Looking back on India’s favourite cartoonist RK Laxman on his birth centenary
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman is one of India’s most popular cartoonists, known for illustrating the experiences of the common man of the country in the tumultuous years of post-1960s India. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth on October 24, 2021, we revisit RK Laxman’s life experiences and his love for drawing
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Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman is one of India’s most popular cartoonists, known for illustrating the experiences of the common man of the country in the tumultuous years of post-1960s India. On the occasion of the centenary of his birth on October 24, 2021, we revisit RK Laxman’s life experiences and his love for drawing
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Born on October 24, 1921, Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman or RK Laxman was an Indian cartoonist, humorist and satirist from Mysore, Karnataka. He was a younger sibling of renowned author RK Narayan. Hailing from an artistic family with access to resources of art and creativity, he started admiring illustrations in popular magazines of the time at an early age and began doodling random objects in his surroundings, which piqued his interest and enhanced his style of drawing ideas from reality. Mid-day File Pic.
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Laxman’s application to study at the JJ School of Art in Bombay was rejected by the institution. The school authorities stated that he lacked “the kind of talent to qualify for enrolment in our institution as a student”. He then went on to graduate from the Mysore University in Arts. His first stint as a cartoonist was with Blitz, Bombay’s well-known investigative publication in the 1940s. He switched to The Free Press Journal as a political cartoonist in 1946, where he worked with Bal Thackeray. It was in 1951 that Laxman started working with the Times of India, where he continued working for well over 50 years. Mid-day File Pic.
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He created his most beloved illustration ‘The Common Man’ which featured in his daily comic strip, You Said It, for the Times of India. The bespectacled character wearing a dhoti and a chequered jacket, who lurked in the margins of his sublime drawings, represented the dazed common man of India, who remained a silent observer to the social, political and economic changes in the new democracy. Laxman’s fresh, satirical take on the events of the time tickled many Indians who read TOI, which had the largest readership, in the pre-globalisation era. In his autobiography, ‘The Tunnel of Time’, Laxman wrote, “I think everybody enjoys it when our mighty politicians are exposed in a comical and often ludicrous light. Mid-day File Pic.
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In addition to being a cartoonist, Laxman has also penned short stories, essays and travelogues which were collected in The Distorted Mirror (2003). He has also published the novels The Hotel Riviera (1988), The Messenger (1993), Sorry, No Room (1969) and an autobiography The Tunnel of Time (1998). Laxman is a recipient of one of India’s most prestigious awards Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan. He was also awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for his contribution to Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts in 1984. In 2005, RK Laxman received the Padma Vibhushan from the then President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam. Mid-day File Pic.
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Laxman was married to children’s book author Kamala and has a son Srinivas, who worked with the Times of India for a while. A year after his death, when the Maharashtra Government built a memorial at the JJ School of Arts as a tribute to Laxman’s works, his daughter-in-law Usha Laxman shared with Mid-day, “He had the strength to understand the minds of the people, be it politicians, professionals that he was able to anticipate the reactions and behaviours of these people. We would see the same in his cartoons the next day. I always had this dream project in mind to keep his work alive.” Mid-day File Pic.
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Laxman spent his last few years in Pune. Hospitalised for urinary tract infection and chest ailments at the Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital, he breathed his last on January 26, 2015 at the age of 93. His body was kept at Symbiosis Institute’s Pune near the ‘Common Man’ statue and was cremated at the Vaikunth crematorium. He was given a state funeral by the Maharashtra government. Mid-day File Pic.
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Photo of Day
Bliss by the beach
A photographer holds up the lights during a photo session by the Madh Island seashore. PIC/NIMESH DAVE
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