:Most of us have immensely enjoyed illustrations and cartoons by the legendary R.K. Laxman. Now, an exhibition titled ‘Unpublished R.K. Laxman’ will display 97 doodles from an old sketchbook at the Indian Institute of Cartoonists (IIC) in Bengaluru from October 15 to 29.
The event is part of a tribute to Mr. Laxman’s 95th birth anniversary on October 24. Later in the month, his nephew, R.S. Krishnaswamy, will hold a talk on the cartoonist and his love for the common man.
“My uncle, affectionately called ‘Doodu’, would think and breathe only through his sketches. His passion had him pick up bits and pieces of scrap paper even during his visits from Pune to Mysore, and New Delhi, where we stayed. So my father, Srinivasan, gave him a huge scrapbook in 1975, and made him doodle more and more, thinking this would be the best way we could string them together in one single book,” said Mr. Krishnaswamy.
Great wit and humour Laxman’s family members said that while RKL, as he was also known, would permanently have his thinking cap on, wit and humour was the mainstay of his body of work — a trait shared by all his brothers, including celebrated writer R. K. Narayan. Consider ‘Narayan’s Ghost’, the doodle that references Narayan’s novel The English Teacher , and it is easy to imagine the illustrious brothers discussing their work over familial conversations.
‘The Odds Are Against Us’ came about on a road trip. Mr. Krishnaswamy recalls, “When I drove RKL from Mysore to Bengaluru, a herd of aadu [goats] on the road made me honk insistently. The result was this doodle!”
“I remember my four uncles, including R.K. Narayan, gallivanting in the by-lanes of Mysuru, just observing people, the way they talked, their homes,” says Mr. Krishnaswamy. “Doodu uncle’s doodles were the result of his 20 years of ‘casual wandering thoughts’ from 1975 to 1995. Whether poking fun at family members or scrutinising the funnier side of politicians or his attitude towards New Delhi’s seat of power, RKL’s vision saw a different sketch.”
A labour of love Managing Trustee of the IIC V.G. Narendra discovered the doodles almost by providence. “When Krishnaswamy told me a few years ago about RKL’s unpublished doodles lying in his house, I immediately saw them and was amazed to know of their artistic and academic value,” he said. “The scrapbook had nearly a hundred inspiring doodles but we had to have many of them restored.”
