Laugh With Laxman
R.K. Laxman
LAUGH WITH LAXMAN
PENGUIN BOOKS
Contents
About the Author
Laugh with Laxman
Copyright
PENGUIN BOOKS
LAUGH WITH LAXMAN
Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman was born and educated in Mysore. Soon after he graduated from the University of Mysore, he started drawing cartoons for the Free Press Journal, a newspaper in Bombay. Six months later he joined the Times of India, a newspaper he has been with, as staff cartoonist, for over fifty years. He has written and published numerous short stories, essays and travel articles. Some of these were published in a book, Idle Hours. He has also written two novels, The Hotel Riviera and The Messenger, both published by Penguin Books. Penguin has also published several collections of Laxman’s cartoons in the series The Best of Laxman. In June 1998, the Times of India published a collection entitled 50 Years of Independence Through the Eyes of R.K. Laxman. Laxman’s autobiography, entitled The Tunnel of Time, was published by Penguin Books in the same month.
R.K. Laxman was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. The University of Marathwada conferred an honorary Doctor of Literature degree on him. He has won many awards for his cartoons, including Asia’s top journalism award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, in 1984.
R.K. Laxman lives in Mumbai.
Looks like Rs 2.5 crores gone down the drain, sir! It says ‘Made in Korea’ in small print!
So our search has been futile! That there are giants inhabiting this jungle is a total myth.
The upper region must be getting highly polluted! First it was the small birds, then the pigeons, then crows and now poor Superman himself!
No thanks! I just had one at the previous mirage!
Boil this thousand-year old Himalayan herb in milk mixed with lotus petals twenty times and drink it for seven months. If all this doesn’t cure you, take a couple of aspirins.
I told you not to spank him when he misbehaves! He has been taking karate lessons for self-defence!
Look at that! These gadgets are useless—no better than the servants we got rid of.
I am sorry! This is a problem we on earth have to face—bird menace. They hit aircrafts.
Please, sir! Each speaker gets only ten minutes. You have exceeded by sixty minutes . . . !
What sort of sales promotion is this? No one will buy it! You must write ‘Now only Rs 275’.
You have certainly put on height and weight since I last took your measurements, sir.
No, that’s not the machinery we ordered. It is this one and that’s the work-kit—in case it goes out of order.
That’s his wife—sort of his word processor. Whatever he says can’t pass without her processing it.
Let me see your medical degree, please, before you start operating.
After long research I found it is a Nataraja in classical dance pose belonging to the eighth century!
The analysis shows that your boy definitely has certain criminal tendencies.
He has sold out all the stuff. Truly a genius—it seems he started painting at the age of four!
Why do you look surprised? You always said it was as intelligent as a human being!
My wife and children? They are fine, thanks. How about yours?
When you invited me to join the Think Tank, I had no idea that this is what you meant.
The astrologers say that this is the worst time to launch our new venture. But the experts insist it is the best. We are referring the matter back to the astrologers for reconsideration!
I forgot the jack. But thanks to the pothole, now it doesn’t matter.
It’s a mystery why the books in that section are never returned!
How on earth are we going to track the satellite if the villagers use it for cooking!
He used to work in our lab before. He retired from service!
If you have opened the book upside down then all you have to do is to turn it around!
I am planning for the future! There is sure to be traffic jams in space!
I pampered him and gave him too much importance—my mistake!
I poured all the left-over liquids into that big flask and cleaned up the glasses.
He loves to have pictures of his wife and children on his table.
You are not an NRI? Then please move over here!
It saves a lot of bother. If you programme it, it goes about on its own—taking pictures of tourist spots and sites of historical interests.
That’s a deadly weapon he is inventing! We must stop it! If it proliferates our civilization will be wiped out one day.
. . . and thus in the most long-winded, complicated method, I have proved the oldest mathematical concept!
Our interior decorator selected it saying that the chief executive’s work-place must be surrounded by beautiful paintings!
I told you not to drive so fast on these roads with potholes. It gets too bumpy.
Hold it! He is innocent! We discovered a cockroach in the lie detector which caused it to malfunction!
See, it’s written, ‘Made in Taiwan’! I have a plastic toy like that!
Enough! You have questioned us for an hour about our profit target, foreign equity ratio etc. Remember, we are interviewing you and you have to answer our questions.
These seem to have a highly developed political sense, sir. They fight, split, regroup and again fight . . . split . . .
Force of habit. He records his income every day. I understand he was once a big business magnate!
You have sighted a planet, have you? What’s so strange about that, young man? The universe is full of them!
Are you suggesting, as marketing expert, that all this should be offered to create consumer interest in our detergent?
Don’t complain about backache, giddiness, debility. Remember, you should have been extinct millions of years ago!
That one, madam, is for ladies. It always shows 20 kg less.
There is such a shortage of water here that I decided to manufacture it this way for our domestic use.
Yes, master. I’ll give the answer in a minute using my computer!
Our traditional way of hiding is too old-fashioned for you, I suppose!
Get our progress shown in a different manner!
Atlas, you cheat!
Of course, I believe in reincarnation—I’ll come back as a ladies’ handbag, maybe!
No, no, son, you will fall sick if you eat this exposed food!
He is thoroughly spoilt! Now he won’t let us watch the news. He wants to see murders, shooting, fighting . . .
Space centre, do you read me? I am aborting the mission right here . . . !
Relax, doctor! Nobody is going to burn you. I am only trying to help you with your thesis on our rituals.
What a stupid lab boy! I asked him to get me a cup of tea and some chips and he brings me a plate of microchips.
I picked up the habit in the research lab I escaped from. They were testing the bad effects of smoking on me.
It’s all right, Father. Leave it if you find it hard to blow it.
In all my experience this is the most advanced cave painting I have come across!
It’s from an old photograph—the only one available of the founder of the industry.
Still can’t get through? Then call our agent in London to call my wife here to inform her that I won’t be coming for lunch. International calls are easier to get than the local ones.
May be I neglected my research on tooth decay, sir. But you must admit I discovered the most artistic spider in the world!
You and your new chemical gas to break into steel cupboards! Look, it has melted the money, the jewellery, everything!