Caricature of Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, as an Indian Maharaja

What if Vladimir Putin, the current President of Russia, were an Indian Maharaja?

My decision is final!

How different would he be…actually, would he be any different?

A closer look reveals that one need not change anything except his attire, and he could be an Indian Maharaja of the medieval times.

Here are 4 reasons why Putin could’ve been an Indian Maharaja in another life.

1. Putin loves bare-chested horseback-riding and hunting, a favorite pastime of Indian Maharajas.
2. Those who know him well say, Putin might as well be the Tzar of Russia.
3. Putting the modern-world moderation attempts aside, Putin wants “statehood” for south-eastern Ukraine. In fact, Moscow has been blatantly helping the rebels. This strategy was often used by the medieval Indian Maharajas, to expand their empires.
4. Putin is advised by a small and select group of people; Indian Maharajas usually had a very small, trusted group of advisors.

Now a little about why I did this Caricature…

I’ve been seeing a lot of Obama vs. Putin comparisons on the web. Recently I  did President Obama’s caricature (What if President Obama were an Indian farmer?) and when I saw those comparisons, which show Putin in his bare-chested dare-devil avatar and President Obama giggling away…and I thought that the comparison was a little too stark, and unfair.

No doubt, President Obama is an easy-going family man, he has never served in the forces, and let’s face it, Americans like their President to have a family-man image. Family-men, usually, do not flex muscles or show-off their six-packs.

President Putin, on the other hand, was a KGB operative for 16 years. He grew up in Russia, son of a man who worked as a security-guard and a later as a foreman, lived in community housing, and studied in Primary School No. 193 in Leningrad. That sort of childhood makes a boy strong…and ambitious. (Read his biography here.)

So the two gentlemen are as different as day and night or chalk and cheese for that matter. Today, some say, Putin is slipping into the role of Russian Tsar…and that made me think of Putin, the Indian Maharaja of the yore.

I hope you enjoyed my attempt.

Here’s the black and white, before I did the color-wash.

In another life.

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