarađivati sa bilo kim i svakim koga upoznam. Počeo sam da se bavim modom. Ovo je revija koju smo održali u Londonu. Najbolja saradnja je, naravno sa decom. Ona su surova, iskrena, ali puna energije i zabavna. Ovo je jedna biblioteka koju sam uradio za Robin Hud Fondaciju. Proveo sam neko vreme u Bronksu, radeći sa ovom decom. U zamenu za rad s njima, oni su me naučili da budem kul. Mislim da nisam uspeo, ali naučili su me. Rekli su, "Prekini da govoriš žao mi je. Reci moja greška." (smeh)
Then I said, all this is good, but I want to paint like a real painter. American education is so expensive. I was in India, and I was walking down the streets, and I saw a billboard painter. And these guys paint humongous paintings, and they look really good. And I wondered how they did it from so close. So, one day I had the opportunity to meet one of these guys, and I said, "How do you paint like that? Who taught you?" And he said, "Oh, it's very easy. I can teach you, but we're leaving the city, because billboard painters are a dying, extinct bunch of artists, because digital printing has totally replaced them and hijacked them." I said, in exchange for education in how to paint, I will support them, and I started a company. And since then, I've been painting all over the place. This is a painting I did of my wife in my apartment. This is another painting. And, in fact, I started painting on anything, and started sending them around town.
Onda sam mislio, sve ovo je dobro, ali želim da slikam kao pravi slikar. Američko obrazovanje je jako skupo. Bio sam u Indiji, šetao ulicama i video sam slikara bilborda. Ovi momci slikaju ogromne slike, koje izgledaju stvarno dobro. Pitao sam se kako uspevaju iz takve blizine. Jednog dana sam imao priliku da upoznam jednog od njih i pitao sam ga "Kako slikate na taj način? Ko vas je učio?" On je rekao, "O, lako je. Naučiću te, ali mi odlazimo iz grada jer slikari bilborda su umiruća, istrebljena grupa umetnika, jer digitalna štampa ih je potpuno zamenila i preotela." Rekao sam da ću ih, u zamenu za obrazovanje iz slikanja ja podržati, i osnovao sam kompaniju. Od tada, slikam svuda. Ovo je slika moje žene u mom stanu. Ovo je još jedna. Ustvari, počeo sam da slikam na bilo čemu, i da ih šaljem svuda po gradu.
Since I mentioned my wife, the most important collaboration has been with her, Netra. Netra and I met when she was 18. I must have been 19 and a half then, and it was love at first sight. I lived in India. She lived in America. She'd come every two months to visit me, and then I said I'm the man, I'm the man, and I have to reciprocate. I have to travel seven oceans, and I have to come and see you. I did that twice, and I went broke. So then I said, "Nets, what do I do?" She said, "Why don't you send me your paintings? My dad knows a bunch of rich guys. We'll try and con them into buying it, and then..." But it turned out, after I sent the works to her, that her dad's friends, like most of you, are geeks. I'm joking. (Laughter) No, they were really big geeks, and they didn't know much about art. So Netra was stuck with 30 paintings of mine.
Kad sam već spomenuo svoju ženu, najvažnija saradnja je sa njom, Netrom. Netra i ja smo se upoznali kad joj je bilo 18. Ja sam imao 19 ipo i bila je to ljubav na prvi pogled. Ja sam živeo u Indiji, ona je živela u Americi. Dolazila bi na svaka dva meseca da me poseti a onda sam rekao ja sam muškarac, ja sam muškarac, moram da uzvratim. Moram da pređem sedam mora i da dođem da te vidim. Uradio sam to dva puta i bankrotirao. Onda sam rekao, "Nets, šta da radim?" Ona je rekla, "Zašto mi ne pošalješ svoje slike? Moj tata poznaje gomilu bogataša. Pokušaćemo da ih prevarimo da ih kupe, i onda..." Pošto sam joj poslao slike, ispostavilo se da su prijatelji njenog tate štreberi, kao većina vas. Šalim se. (smeh) Ne, stvarno su bili veliki štreberi i nisu mnogo znali o umetnosti. Tako je Netra zaglibila sa 30 mojih slika.
So what we did was we rented a little van and we drove all over the east coast trying to sell it. She contacted anyone and everyone who was willing to buy my work. She made enough money, she sold off the whole collection and made enough money to move me for four years with lawyers, a company, everything, and she became my manager. That's us in New York. Notice one thing, we're equal here. Something happened along the line. (Laughter)
Onda smo iznajmili mali kombi i vozili se duž istočne obale pokušavajući da ih prodamo. Ona je kontaktirala sve i svakog ko je bio voljan da kupi moje radove. Dovoljno je zaradila, prodala je celu kolekciju, i zaradila dovoljno da me preseli na četiri godine, sa advokatima, firmom, svim i postala je moj menadžer. To smo mi u Njujorku. Primetite kako smo ovde jednaki. Nešto se usput dogodilo. (smeh)
But this brought me -- with Netra managing my career -- it brought me a lot of success. I was really happy. I thought of myself as a bit of a rockstar. I loved the attention. This is all the press we got, and we said, it's time to celebrate. And I said that the best way to celebrate is to marry Netra. I said, "Let's get married." And I said, "Not just married. Let's invite everyone who's helped us, all the people who bought our work." And you won't believe it, we put together a list of 7,000 people, who had made a difference -- a ridiculous list, but I was determined to bring them to India, so -- a lot of them were in India. 150 artists volunteered to help me with my wedding. We had fashion designers, installation artists, models, we had makeup artists, jewelry designers, all kinds of people working with me to make my wedding an art installation. And I had a special installation in tribute to my in-laws. I had the vegetable carvers work on that for me.
Ali ovo mi je donelo - uz Netrino upravljanje mojom karijerom - donelo mi je mnogo uspeha. Bio sam zaista srećan. Pomalo sam mislio o sebi kao o rok zvezdi. Voleo sam pažnju. Ovo je sva pažnja koju smo dobili i rekli smo, vreme je da proslavimo. Rekao sam da je najbolji način da se proslavi, taj da se oženim Netrom. Rekao sam, "Hajde da se venčamo." Ne samo da se venčamo. Pozovimo sve koji su nam pomogli, sve ljude koji su kupili naš rad. I nećete verovati, sastavili smo listu od 7000 ljudi, koji su bili bitni - smešna lista, ali sam odlučio da ih dovedem u Indiju i - mnogo njih je bilo u Indiji. 150 umetnika se javilo dobrovoljno da mi pomogne oko venčanja. Imali smo modne dizajnere, umetnike sa instalacijama, manekene, šminkere, dizajnere nakita, svakakvi ljudi su radili sa mnom kako bismo napravili umetničku instalaciju od moje svadbe. Imao sam i posebnu instalaciju kao omaž mojoj tazbini. Uzeo sam ljude da graviraju povrće.
But all this excitement led to the press writing about us. We were in the papers, we're still in the news three years later, but, unfortunately, something tragic happened right after. My mother fell very ill. I love my mother and I was told all of a sudden that she was going to die. And they said you have to say bye to her, you have to do what you have to do. And I was devastated. I had shows booked up for another year. I was on a high. And I couldn't. I could not.
Ali svo to uzbuđenje je dovelo do toga da novine pišu o nama. Bili smo u novinama, tri godine kasnije još uvek smo bili na vestima, ali na žalost, nešto tragično se desilo odmah posle. Moja majka se veoma razbolela. Volim svoju majku i odjednom su mi rekli da će umreti i rekli su da treba da se oprostim od nje, da uradim šta treba da uradim. Bio sam očajan. Imao sam zakazane izložbe za još godinu dana. Bio sam na vrhuncu. I nisam mogao. Nisam mogao.
