Google doodles to pay tribute to cartoonist RK Laxman on birth anniversary

Google celebrated the 94th birthday of legendary cartoonist RK Laxman, the creator of The Common Man, with a special Doodle on Saturday. The doodle, in black-and-white just like Laxman’s sketches which created history, depicts a studio in three parts, comprising his work desk, the artist sitting on a chair drawing his famous ‘Common Man’ on a vertical canvas, with the Common Man peeping from behind, and a collection of work canvasses shown at the end. “We are very pleased and happy that Google has honoured his memory today with a dedicated doodle…” the cartoonist’s daughter-in-law Usha Srinivas Laxman told IANS. Born this day in 1921, Laxman passed away aged 93 after a prolonged illness in a Pune hospital on 26 January this year, marking the end of an era. He is survived his widow Kamala, son Srinivas, daughter-in-law Usha, grand-daugther Rimanika. Laxman’s is the latest in the series of over 2,000 special doodles created by Google so far to mark various important milestones of global importance, historic or contemporary, birth anniversaries of top personalities and other important events or festivals. The last one figuring an Indian artiste was themed on the late MF Husain on his birth centenary on 26 September. IANS