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A Dose of Laughter
Cartoons and jokes.
208 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2002
24 people are currently reading
439 people want to read
About the author
R.K. Laxman
57 books87 followers'''Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman''' (born October 23 1924, Mysore, India) is an Indian cartoonist, illustrator and humorist. He is widely regarded as India's greatest-ever cartoonist and is best known for his creation ''The Common Man".
R. K. Laxman was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He has won many awards for his cartoons, including Asia's top journalism award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, in 1984.
R. K. Laxman was awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan by the Government of India. He has won many awards for his cartoons, including Asia's top journalism award, the Ramon Magsaysay Award, in 1984.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
February 28, 2021
Medical jokes and comics?!
And this well done?!
Give me more!!!
A collection of 100 of the best cartoons about doctors, the medical world and their interaction with the general people, this book is full of jokes and cartoons alternating one another.
Such a fun read, more so because I can relate to the jokes and the scenarios presented.
I find the jokes and the cartoons still relevant. Damn, some jokes made me laughed out...a bit too loud!
I would say this collection is so damn precious. It's like a rare collectible I have because such collections aren't available anymore.
Lucky us, the book is still available but I don't know until when this book is going to be in print as the collection is quite a classic now.
A must have I say! Forget graphic novels, forget comic books for now. This is the fun collection which our grandparents enjoyed everyday reading the newspapers. I do believe when they told me they read the cartoons in the newspapers first before they get to the actual news content ☺️
And this well done?!
Give me more!!!
A collection of 100 of the best cartoons about doctors, the medical world and their interaction with the general people, this book is full of jokes and cartoons alternating one another.
Such a fun read, more so because I can relate to the jokes and the scenarios presented.
I find the jokes and the cartoons still relevant. Damn, some jokes made me laughed out...a bit too loud!
I would say this collection is so damn precious. It's like a rare collectible I have because such collections aren't available anymore.
Lucky us, the book is still available but I don't know until when this book is going to be in print as the collection is quite a classic now.
A must have I say! Forget graphic novels, forget comic books for now. This is the fun collection which our grandparents enjoyed everyday reading the newspapers. I do believe when they told me they read the cartoons in the newspapers first before they get to the actual news content ☺️
October 8, 2020
Some of the jokes are funny and some are not. Most are doctor humor that's why some jokes are not applicable to an ordinary human being like me. It's a brand of humor only doctors or in the medical profession can get. But anyway, it's still a nice pastime.
February 15, 2020
Just like Stan Lee does little cameo's in Marvel movies, Laxman includes himself in the illustrations, gives the perspective of a common man in a witty way.
It would have been better if the book didn't have too many doctor jokes.
It would have been better if the book didn't have too many doctor jokes.
May 23, 2020
A good time-pass. Cartoons and jokes.
September 1, 2021
Another coffee table book which did not gel along well with me.
Laxman cartoons are legendary! Around a social cause, or current affair, and generally too the point.
Intelligent, subtle sarcasm, gentleman jokes, never getting nasty, stuff which could be pleasant to one and all!
Great consistent sketches, with the author appearing in quite a few of them.
However, its not a good idea to read them back to back as a book.
Laxman cartoons are legendary! Around a social cause, or current affair, and generally too the point.
Intelligent, subtle sarcasm, gentleman jokes, never getting nasty, stuff which could be pleasant to one and all!
Great consistent sketches, with the author appearing in quite a few of them.
However, its not a good idea to read them back to back as a book.
July 12, 2017
Although The Times of India was and is still dumb at its best, it was R.K. Laxman's satirical cartoons which had brought smile despite the sad state of the current affairs for the past fifteen years. The above image of a common man was perfectly depicted in them. R.K. Laxman was the younger brother of R.K. Narayan who is the author of Malgudi Days. He began to illustrate the stories by his elder brother and then started drawing political cartoons at The Hindu. Eventually, he moved to The Times of India in 1951 and ended an illustrious career spanning more than fifty years when he was affected by a stroke in 2003. Anthropologist Ritu G. Khanduri notes - "R. K. Laxman structures his cartoon-news through a plot about corruption and a set of characters. This news is visualized and circulates through the recurring figures of the mantri (minister), the Common Man and the trope of modernity symbolized by the airplane.