My life was not exuberant. I could not live this larger than life person. I started exploring the darker abscesses of the human mind. Of course, my work turned ugly, but another thing happened. I lost all my audiences. The Bollywood stars who I would party with and buy my work disappeared. The collectors, the friends, the press, everyone said, "Nice, but thank you." "No thank you," was more like it. But I wanted people to actually feel my work from their gut, because I was painting it from my gut. If they wanted beauty, I said, this is the beauty I'm willing to give you. It's politicized. Of course, none of them liked it.
Život mi je bio tako ispunjen. Nisam mogao da živim kao da sam veći od života. Počeo sam da istražujem tamne strane ljudskog uma. Naravno, moj rad je postao ružan, ali još nešto se desilo. Izgubio sam svu publiku. Zvezde Bolivuda sa kojima sam se provodio i koje su kupovale moje radove, nestale su. kolekcionari, prijatelji, novinari, svi su rekli lepo, ali hvala. Mislili su ne hvala. Ali ja sam želeo da ljudi zaista osete moj rad u srži, jer sam slikao iz srži. Ako žele lepotu, rekao sam, ovo je lepota koju mogu da vam dam. Politizovana je. Naravno, nikom se nije dopalo.
My works also turned autobiographical. At this point, something else happened. A very, very dear friend of mine came out of the closet, and in India at that time, it was illegal to be gay, and it's disgusting to see how people respond to a gay person. I was very upset. I remember the time when my mother used to dress me up as a little girl -- that's me there -- because she wanted a girl, and she has only boys. (Laughter) Anyway, I don't know what my friends are going to say after this talk. It's a secret.
Moj rad je postao i autobiografski. U tom trenutku još se nešto desilo, jedan moj vrlo, vrlo drag prijatelj se javno deklarisao, a u Indiji je u to vreme bilo ilegalno biti gej i odvratno je videti kako ljudi reaguju na gej osobu. Veoma sam se potresao. Sećam se vremena kada me je majka oblačila kao devojčicu - to sam ja - jer je želela devojčicu, a ima samo sinove. (smeh) No, ne znam šta će moji prijatelji reći posle ovog govora. To je tajna.
So, after this, my works turned a little violent. I talked about this masculinity that one need not perform. And I talked about the weakness of male sexuality. This time, not only did my collectors disappear, the political activists decided to ban me and to threaten me and to forbid me from showing. It turned nasty, and I'm a bit of a chicken. I can't deal with any threat. This was a big threat.
Dakle, posle ovoga moj rad je postao malo nasilan. Pričao sam o ovoj muškosti koju nije potrebno predstavljati. Pričao sam o slabosti muške seksualnosti. Ovoga puta, ne samo da su kolekcionari nestali, nego su politički aktivisti odlučili da me zabrane i da mi zaprete i da mi zabrane da izlažem. Postalo je gadno, a ja sam pomalo kukavica. Ne podnosim nikakve pretnje. Ovo je bila velika pretnja.
So, I decided it was time to end and go back home. This time I said let's try something different. I need to be reborn again. And I thought the best way, as most of you know who have children, the best way to have a new lease on life, is to have a child. I decided to have a child, and before I did that, I quickly studied what can go wrong. How can a family get dysfunctional? And Rudra was born. That's my little son.
Odlučio sam da je vreme da prekinem i vratim se kući. Ovoga puta sam hteo da probam nešto drugačije. Trebalo mi je da se ponovo rodim. Mislio sam da je najbolji način, kao što većina vas koji imate decu zna, najbolji način da se dobije novi smisao života je da se dobije dete. Odlučio sam da imam dete. A pre nego što sam to uradio, na brzinu sam proučio šta bi moglo da krene naopako. Kako porodica može da postane disfunkcionalna? I Rudra se rodio. To je moj mali sin.
And two magical things happened after he was born. My mother miraculously recovered after a serious operation, and this man was elected president of this country. You know I sat at home and I watched. I teared up and I said that's where I want to be. So Netra and I wound up our life, closed up everything we had, and we decided to move to New York. And this was just eight months ago.
