English Literature

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CARTOONING

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman

About the author

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Laxman, well known as R.K. Laxman,is a cartoonist who created the comic strip ‘You Said It’, featuring the common man. The comic strip showcased the life of the average Indian, his hopes and hardships. He started taking up freelance projects with newspapers and finally landing his first full-time job as a political cartoonist. Later he joined ‘The Times of India’ where “Common Man”, the character that every Indian would easily identify was created. He was also a writer in addition to cartoonist and had published many short stories, essays and articles related to travel. This is a part taken from his autobiography "Tunnel of Time".

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Short Answer Questions

1. Why did the teacher leave the classroom at times?

The teacher left the class at times when the urge to have a smoke, come over him.He leaves the class in charge of his appointee who will tell stories to students to keep them engaged, while the monitor maintained order of the class.

2. How was the class in the teacher’s absence?

The boy narrated the same story, always about the crow and the princess or the crocodile and the monkey or the donkey and the court jester. So the class did not pay any attention, as they already knew the stories.So they carried on their private gossip in whispers.

3. What was the task given by the teacher?

The task given by the class teacher, to the class, was to draw a leaf or any leaf. Instead of leaving the class in charge of the monitor before stepping out to have a couple of puffs, the teacher set the task of drawing a leaf. The class was ordered to draw a leaf, any leaf.

4. What was the father’s reaction to the caricature?

When Laxman's(author) mother invited his father to have a look at the caricature he has drawn, his father furiously ordered him to wipe it off at once. Then his mother insisted that it should remain till others come home and see it too.

5. Mention one thing the writer hated and enjoyed the most in school.

The writer disliked the arithmetic class, most in the school. He was especially weak in arithmetic. It was a nightmare for him to have to distribute fifteen mangoes equally among three people. He used to choose a seat at the back during this period.What the writer enjoyed most was listening to stories and poems and he paid his unflagging attention to the text, meaning and moral content of the lessons taught by the teacher.

English Literature

Paragraph Answer Questions

1. Describe the first teacher’s appearance.

The writer's first teacher’s appearance was conformed to the classic stereotype. He was lean and dark, with untrimmed mossy clumps of hair cascading from his upper lip. One could never see his mouth fully, and only his front two teeth jutted out like a rabbit’s when he smiled or grimaced. He used to wear a turban, a tight coat and what was called a cycle-dhoti which was wound round in a manner that made the legs resemble like narrow drainpipes. A stale smell of beedi would always hung about him permanently.

2. Explain the monitor’s function in class.

When the urge to have a smoke comes, the teacher usually leaves the class in charge of his appointee who tells stories to the class to keep them engaged, while the monitor maintained order of the class.As the boy used to narrate the same story about the crow and the princess or the crocodile and the monkey or the donkey and the court jester, the class did not pay attention as they already knew the stories and carried on their private gossip in whispers. When the monitor sees a paper dart , suddenly hurtling towards him from nowhere, or a piece of chalk fly past like a bullet, he will start taking down the names of the suspects.Later he submits the list to the teacher,when he comes back after smoking.

3. Explain how the writer felt encouraged by the teacher’s appreciation.

The teacher asked the class to queue up and began to critically examine their efforts one by one, by murmuring comments and giving marks. He twisted a boy’s ear or brought the cane down on the leg of another. When it was writer's turn, he stared at the drawing for an alarmingly long time and asked author, whether he has drawn it himself .The writer got frightened and stepped back, expecting a shower of blows. Then he told the teacher fumblingly that because the teacher asked only, he has drawn the picture. But to his great surprise and joy, the teacher held his slate up before the class and announced, how nicely Laxman (author) has drawn the leaf. He then turned to the writer and said that he will be an artist one day and told him to keep it up. He gave him ten marks out of ten. He was very impressed by the perfect shape of his peepal leaf and the details of the veins branching out along the midrib. The writer had seen these leaves countless times strewn on the road under the peepal tree, and he could draw them effortlessly. The writer was inspired by this unexpected encouragement.

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Essay Answer Questions

1. Recount the two stories mentioned in the lesson. What morals do the stories teach children?

The two stories mentioned in the lesson was one about a cow ,one of the most powerful poems about a cow called Punyakoti, grazing along with others of its herd. But Punyakoti some how strayed on the way back home in the evening. A huge hungry tiger accosted the cow and demanded that she become his meal. Not losing her calm, Punyakoti promised to come back and offer herself as his dinner after suckling her hungry calf. The tiger let her go, but to his utter surprise she was true to her promise and returned after some time. The tiger was so moved by Punyakoti’s honesty that he cried bitterly and threw himself from the edge of the cliff.The other equally unforgettable poem known to all educated Kannadigas of that era was about a woodcutter.One day he accidentally dropped his iron axe into a pond.God wanted to test his honesty. Disguised as a fisherman,God retrieved the axe from the bottom of the pool and gave it back to the woodcutter. But upon finding that the axe was made of gold, the man returned it, saying it was not his. God again plunged into the pool and came up with another axe, this time made of silver, which also was refused by the woodcutter. Finally, when the old iron axe was retrieved and offered, he accepted it with delight. God was pleased with his honesty. Revealing his divine identity, he blessed the woodcutter and rewarded him suitably.

2. The moral stories had a great impact on the writer’s creativity. Explain.

The moral stories had a great impact on the writer’s creativity.From the excerpt taken from writers autobiography we can see that the writer had a natural way of imagination towards fine details which is clear from the way he explains the appearance of his first teacher.The writers talent for drawing was inspired by an unexpected encouragement from this teacher.When he gave the task of drawing a leaf or any leaf to the class the writer also draws a leaf.When the teacher asked the class to queue up and began to critically examine their efforts one by one, the writer was frightened When it was writer's turn, he stared at the drawing for an alarmingly long time and asked author, whether he has drawn it himself Then he tolds the teacher fumblingly that because the teacher asked only, he has drawn the picture, to his great surprise and joy, the teacher held his slate up before the class and announced, how nicely Laxman (author) has drawn the leaf. He then says that he will be an artist one day and told him to keep it up. He gave him ten marks out of ten. He was very impressed by the perfect shape of his peepal leaf and the details of the veins branching out along the midrib. The writer had seen these leaves countless times strewn on the road under the peepal tree, and he could draw them effortlessly. The writer was inspired by this unexpected encouragement.

The writer's drawing on the floors, walls and doors of his house began to proliferate after this incident Once he saw Father sitting in a chair and reading a newspaper. for the writer, his fathers profile looked like that of a Roman senator, which stood out clearly and the fringe of gray hair circling his bald head looked like a wreath added to his imposing appearance. The writer sketched him on the floor with chalk which made his mother laugh.The writers talent in imagination drawing was clear from many of incidents like these.

The writer liked to read prose which taught the moral values such as truthfulness, honesty, showing respect to elders and so on, expressed through characters in folklore and mythology. The themes of the poems the were taught also urged the writer to internalise the principles of noble conduct. An active imagination, fuelled by a keen sense of absurdity, could even see the human resemblance to inanimate objects such as old buildings, the shape of bottles in a drugstore, or to certain models of automobiles.

One of the most powerful poems was about a cow called Punyakoti, who was accosted by a huge hungry tiger and demanded that she become his meal. Punyakoti promised to come back and offer herself as his dinner after suckling her hungry calf. The tiger let her go, but to his utter surprise she was true to her promise and returned after some time and the tiger so moved by Punyakoti’s honesty that he cried bitterly and threw himself from the edge of the cliff.

The writer listened to the teacher and paid unflagging attention to the text, meaning and moral content of the lessons. But he disliked the arithmetic class. He used to choose a seat at the back during this period. The arithmetic teacher matched his dreaded subject in appearance with the vertical white-red-white caste mark on his forehead which gave him a permanent frown. The writer could not help thinking that he resembled a tiger cub he had seen in the zoo.

One day he was listening to the drone of his voice without paying attention to what he was saying. He had covered the blackboard with numbers, along with several plus, minus and equal signs and multiplication and division symbols.He had asked class to copy down the whole problem and solve it. he could not make head or tail of it but pretended to be engaged in the task too.

Actually the writer was doodling and sketching figures in the margin of his exercise book.He was prowling quietly between the desks, inspecting their work. Suddenly he felt a piercing pain in his left ear. The teacher was twisting it and at the same time pulling him up by it calling him rascal, he shouted,and asks is he making fun of him and he will make him answer for this mischief. When the writer asks where have he made fun of him, He moans, and shouted shoving the exercise book on his face and pointing to a creature like a tiger cub he had drawn. He slapped writers cheek and asked in a dangerous low tone, who is it he making fun of, if it is not him. Somehow the crisis subsided after arguments on both sides,with the teacher insisting, it was his distorted image, while writer pleaded in tears, that it was only a harmless doodle of a tiger cub.It was no doubt a very unpleasant incident for the writer.

But many years later writer realized, as he matured in his profession, that the confrontation with the teacher was indeed beneficial. It was a moment of discovery vital to his understanding of the art of caricature. Behind the mask of the teacher’s public face,a person like a tiger cub could be discerned. There were other teachers whose looks could be associated with those of animals and birds.

An active imagination, fuelled by a keen sense of absurdity, could even see the human resemblance to inanimate objects such as old buildings, the shape of bottles in a drugstore, or to certain models of automobiles. This observation would certainly seem crazy to those with normal vision and thinking habits. A cartoonist born with a cock-eyed vision manipulates a face or a human situation and distorts it without losing the essence of humour.