The Tunnel of Time: An Autobiography By R.K. Laxman

This is a delightful autobiography of India's most loved political cartoonist. Younger brother of famed author R.K. Narayan, Laxman is known for his creation- The Common man who appeared on the front page of India's leading English daily Times of India non stop for more than fifty years. The autobiography traces his childhood days in Mysore to his initial days of struggle at the Swarajya and Free Press Journal before finding fame and success with Times of India. Great read. R.K. Laxman 5.0 ⭐

GENRE - NON FICTION / AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

Reminiscing my early days whilst in school, I would always make it a point to pick up a TIMES OF INDIA News paper while returning home and for what??? Just to catch a glimpse of Mr. R.K.LAXMAN cartoons in the newspaper his cartoons also featured in the start and end musical of the TV show Malgudi Days as well as the Cartooning done in all of R.K.Narayan's books are by R.K.Laxman itself,both being brother's.
Myself being a good 🎨 who loved Drawing, sketching and Cartooning always wanted to read or know something about Mr. Laxman.

About the Book :-

By far the best Autobiography of an indian by an indian I have read so far. Starting from his early life, his early career in journalism as cartoonist meeting notable cartoonist and journalists, his personal life aswell as his final days in the Times of India are very well explained by himself after reading this book I got to know that Mr. Laxman was not only a notable and world renowned cartoonist who won many awards and accolades for his accomplishments in his field but was also a brilliant writer 👏

Fun Fact - R.K.LAXMAN met WALT DISNEY.

Thanks 😊 R.K. Laxman Ok, disclosure time: I'm a huge fan of R.K.Laxman and our Common Man. The sort who owns compilation books of his You Said It strips. So my take on the book is most probably coloured with that personal affection for the author and the curiosity behind his work.

The Tunnel of Time is not an autobiography in the strict and usual sense, but rather a wonderful recollection of memories and thoughts. It reads more like how your grandfather might tuck you in with his stories (I'll know, I grew up with one). The pages are thus dedicated to the days, rather than to the events, providing a more intimate and beautiful canvas of both the person and the times in which he lived. It truly traces the story of his life, starting from his earliest recollections of growing up in Mysore among relatives and friends, in environs where everyone knows everyone in wholly innocent and good times. On to the days of the emergency, to the end of the millennium. There are loads of anecdotes and stories of his growing up, experiences, travels, work, philosphies and life. The book paints a very evocative and vivid picture of India's gradual change (economically, culturally, socially, politically) from pre-Independence to the millennium, parallelly tracing the changes in life and lifestyle in India across the decades.

It's also personally satisfying that I read the book in Madurai, where in my own way, as with everyone, I've also seen more innocent times slowly change into the present, more responsible, modernity. And for reading this grandfatherly book while lying next to my grandfather, at the same place I'd started my love of reading itself.

Memoirs sometimes fall into the trap of just recounting major events. This book steers clear of that. For instance, his account of his winning the Ramon Magsaysay award does not talk at all about why and how he won it; it rather refreshingly talks about the lovely Filipino ladies from the committee who visited him in the guise of journalists, the last minute rush to prepare to leave for the airport because his wife who was already travelling was stuck at the airport with lost baggage, his random thoughts during the long flight, the people he met at the ceremony, etc. An altogether more enjoyable way of writing one's memoir, I say. And one can't help identifying with his words to new-age cartoonists: The reader shouldn't fail to understand the cartoon, modestly assuming that the cartoon's subject was beyond his intelligence or knowledge. The reader should indeed grasp the central concept, he shouldn't wonder if he was missing some subtle satire.

So, for all the years of making us smile and think, for the born satirist and the born-again cartoonist, for a wonderful memoir filled with entertaining stories and graphic descriptions, and for the grandfatherly feel to the whole affair: 5 stars. R.K. Laxman RK Narayan’s genius lay in the unassuming way he would draw you into his world. He would use ordinary words extraordinarily and lead you gently by the hand, and before you knew it, you are walking the streets of Malgudi. There is a certain comfort in his writing, a certain unifying “Indian-ness”, the comfort found in a hot cup of kaapi or chai on both sides of the Deccan plateau.

His cartoonist brother RK Laxman too had made the unassuming his moniker. Famous as the creator of the Common Man, a bald, bespectacled man in a checked jacket and dhoti, with a permanently bemused expression on his face, Laxman’s political cartoons appeared under the Times of India masthead for more than 50 years. In the process, as his autobiography The Tunnel of Time tells us, he has been subjected to gamblers convinced that they can see lucky numbers in his cartoons, political leaders who insisted that he made them look too fat and the common man asking his help with common civic problems. These are just a few among the fascinating vignettes that the book allows you to peep into, and Laxman with his tongue-in-cheek humour paints a telling picture of India and the world.

The story meanders and dips, skipping the rigidity of chronology and exact dates. We drink with Laxman and Graham Greene in London and then swiftly find ourselves in Morarji Desai’s India of prohibition. From there it is a short ride to State Censor Bureaus set up during Mrs. Gandhi’s Emergency and then Rajeev Gandhi.

Laxman is disillusioned in the last few pages, both with the fate of his craft and the political situation of the country. With politicians becoming unabashedly corrupt, stories of scams and financial misdemeanors have lost their shock and awe value, making life difficult for the political cartoonist in search of inspiration. He rues the lack of perfection in political cartoons, the sacrifice of satire and quality draftsmanship in the altar of slapstick. What will sustain the profession, he reasons, is not the originality of ideas but the public’s insatiable appetite to degenerate the powers that be, never mind how.

