INDIA BEATS
Magnificent obsession
MADHU GURUNG
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Laxman Rao sells tea to make a living. He also writes novels because it is something he loves doing.
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Photo: Madhu Gurung
A passion for words: Laxman Rao.
There are two angles from which you can write about me, shall I tell you?”
I nod, perched on a narrow wooden plank propped up by bricks on a footpath outside the Punjabi Sahitya Sabha. Laxman Rao pumps his ancient stove and pours a measure of water, milk and a spoonful of sugar and tea leaves, when it boils he rolls it around and pours the bubbling tea into a cup and hands it to me. He nods when I take a sip, “Theek hai?” I smile. “Perfect.”
“Okay, one, you can write about my sixth book, Renu, and second, on July 22 I turned 53.” He smiles, his eyes taking in every small nuance of my face. His enthusiasm is infectious. His workman’s hands are knotted w
ith years of labour. His eyes, however, remain watchful, almost as if a part of him stands apart, constantly noting and storing conversation and nuances.
He admits as much. “I write about people and so I am all the time absorbing what they say. Even Renu is about this young girl who used to come to have tea here. She was from a very poor family and after she finished her Class
XII, she took up a job as a peon in an office where her father was once removed from service for being drunk. From that position she became a clerk, then supervisor. She continued with her studies, completed her CA exams and is a chartered accountant. It’s a true story. Today she earns lakhs and travels all over the country in aeroplanes.”
Inspired by Nanda
Over 30 years ago when Laxman Rao ran away from his home in Talegaon Dashashar, western Maharashtra, with just Rs. 40 in his pocket, he had little idea of what life had in store for him. In Bhopal where he chose to get off the train, Laxman worked as a labourer for three months before he boarded the train once again and came to Delhi. “The first place I landed in was Birla Mandir and to survive I started cleaning cups and plates at different dhabas. The year was 1975 and thos
e were the days when Gulshan Nanda was very famous. He used to write the most amazing stories in Hindi. I was so influenced by his writing that I decided that even I wanted to be Gulshan Nanda.”
“I felt, as I had done only class X, I needed to study further so at day time I worked and by night I would sit and read my books. I passed XI, XII and even did my graduation from Delhi University. Then in 1997, opposite the Suchita Bhawan on Vihsnu Digambar Road, I built a mud platform and started selling paan beedi. I did that for 14 years before I started selling tea.”
He finished writing his first book, Nai duniya ki nai kahaniya in 1979. Armed with his manuscript, he enthusiastically made the rounds of publishers. “I went to atleast 10 publishers but no one was interested. One even told me
tum paan beedi bechanewale tum kya likogye. Mere ko get out kar diya. So I decided I have come so close to making this book happen, why should I give up. So I bought paper, it was a 128 pages book
and I spent Rs. 7,000 to get it published. I priced it at Rs. 7.” He decided he would be the distributor too. Everyday, armed with a bag full of his novels, Laxman made the rounds of schools and colleges on his bicycle. It’s a routine he still continues with, “I tell the principals and librarians that I am the author of the book and they could keep a few copies to read and decide if they wanted to buy it for their library. Mostly they end up buying it.” His second book resulted after his meeting with Indira Gandhi. “I told her I wanted to write a book about her and she said, no, write about the administration and how it should be. So I wrote Pradhanmantri, Samajik Hindi Natak.”
By the time his third book, Ramdas, was finished, he was much more aware of the know-how of publishing. He was more confident about his third book so he spent Rs. 45,000 and printed 2,000 copies that have all sold out. When his four
th book, Narmada, was ready to be printed, he had been discovered by the media as a tea seller who wrote novels. “I thought because the media wrote about me, my books would now have publishers, but nothing like that happened.R
21; With some donation given by Bharatiya Anuvad Parishad, Laxman published 1,000 copies of Narmada.
In 2004, he did a political analysis and this he titled Parampara se judi Bhartiya Rajniti. Of the 2,000 printed copies, 600 copies have been sold.
Hope for the future
Laxman smiles and adds, “My wife Rekha used to say why don’t you try for a government job instead of writing and selling paan beedi. But now she is seeing money and she is no longer critical. I make about Rs. 5,000 from
selling tea and the same amount comes from my books. Another six months to a year, I will stop selling tea and will be able to make a living writing and selling my novels. My struggle is still on. Five years later or after my death, people will say here was a man who struggled and wrote and they will remember my work.”
Overhead the sky moves and a raindrop falls, more follow. Laxman gets up quickly, gathers the travelling bookshop that he has set up near his teashop, bundles them carefully into bags and stows them away. Dr. Karanjeet Singh, Director of Punjabi Sahitya Sabha watches him as he waits for an auto-rickshaw to take him home. He smiles and says, “Laxman is a hard worker and a real optimist. I have never heard him complain.”
“What is there to complain? No one told me to write, it’s my wish, my junoon (my obsession). It’s magical when words fill the pages and start speaking themselves. I have been in this business for 40 years, for tho
se who are aspiring to be writers I would say publish your own books because in a year or two year’s time it will reach the libraries and people will read you. One should not hope for money in writing, its bekar (useless). ”
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Already his hard work has resulted in several accolades and awards. Laxman admits that although he is grateful for such recognition by the Hindi literary societies, his real hope he admits with his eyes far away, is to be known as the Hindi Shakespeare. He smiles self consciously, “I still have a long way to go but I am working on it.” Around us the rain falls in a deluge, the heavens have opened up.
India Beats features stories of the unusual, the exotic and the extraordinary.
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