R.K.Laxman
I wanted to wait till what Times of India had to write about the passing of R.K.Laxman - the man who gave the paper unprecedented mileage. Dileep Padgaonkar was mighty right in saying such a poetic justice for a man who highlighted the plight of common man's most burning issues to die on a Republic Day - when the nation takes stock of the promises and potential in its constitution. Not just that Dileep added that R.K.Laxman's life in cartoons is a shining example of how freedom and responsibility should go hand in hand - a relevant debate after the massacre of Charlie Hebdo. After R.K.Laxman's death, I am sure, a murder of cows, armies of common men and packs of dogs are not the only ones who would mourn his passing. Of course, he made them all famous - crows, dogs and the ubiquitous common man - a statue of whom can be found in Pune - the city where he breathed his last. Infact, a serial was made on the ironies of common man back in the 90s - "Wagle Ki Duniya" which took his empathies with the bald-headed man with the caterpillar eyebrows, check shirts and toothbrush moustache to the masses who may not have yet read the papers.
To be fair, one always had the Dickensian question: Did we live in interesting times or was it Laxman who made our time interesting? Both, because India went through a sluggish period of low-growth, high-inflation and sloppy politicana. India also saw the dismantling of the single-party democracy in 1967- the year in which the Congress lost elections in eight states. That only meant more variety of politicians, and later India's most famous businesspersons, cine-stars, dons, sportspersons and celebrities. Laxman burst at the scene at the same time as his colleague at Free Press Journal Bal Thackaray but had a meteoric rise like none before. There were so many who drew before and after - but none achieved the peaks of Laxman's success. Possibly, Times of India's editors never interfered with Laxman whether he lampooned Nehru, Indira Gandhi or NTR or even Bal Thackaray and gave him more than a roomful of freedom with a canvas of many expressions. But credit Laxman only for his self-practised cartooning skills whose calibre only got better with each passing day as he churned "You Said It" cartoons on a daily basis and then those special occasion bigger cartoons.
To the layman, Laxman's talent looks prodigal and that is how it should read for this younger brother of R.K.Narayan - one of India's most-loved English writes of the 20th Century. Laxman grew up drawing inspiration from Sir David Low's cartoons in PUNCH magazine and then started illustrating his brother's cult literary works. He wrote for Blitz, The Hindu and others before joining Free Press Journal. But like all self-employed outliers, Laxman tried to get admission to the J.J.School of Arts to hone his natural abilities in carricature. He wrote to the Dean with a sample of his cartoons. The Dean rejected his admission with a letter: "I see no talent whatsoever. Please continue your studies." This kind of thing happened too often for people we now regard as legends. It didn't deter Laxman who went on to become Independent India's most famous cartoonist. He drew thousands of cartoons, designed logos for many of which we famously recognise like the boy in Asian Paints and wrote books to prove a point that he can write as fluently as his elder brother. "The Distroted Mirror" collected his short stories, essays and travelogues. "The Hotel Riviera" and "The Messenger" were his novels. His last book was "The Servants of India" in 2000 which was a compilation of his short stories. But the book that received accolades was his autobiography "The Tunnel of Time" released in 1998. You wouldn't find too many books in world literature which covered a life of letters in such crisp prose. Last year, Bob Mankoff, the Editor-at-large of New Yorker cartoons wrote his autobiography "How About Never" which tried to dissect a life in cartooning in much graphic detail. But "The Tunnel of Time" is a candid memoir giving such explicit detail of how a younger brother grew out of a literary giant's shadow to make his own mark in life. It also covers rare glimpses of the people Laxman and his first wife met with - including the great painter Picasso and the Nobel-prize winner Bertrand Russell. "The Tunnel of Time" was the first book I presented to Mr Bapu, Telugu's most-famous cartoonist. He raved about the book for days and thanked me for introducing a book that resonated so well with his own life - he too faced many rejections in his own life before Bapu became India-famous.
Laxman survived the emergency and the liberalization days, he covered every conceivable figure of history as reported in press. His cartoons had simplicity, humor and a light-hearted message that was both philosophical and deeply ironical. If India is a better republic today than it was at the time of birth, it is to the credit of cartoonists like Laxman who tirelessly highlighted the issues without didacticity and ado. No wonder, he got awards from Padma Vibhushan to Ramson-Magsaysay. But all awards got their veneer from association with the name of R.K.Laxman. There may be more interesting facets to R.K.Laxman's life just as R.K.Narayan because the former married twice unlike his elder brother. He couldn't draw for more than a decade after he hung up his boots. A lot must have gone through his life in those years of silence and recluse. Will we ever know? Must we know? Can't say. I can only take a leaf out of Bapu uncle's advice on how to view the lives of creative legends - "Don't try to get up close and know them more than what you know of their life's work. It might repel you." For Indians, R.K.Laxman was solid gold standard to us. We will continue to see his works on the walls, in museums, on special souvenirs relased by banks and doctors. His cartoons and the world he made will continue to inspire and humor us to make our lives more interesting - even if R.K.Laxman had the best day job in the world. R.I.P.
I wanted to wait till what Times of India had to write about the passing of R.K.Laxman - the man who gave the paper unprecedented mileage. Dileep Padgaonkar was mighty right in saying such a poetic justice for a man who highlighted the plight of common man's most burning issues to die on a Republic Day - when the nation takes stock of the promises and potential in its constitution. Not just that Dileep added that R.K.Laxman's life in cartoons is a shining example of how freedom and responsibility should go hand in hand - a relevant debate after the massacre of Charlie Hebdo. After R.K.Laxman's death, I am sure, a murder of cows, armies of common men and packs of dogs are not the only ones who would mourn his passing. Of course, he made them all famous - crows, dogs and the ubiquitous common man - a statue of whom can be found in Pune - the city where he breathed his last. Infact, a serial was made on the ironies of common man back in the 90s - "Wagle Ki Duniya" which took his empathies with the bald-headed man with the caterpillar eyebrows, check shirts and toothbrush moustache to the masses who may not have yet read the papers.
To be fair, one always had the Dickensian question: Did we live in interesting times or was it Laxman who made our time interesting? Both, because India went through a sluggish period of low-growth, high-inflation and sloppy politicana. India also saw the dismantling of the single-party democracy in 1967- the year in which the Congress lost elections in eight states. That only meant more variety of politicians, and later India's most famous businesspersons, cine-stars, dons, sportspersons and celebrities. Laxman burst at the scene at the same time as his colleague at Free Press Journal Bal Thackaray but had a meteoric rise like none before. There were so many who drew before and after - but none achieved the peaks of Laxman's success. Possibly, Times of India's editors never interfered with Laxman whether he lampooned Nehru, Indira Gandhi or NTR or even Bal Thackaray and gave him more than a roomful of freedom with a canvas of many expressions. But credit Laxman only for his self-practised cartooning skills whose calibre only got better with each passing day as he churned "You Said It" cartoons on a daily basis and then those special occasion bigger cartoons.
To the layman, Laxman's talent looks prodigal and that is how it should read for this younger brother of R.K.Narayan - one of India's most-loved English writes of the 20th Century. Laxman grew up drawing inspiration from Sir David Low's cartoons in PUNCH magazine and then started illustrating his brother's cult literary works. He wrote for Blitz, The Hindu and others before joining Free Press Journal. But like all self-employed outliers, Laxman tried to get admission to the J.J.School of Arts to hone his natural abilities in carricature. He wrote to the Dean with a sample of his cartoons. The Dean rejected his admission with a letter: "I see no talent whatsoever. Please continue your studies." This kind of thing happened too often for people we now regard as legends. It didn't deter Laxman who went on to become Independent India's most famous cartoonist. He drew thousands of cartoons, designed logos for many of which we famously recognise like the boy in Asian Paints and wrote books to prove a point that he can write as fluently as his elder brother. "The Distroted Mirror" collected his short stories, essays and travelogues. "The Hotel Riviera" and "The Messenger" were his novels. His last book was "The Servants of India" in 2000 which was a compilation of his short stories. But the book that received accolades was his autobiography "The Tunnel of Time" released in 1998. You wouldn't find too many books in world literature which covered a life of letters in such crisp prose. Last year, Bob Mankoff, the Editor-at-large of New Yorker cartoons wrote his autobiography "How About Never" which tried to dissect a life in cartooning in much graphic detail. But "The Tunnel of Time" is a candid memoir giving such explicit detail of how a younger brother grew out of a literary giant's shadow to make his own mark in life. It also covers rare glimpses of the people Laxman and his first wife met with - including the great painter Picasso and the Nobel-prize winner Bertrand Russell. "The Tunnel of Time" was the first book I presented to Mr Bapu, Telugu's most-famous cartoonist. He raved about the book for days and thanked me for introducing a book that resonated so well with his own life - he too faced many rejections in his own life before Bapu became India-famous.
Laxman survived the emergency and the liberalization days, he covered every conceivable figure of history as reported in press. His cartoons had simplicity, humor and a light-hearted message that was both philosophical and deeply ironical. If India is a better republic today than it was at the time of birth, it is to the credit of cartoonists like Laxman who tirelessly highlighted the issues without didacticity and ado. No wonder, he got awards from Padma Vibhushan to Ramson-Magsaysay. But all awards got their veneer from association with the name of R.K.Laxman. There may be more interesting facets to R.K.Laxman's life just as R.K.Narayan because the former married twice unlike his elder brother. He couldn't draw for more than a decade after he hung up his boots. A lot must have gone through his life in those years of silence and recluse. Will we ever know? Must we know? Can't say. I can only take a leaf out of Bapu uncle's advice on how to view the lives of creative legends - "Don't try to get up close and know them more than what you know of their life's work. It might repel you." For Indians, R.K.Laxman was solid gold standard to us. We will continue to see his works on the walls, in museums, on special souvenirs relased by banks and doctors. His cartoons and the world he made will continue to inspire and humor us to make our lives more interesting - even if R.K.Laxman had the best day job in the world. R.I.P.
