Eminent cartoonist RK Laxman passes away.

26 January 2015 :: Eminent cartoonist RK Laxman passes away in a Pune hospital.

Eminent cartoonist RK Laxman passes away in a Pune hospital, where he was admitted on January 17.
R. K. Laxman
Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Laxman (24 October 1921 – 26 January 2015) was an Indian cartoonist, illustrator, and humorist. He is best known for his creation The Common Man, for his daily cartoon strip, “You Said It” in The Times of India, which started in 1951.

R. K. Laxman was born in Mysore. His father was a headmaster and Laxman was the youngest of six sons; an older brother is the famous novelist R. K. Narayan.

Laxman was engrossed by the illustrations in magazines such as The Strand Magazine, Punch, Bystander, Wide World and Tit-Bits, even before he could 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 were the cartoons 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.
R K Laxman, died at the age of 93 at Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital in Pune on 26th January 2015. He was hospitalized on 23rd January for urinary infection and chest-related problems that led to a multi-organ failure. He was put on life support after his condition worsened on 25th January 2015. He had reportedly suffered multiple strokes since 2010.