An Uncommon Wit

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RK Laxman
RK Laxman
Age: 85
Profession: Cartoonist
Past Antics: Laxman was captain of his “Rough and Tough and Jolly” school cricket team. He can’t play anymore but now has another obsession besides drawing– his granddaughter, Kutilla

AT 85, RK Laxman comes across as a man of very few words. But perhaps India’s most celebrated humorist can take refuge in the countless cartoons he has sketched over a career spanning five decades for they speak a thousands words. His famously bewildered “common man” is India’s best candidate to go to the moon. Why? Because he can live without “water, food, light, air, shelter.” Such is the nature of Laxman’s satirical mind and its light–hearted creative musings.

“I love my work. I like to draw. A sense of humour and criticism is always around, thanks to our politicians,” quips the octogenarian. Unlike many his age, Laxman has no time for early morning walks. “I don’t do all that,” he says matter-of-factly. Instead, he wakes up at the reasonable hour of 8:30am and after a light breakfast “thinks” until 1 or 2pm everyday, formulating his cartoon for the day in his head. He then takes an hour to draw it out before dispatching it to the Times of India – his lifelong employer. Partial paralysis on the left side of his body from a stroke in 2003 has apparently not affected Laxman’s ability to generate humour on a daily basis. “It hasn’t changed anything. I still work like before,” says Laxman, who undergoes two hours of physiotherapy everyday. Is there any method to his delightful madness and he responds: “There’s no such thing as process. It all just comes on its own.” If India’s way of dealing with its many daunting challenges has been to develop a sense of humour, RK Laxman has been its champion mascot.