The legendary Mysuru-based cartoonist R.K. Laxman passed away at age 94 on Jan. 26, 2015, the day when the Nation celebrated its 66th Republic Day with US President Barack Obama as the VVIP chief guest at the Rajpath. Here I reproduce the Abracadabra titled “Hey, that’s Laxman the cartoonist!” published in Star of Mysore dated June 26, 1995, as a tribute to the ‘Common Man.’ Now read on:

Hey, that’s Laxman the Cartoonist !

If it is a Sunday and you suffer from cold, what is the best thing to do? Of course, reading all the Sunday newspapers through the moist eyes, smothering the nose with a handkerchief, sniffing at Vicks or whatever and sipping hot coffee. After that? Well, watching TV is the best thing. It is also more relaxing — less strain on the eyes compared to reading a newspaper in small print. So, after finishing the papers, I did a very best thing yesterday watching TV while nursing a terrible cold.

Thanks to STAR TV. I could watch BBC as well. However, these days, I find our Doordarshan (DD) is not lagging far too behind the STAR TV or Zee TV in providing quality programmes. One such programme I saw on DD was on the famous cartoonist R.K. Laxman. I was glued to the TV watching Laxman speak in a measured, clear tone and language (English, of course) with his buck-teeth not that prominent to be obtrusive. A kind of serenity could be seen pervading Laxman’s personality as he spoke.

I have a special reason to be delighted about Laxman because he started his career from Bombay’s Free Press Journal just as I did much later during late 60s. It was a well-produced programme and the credit indeed should go to the subject of the programme — R.K. Laxman — rather than its producer or director.

It was interesting to learn from Laxman how appointments were made during those early days and how he encountered Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena Supremo, at the Free Press Journal. The Editor of this nationalist paper Sadanand without a second thought appointed Laxman and simply asked him to join duty immediately as by then Laxman’s works had been seen by many editors including Sadanand. When Laxman went to occupy his chair, he found another person sitting next to him with a “definite profile,” who asked: Who are you? Laxman told him who he was and in turn asked, Who are you? The reply was: Bal Thackeray, cartoonist.

Later they both went to the canteen for tea and became friends. However, after leaving the Free Press Journal and becoming the Shiv Sena Supremo, Bal Thackeray “went out of my range,” said Laxman and added “but all the same we continued to be friends and hope he still is.”

Another interesting information Laxman gave was about the famous British political cartoonist Sir David Low, who created Colonel Blimp (just as Laxman created his Common Man) whom he had always admired. In fact, the discerning newspaper readers had found the influence of David Low in Laxman’s cartoons. No wonder, Laxman was a great fan of David Low and hoped to meet him one day.

However, as luck would have it, to his great surprise one day when he went to his office, he found a couple sitting in his chamber and Laxman recognising Low (probably from his pictures) spontaneously said: Mr. Low? And the person beamed a smile and said: Yes. You are Laxman. Later, Laxman hired a taxi and took them to Malabar Hills to impress upon the foreigner the beauty of Bombay as seen from the heights of Malabar Hills — the sweep of the Chaupati and the Queen’s necklace, Marine Drive. Laxman also told Low that the latter should not think India was a land of elephants and snake charmers but before Low could react, lo and behold, there he was — a snake charmer ready to entertain the foreigner. Laxman said it was an embarrassing as well as a mysterious moment for him.

One more interesting information that throws light on Laxman’s own philosophy of life and also the courage of his conviction is the manner he left the Free Press Journal. It appears, the Editor Sadanand, who never interfered in Laxman’s work in the past, one day called him and said that he should not make fun of Communists any more in his cartoons. This fiat from the editor surprised Laxman no end and disturbed him also.

Apparently, he could not work with such fetters. Submitting his resignation to the editor on the spot, he walked out of the Free Press Journal hiring a horse-drawn carriage (as there was a taxi strike on that day) straight to ‘The Times of India,’ the old lady of Bori Bunder. Fortunately, it was not a case of walking out of one prison to another or from the palace to the prison. It was a case of walking out of a prison to a palace. The rest is history.

— PUCK

NOTE: Puck was my pen name those days which I gave up on finding the printer’s devil replacing the letter P with F. After all, original is the real thing.—KBG

e-mail: kbg@starofmysore.com

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Abracadabra…Abracadabra / Monday – February 16th, 2015