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Idle Hours
The perfect book for anyone who wishes to combine pleasure with good reading. R K Laxman takes his readers from page to page effortlessly in this compilation of his short stories, travelogues, essays and anecdotes.
The product of his own 'idle hours', this volume mainly contains themes as various as a murder mystery, to a little boy's preoccupation with an ant when the Viceroy of India was passing right before him in pomp and glory.
His travel impressions and anecdotes are retold with the same inimitable flair, vividness and ability to capture the essence, that one finds in his drawings.
The product of his own 'idle hours', this volume mainly contains themes as various as a murder mystery, to a little boy's preoccupation with an ant when the Viceroy of India was passing right before him in pomp and glory.
His travel impressions and anecdotes are retold with the same inimitable flair, vividness and ability to capture the essence, that one finds in his drawings.
167 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1982
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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 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 17, 2016
The feeling when you walk into your favourite bookstore and find an old copy of a book which you have never heard about but feel vaguely familiar is something indescribable. The publication year being 1983, I am reading this book now in 2016, more than three decades! I actually had the privilege of adding this book here on GoodReads! Of late I am growing a penchant for RK Laxman's writings. He was the only reason I read the Times of India by the way, that was just for The Common Man. This book is a collection of short stories, essays,travelogues and anecdotes. Just like his cartoons, his writing is full of wit and humour. Simplicity at its best. Do give it a read if you find a copy, if you don't, well you know whom to ask ;-)
November 23, 2024
Idle Hours - RK Laxman
Rating 3.5/5
Of late, often, my impressions of the brothers RKNarayan and RKLaxman and their literary works have been influenced by the articles of other authors written about them (or on them), their works and their personalities.
Take for example VS Naipaul dissection of RKNarayan works in his book "India - A wounded civilization" or the article, the genius, Khushwant Singh wrote about the brothers RKN and RKL.
After getting influenced by Sir Vidia, Khushwant Singh, I have subconsciously tended to rate the works of RKN and RKL slightly lower and also my mind refuses to captivate itself in ways of enthralment as before (upon reading their works).
None the less, I fairly enjoy the laid back works of the brothers and purchase them for reasons other than merit which is that of (me) being a collector!
This book comprises of writings of RKL, a few of his short stories, his travelogues, essays and anecdotes. Short stories are a few and are indeed pleasant, smell faintly of Malgudi aroma here and there, travel writings include trips to Australia, Mauritius, Nepal, Darjeeling, Lakshwadeep. Essays and anecdotes include many but ones' which I enjoyed were of encounters with VKK and literary giants of England namely, TSElliot, Bertrand Russel, David Low and few others.
Overall, a light hearted read, but coming from a writer whose generation had witnessed freedom struggle, Indian independence, partition, Indian growth post independence, may be my expectation from RKL was a bit on the higher side, considering both the brothers had a wider reach in terms of audience.
I surely would have loved to read RKL's take on various issues plaguing the country their solution if any apart from those I saw and read in his cartoon collection which primarily depicted politics, politicians, corruption, unemployment, poverty, population explosion etc. All these sounded intriguing indeed but then it could have been much more than these and just cartoons (just a food for thought).
Cheers,
Rating 3.5/5
Of late, often, my impressions of the brothers RKNarayan and RKLaxman and their literary works have been influenced by the articles of other authors written about them (or on them), their works and their personalities.
Take for example VS Naipaul dissection of RKNarayan works in his book "India - A wounded civilization" or the article, the genius, Khushwant Singh wrote about the brothers RKN and RKL.
After getting influenced by Sir Vidia, Khushwant Singh, I have subconsciously tended to rate the works of RKN and RKL slightly lower and also my mind refuses to captivate itself in ways of enthralment as before (upon reading their works).
None the less, I fairly enjoy the laid back works of the brothers and purchase them for reasons other than merit which is that of (me) being a collector!
This book comprises of writings of RKL, a few of his short stories, his travelogues, essays and anecdotes. Short stories are a few and are indeed pleasant, smell faintly of Malgudi aroma here and there, travel writings include trips to Australia, Mauritius, Nepal, Darjeeling, Lakshwadeep. Essays and anecdotes include many but ones' which I enjoyed were of encounters with VKK and literary giants of England namely, TSElliot, Bertrand Russel, David Low and few others.
Overall, a light hearted read, but coming from a writer whose generation had witnessed freedom struggle, Indian independence, partition, Indian growth post independence, may be my expectation from RKL was a bit on the higher side, considering both the brothers had a wider reach in terms of audience.
I surely would have loved to read RKL's take on various issues plaguing the country their solution if any apart from those I saw and read in his cartoon collection which primarily depicted politics, politicians, corruption, unemployment, poverty, population explosion etc. All these sounded intriguing indeed but then it could have been much more than these and just cartoons (just a food for thought).
Cheers,
May 8, 2021
This rare book was my mother's which she got as a gift in the 1990s. The first part. the stories and the travelogues we very fun to read, but the second part which consisted of essays and anecdotes, wasn't really to my liking. Overall a fun read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews