R. K. Laxman
| R. K. Laxman | |
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| Born |
Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman 24 October 1921 Mysore, British India (Karnataka, India) |
| Died | 26 January 2015 (aged 93) Pune, Maharashtra, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Cartoonist, illustrator |
| Known for | Common Man cartoon |
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| Relatives | R. K. Narayan (Brother) |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, Ramon Magsaysay Award |
| Website | www.rklaxman.com |
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Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Laxman (24 October 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He was best known for his creation The Common Man and for his daily cartoon strip, "You Said It" in The Times of India, which started in 1951.
Laxman started his career as a part-time cartoonist, working mostly for local newspapers and magazines. While a college student, he illustrated his elder brother R. K. Narayan's stories in The Hindu. His first full-time job was as a political cartoonist for the The Free Press Journal in Mumbai. Later, he joined The Times of India, and became famous for The Common Man character.
R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore in 1921 in Tamil speaking Iyer family. His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons (he had a sister as well); His elder brother is novelist R. K. Narayan. Laxman was known as "Pied Piper of Delhi".
Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as The Strand, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, before he had even begun to read. Soon he was drawing on his own, on the floors, walls and doors of his house and doodling caricatures of his teachers at school; praised by a teacher for his drawing of a peepal leaf, he began to think of himself as an artist in the making. Another early influence on Laxman was the work of the world-renowned British cartoonist, Sir David Low (whose signature he misread as "cow" for a long time) that appeared now and then in The Hindu. Laxman notes in his autobiography, The Tunnel of Time:
I drew objects that caught my eye outside the window of my room – the dry twigs, leaves and lizard-like creatures crawling about, the servant chopping firewood and, of course, and number of crows in various postures on the rooftops of the buildings opposite
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