With recent debates on intolerance in the media and attacks on satirists, I wonder how Laxman, a man who survived the Emergency, would fare in the Times of India of today. There is enough variety of issues in the socio-political atmosphere now to make his hands itch for his drawing board, but there is also the censorship which doesn’t need a state sponsored bureau anymore. It starts right at the editor’s desk.
R.K. Laxman The Tunnel of Time: An Autobiography- R K Laxman famous Indian cartoonist, humorist and illustrator, is an interesting book as the reader is able to fall in line with the story- rejection from admission in J J School of Art, Bombay because his drawings lacked the kind of talent to qualify for enrolment in our institution as a student. He qualified from Mysore, started working as a political cartoonist in Free Press Journal newspaper with Bal Thackeray. Later he joined Times of India as political cartoonist and remained for about 50 years. His description about journey to England is charming. He took a room on weekly rent. The house owner came every week, collected rent, examined the cleanliness and maintenance of the apartment and left. One night he drank more than capacity and slept for more than 24 hours on waking up he was surprised. People play music on the road and bystanders pay them. An illustrator and cartoonist sees the world from his own point of view to find the unique, different qualities, facial features from other people. His autobiography is also written in a style illustrated with caricatures. It is a must read book. R.K. Laxman

Snippets from the life of India’s best-loved cartoonist.

R.K. Laxman has always had a rather unique way of looking at things. His Common Man cartoons have lampooned just about every aspect of political and social life over the past five decades. Now that he has, at long last, decided to write the story of his life, the narrative is imbued with the same acerbic wit and quizzical insights we are so familiar with, while the tone is that of a relaxed after-dinner conversation.

There are anecdotes here that can rival the most uncanny adventures of the Common Man. Laxman is tormented by gamblers who are convinced they can see lucky numbers concealed in his cartoons, mistaken for a Mexican and debarred from attending an invitation dinner on Park Avenue because he is carrying a raincoat, and charged with importing obscene literature into the country because a friend has sent him a copy of Playboy. These descriptions are interspersed with delightful thumbnail sketches of luminaries ranging from Graham Greene to V.K. Krishna Menon.

Always looking for the contradictions that make life unpredictable and reveling in absurd juxtapositions, Laxman embellishes his canvas with a keen sense of humour and the satirist’s ability to take a whimsical, cock-eyed look at just about anything under the sun. He is a gifted storyteller and pulls the reader along on an enchanting, comical journey down the corridors of time. The Tunnel of Time: An Autobiography

Disappointing.
One would thing the work of a satirical cartoonist would be immensely interesting but sadly you are left high and dry. Most of the figures were not named or just not in the story line. I would have personally loved to see the sketches of the respected cartoonist alongside the literature that discussed.
The auto-biography is just 'that'. Plain, simple, to the point; with accounts of travels, meetings with people ranging from cartoonists from america, England or Russia.
If you were expecting more, you are in for great disappointment. R.K. Laxman This was a really wonderful read & something that will remain with me forever. I have started to like R.K.Laxman & his writings, but my favorite will definitely be his elder brother R.K.Narayan. Being a hard core R.K.Narayan fan, it was an amazing experience to read the autobiography 'The Tunnel of Time'. It is a wonderful book about R.K.Laxman, his cartoons, his life as a political cartoonist, his writings, his meetings with other famous personalities both in India & abroad. I just loved it all & I'm sure everyone who loves at least one of these tow amazing brothers will love this book. Go grab your copy of this book today. R.K. Laxman Great snippet of a man who made us all smile every morning. Awesome account of his life as an artist and his achievements. Though there is a faint glimpse of his family life I wish he had spoken more of his wife and son. R.K. Laxman So... I was totally enthralled by the title of the book. Unfortunately, the thing that lacked in the book was a chronological arrangement of events of the notable life of the renowned cartoonist R.K. Laxman. The best part that a reader loves after reading the book is a fascinating roller-coaster ride (especially the hardships he faced in London, during Emergency and in a legal case) of R.K. Laxman. Some incidents are really heart-touching and inspirational (the way he learns public speaking, how he adjusts in so many new environments and his childhood memory of viewing world through broken glass panes). The language is colloquial and enriching at the same time. It depicts how the author is exceptional in every way. The ending is mesmerising.

I did not find a psychological element in the tone of the author. Unfortunately, I did not find the art of drawing cartoons and caricatures, running through the words and reaching the reader. At times, I got disengaged because of poor alignment of incidents.

Anyway, for a light-read, this book is recommended. It opens a new perspective of world through the lens of a satirical cartoonist! R.K. Laxman R.K.Laxman might not be known (At least when compared with his 'Common Man' cartoons) for being a great novelist and yet he shows his versatility in this as well. He brings in the same observation power & wit of his cartoons to this autobiography as well.

Don't expect '21 lessons to great cartoon making' or '8 characteristics to win Padma Bhushan' in this... It is a plain, simple and beautiful sketch of his life. He is honest about the problems that he has faced, the decisions he had to make & all the emotions in between.

So why is this just 4 stars & not a 5-star book? I would love to hear more about his creative process... He does give a brief glimpse about but not much. Maybe all the complex things that people write about creativity are not required for someone if all that he thinks of is drawing!! R.K. Laxman

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