Dve čarobne stvari su se desile posle njegovog rođenja. Moja majka se na čudesan način oporavila, posle ozbiljne operacije, a ovaj čovek je izabran za predsednika ove zemlje. Sedeo sam kod kuće i gledao. Zaplakao sam i rekao da tamo želim da budem. Tako smo Netra i ja podigli sidro, završili sve što smo imali i odlučili da se preselimo u Njujork. To je bilo pre samo osam meseci.
I moved back to New York, my work has changed. Everything about my work has become more whimsical. This one is called "What the Fuck Was I Thinking?" It talks about mental incest. You know, I may appear to be a very nice, clean, sweet boy. But I'm not. I'm capable of thinking anything. But I'm very civil in my action, I assure you. (Laughter) These are just different cartoons.
Vratio sam se u Njujork, moj rad se promenio. Sav moj rad postao je hirovitiji. Ovu zovem "O čemu sam, jebote, razmišljao?" Govori o mentalnom incestu. Znate, možda delujem kao vrlo fin, čist, sladak momčić. Ali nisam. U stanju sam svašta da mislim. Ali veoma sam učtiv, uveravam vas. (smeh) Ovo su samo različiti crteži.
And, before I go, I want to tell you a little story. I was talking to mother and father this morning, and my dad said, "I know you have so much you want to say, but you have to talk about your work with children." So I said, okay.
Pre nego što odem, želim da vam ispričam kratku priču. Jutros sam razgovarao sa majkom i ocem, i otac mi je rekao "Znam da toliko toga želiš da kažeš, ali moraš da pričaš o svom radu sa decom." Rekao sam, ok.
I work with children all over the world, and that's an entirely different talk, but I want to leave you with one story that really, really inspired me. I met Belinda when she was 16. I was 17. I was in Australia, and Belinda had cancer, and I was told she's not going to live very long. They, in fact, told me three weeks. I walk into her room, and there was a shy girl, and she was bald, and she was trying to hide her baldness. I whipped out my pen, and I started drawing on her head and I drew a crown for her. And then, we started talking, and we spent a lovely time -- I told her how I ended up in Australia, how I backpacked and who I conned, and how I got a ticket, and all the stories. And I drew it out for her. And then I left. Belinda died and within a few days of her death, they published a book for her, and she used my cartoon on the cover. And she wrote a little note, she said, "Hey Rags, thank you for the magic carpet ride around the world."
Radim sa decom širom sveta, to je za potpuno drugačiji govor, ali želim da vas ostavim sa jednom pričom koja me je stvarno, stvarno inspirisala. Upoznao sam Belindu kada je imala 16 godina. Ja sam imao 17. Bio sam u Australiji, Belinda je imala rak i rekli su mi da neće još dugo živeti. Ustvari, rekli su mi 3 nedelje. Ušao sam u njenu sobu, a tamo je bila stidljiva devojka, bila je ćelava i pokušavala da sakrije ćelavost. Izvukao sam olovku i počeo da crtam po njenoj glavi i nacrtao joj krunu. I onda smo počeli da pričamo, proveli smo divno vreme - pričao sam joj kako sam dospeo u Australiju, kako sam stopirao i koga sam prevario, kako su me kaznili i sve priče. I to sam joj nacrtao. A onda sam otišao. Belinda je umrla i nekoliko dana posle njene smrti, objavljena je njena knjiga a moj crtež je bio na koricama. Napisala je poruku, rekla je "Hej Rags, hvala za vožnju čarobnim ćilimom po svetu."
For me, my art is my magic carpet ride. I hope you will join me in this magic carpet ride, and touch children and be honest. Thank you so much. (Applause)
Za mene, moja umetnost je moja vožnja čarobnim ćilimom. Nadam se da ćete mi se pridružiti u ovoj vožnji magičnim ćilimom i dodirnuti decu i biti iskreni. Mnogo vam hvala. (aplauz)