Ex-diplomat Placido D'Souza mourns loss of cartoonist R.K. Laxman

Former diplomat and artist Placido D'Souza has expressed his sorrow over the passing away of well known cartoonist R.K. Laxman, whom he described as a good friend and a man who had helped him in many ways.

Recalling his long association with Laxman, D'Souza said that he had done a sketch of him and he had been kind enough to sign it for my collection of autographed sketches of celebrities.

He said that these autographed sketches would be exhibited this evening by the Indian Consul General, San Francisco, at his Republic Day reception.

Laxman died of multi-organ failure at a hospital in Pune, Mharashtra, on Monday evening. He was 94.

He had spent over six decades doing a variety of cartoons, most which lampooned the Indian political class for its many alleged miscemeanours, and failure to arrest the socio-economic slide of the country.