The Distorted Mirror: Stories, Travelogues, Sketches

R.K. Laxman, India’s best-loved cartoonist, is also one of the country’s best writers of humorous prose. The Distorted Mirror brings together some of his best short stories, essays and travelogues. The collection begins with ‘An Accident’, a most unusual mystery story where the murder weapon is a newspaper. In other stories, we are introduced to Gopal, a schoolboy in an ordinary small town that is transformed one day when the Viceroy visits; Shantha, a little girl who makes an interesting discovery in the midst of a wedding; Bhaskar, a writer who is suddenly confronted by his past; and Mr. Datta, the owner of the Modern Frame Works, who finds himself in an unexpected fix one morning. Each story is marked by Laxman’s ability to delineate a character or a moment with a few deft strokes, and imbued with his trademark wit. No less fascinating are the travelogues – about the United States, Australia, the Andamans, Darjeeling, Mauritius and Kathmandu – which are brought to life by Laxman’s vivid descriptions and his inimitable way of looking at the world around him. The collection is rounded off with a few rare and delightful anecdotes about Laxman’s cartooning career, a subject on which he is usually reticent. Available in print after a long time, and accompanied by Laxman’s illustrations, the pieces in The Distorted Mirror will amuse and entertain every fan of R.K. Laxman’s.