Now, coming back to the book, it is divided yet amalgamated in two parts. First part on the right or odd-numbered pages, the best I believe, is a satirical collection of cartoons based on medical profession's topics like overcrowded hospitals (front cover page), laboratory research, immigration of doctors to North America and Europe, ailments, maladies, and politicians and criminals feigning illness. The collection is simply brilliant.
Now, moving to the next part, the publishers thought that adding
Finally, I am enclosing with a famous cartoon of R.K. Laxman on elections and promises -
January 11, 2021
This collection of cartoons related to healthcare in general by RK Laxman. Some of them contain his famous common man. Along with cartoons the publisher included jokes as well.
June 29, 2021
This book is full of satirical cartoons of RK Laxman interspersed with jokes on doctors. In the tragic times of Covid, it indeed provided a dose of laughter, much needed by me.
April 13, 2020
Amazing caricatures! Indeed a deserving Padma Bhushan. :)
January 10, 2017
A great book fully comprised of funny cartoons and some really witty jokes.
You would have heard a lot jokes like this but that doesn't make the book boring.
The caricatures, expressions and RK Laxman's perspective eyes give you an amazing time with many incredibly witty, intelligent and funny doses of Laughter.
For more detailed reviews visit : http://dbthetablesareturned.blogspot.in/
You would have heard a lot jokes like this but that doesn't make the book boring.
The caricatures, expressions and RK Laxman's perspective eyes give you an amazing time with many incredibly witty, intelligent and funny doses of Laughter.
For more detailed reviews visit : http://dbthetablesareturned.blogspot.in/
October 4, 2016
A Dose of Laughter brings together a hundred cartoons by India’s best-loved cartoonist, RK Laxman, on medicine and related topics. Health, sanitation, pollution, adulterated foodstuffs and drugs—all of these become the butt of Laxman’s jokes. Along with the hundred cartoons are a hundred jokes, nearly all of them specifically related to doctors.
This book is a very quick, very easy read. Laxman’s cartoons, barring the occasional one (a lab coat-clad gentleman, shaking hands with a monkey in a forest and telling a friend who’s standing alongside that the monkey had once been in their lab but has now retired), are mostly pretty funny. They run the gamut from comments on staff strikes in hospitals, pollution, drought, the heavy schoolbags children bear, and more—but the cartoons that connect to politics are the best. A pair of stick-thin, decrepit villagers happily assure a visiting politician that the drought hasn’t affected them at all, because they’ve always starved here. A sweeper, bearing a broom and dustpan, standing expectantly outside a top minister’s office, is informed by a minor official that all that isn’t needed now; it was only for the launching of the sanitation drive.
For me, the accompanying jokes take away somewhat from the joy of Laxman’s cartoons. Some of the jokes are poorly chosen (in this day and age, Sardarji jokes are hardly considered ‘correct’), and a sequence of poor two-line PJs around the halfway mark is tedious. I’d have preferred this, even if it meant a substantially slimmer book (or a book divided into two parts, with the other devoted to another topic?), to be devoted exclusively to RK Laxman.
Despite that, an enjoyable read.
This book is a very quick, very easy read. Laxman’s cartoons, barring the occasional one (a lab coat-clad gentleman, shaking hands with a monkey in a forest and telling a friend who’s standing alongside that the monkey had once been in their lab but has now retired), are mostly pretty funny. They run the gamut from comments on staff strikes in hospitals, pollution, drought, the heavy schoolbags children bear, and more—but the cartoons that connect to politics are the best. A pair of stick-thin, decrepit villagers happily assure a visiting politician that the drought hasn’t affected them at all, because they’ve always starved here. A sweeper, bearing a broom and dustpan, standing expectantly outside a top minister’s office, is informed by a minor official that all that isn’t needed now; it was only for the launching of the sanitation drive.
For me, the accompanying jokes take away somewhat from the joy of Laxman’s cartoons. Some of the jokes are poorly chosen (in this day and age, Sardarji jokes are hardly considered ‘correct’), and a sequence of poor two-line PJs around the halfway mark is tedious. I’d have preferred this, even if it meant a substantially slimmer book (or a book divided into two parts, with the other devoted to another topic?), to be devoted exclusively to RK Laxman.
Despite that, an enjoyable read.
Read
October 14, 2017Although I already knew some of the jokes, the manner in which the R K Lakshman illustrates it with his crazy sketches evokes good laughter.
May 29, 2020
A perfect book to cheer us in these troubled times, where politicians, police, and doctors are the only people who the common man is interacting with. It reminds us of our days of the newspaper cartoon clippings. Each joke has a deeper meaning filled with sarcasm and wit. I loved every bit of the book.
September 9, 2020
Professional jokes are often inconsiderate. Cartoons are fine. The cartoons are mostly politics realted. Majority mocking the politicians and criminals who fall sick time to time, create drama or political injuries that make them to be hospitalized. Could be better. I was planning to read the novel by RK laxman. Now it will be delayed.
June 1, 2021
Made me laugh on every sitting while reading this book.
Funny, intriguing, and eternally relevant for sure (even in 2021).
Listing some of my favorites (as per the page numbers on the book):-
1. Cartoons: - 63, 67, 81, 87, 101, 117, 125, 147, 151, 163, 171, 199
2. Jokes:- 78, 82, 88, 92, 116, 132, 134, 172, 184
Funny, intriguing, and eternally relevant for sure (even in 2021).
Listing some of my favorites (as per the page numbers on the book):-
1. Cartoons: - 63, 67, 81, 87, 101, 117, 125, 147, 151, 163, 171, 199
2. Jokes:- 78, 82, 88, 92, 116, 132, 134, 172, 184
February 2, 2025
My most favourite cartoonist.
These are so thoughtfully created. Like the meaning they hold.
Some of the Best satire to come out of India.
Damn, that's some clever illustrations.
Sir is the only reason CBSE High School Political Science is interesting.
These are so thoughtfully created. Like the meaning they hold.
Some of the Best satire to come out of India.
Damn, that's some clever illustrations.
Sir is the only reason CBSE High School Political Science is interesting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 13, 2018
The rating is for the R.K.Laxman cartoons. Most of the other jokes are pretty lame. Quite a few of them were familiar. Go fo it if you have nothing else to read
October 4, 2018
As always Laxman is witty and amazing
May 9, 2020
Laxmans cartoons are good but the hundred jokes are just average.
July 25, 2020
The cartoons are classy as ever. The jokes are of a different genre. Enjoyed reading very much.
August 28, 2020
A laughter a day, keeps doctor away 😄
May 2, 2021
It's astonishing how everything changes yet nothing changes. This is quick and simple, light read to just browse through.
May 11, 2021
best book to carry along a short voyage.
May 21, 2021
A quick read with a dose of laughter... Can go through the book at once or take it daily....i will surely make you laugh...
June 5, 2021
A perfectly light hearted quick read for a leisurely Saturday afternoon. Enjoyed it!
August 28, 2021
A good dose of laughter indeed - Some really nice ones included in the list that will be fun to read
September 10, 2024
Satirical and light humour illustrated book
October 31, 2024
Good light hearted book. Good for small breaks between tasks.
January 15, 2025
Just one word "Fabulous".
One place where the collection of all RK Laxman cartoons on medical, politics.
I am still laughing remembering some of the cartoon.
One place where the collection of all RK Laxman cartoons on medical, politics.
I am still laughing remembering some of the cartoon.
June 20, 2025
A quick read with a dose of laughter... Can go through the book at once or take it daily....i will surely make you laugh...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews