R K LAXMAN

R.K. Laxman

The uncommon creator of that common man who represents the mute millions of this country -- who else but Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman, India's most celebrated cartoonist? Forty years of cartooning have dimmed neither Laxman's brilliance nor the bafflement of his check-coated man who blinks at the political scene from his front-page corner in The Times of India.

What is it that makes R.K. Laxman so special among cartoonists?

Laxman's own answer would be, "My genius, what else?"

"A little humility is not a bad thing if you are at the top," writes fellow cartoonist Sudhir Dar When a man asked him who the best Indian cartoonist was, Laxman flashed back, "I am." The second, third, fourth, fifth best man on the job? Laxman continued to repeat, "I am."

Laxman may not impress an international, particularly the Western, audience. "Why should he? He draws for us," says my friend Keshav (a cartoonist for The Hindu). "No other cartoonist has understood the average Indian as Laxman has. This gives him a far wider reach than his sophisticated colleagues. From garbage disposal to nuclear physics, he can make you see every issue clearly and in a new light."

A Laxman cartoon has two characteristics. It is drama frozen at a crucial moment with something before and something after it. He puts us on the spot. We feel the whole ambience. The common man is helpless in his country, he chokes with frustrations and fury. Laxman's cartoons convert this rage into humour."

He says that his character in the newspaper, the Common Man, is the ubiquitous silent observer, who hasn't said a word yet. When asked by an interviewer whether he ever would, he replied," No, I won't. The power is in keeping one's mouth shut, not in blah-blahing."

Picture- MAN OF HUMOUR: R.K. Lakshman. Photographer: Satish H. The Hindu. 3 Mar 2006.

Information -
"R.K. Laxman." Wikipedia. 23 Oct. 2005. 20 Dec. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_K_Laxman>.

"India Through the Eyes of R.K. Laxman - Then to Now." Remittag. 20 Dec. 2005 <http://www.remittag.com/r-k-laxman-software/r-k-laxman-software.asp>.

"R.K. Laxman." Penguin Books India. 20 Dec. 2005 <http://www.penguinbooksindia.com/AuthorLounge/AuthorDetail.asp?aid=14>.

Research - Saksham K., Sanskriti School
Background - Omer, Banner - Yair, Ein Ganim School

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