Laxman Rao, novelist and playwright, sold chai from his stall in Delhi until the lockdown
The Hindu
India’s capital is home to a famous chaiwala. A darling of the press, fêted by numerous organisations and no stranger to the highest echelons of political office, Laxman Rao has led a storied life. It wasn’t his brews but his books that catapulted him into the public eye, and even into Teen Murti House, where Indira Gandhi hosted him in 1984. A few decades down the line, then President Pratibha Patil also had the honour. Now the author of 25 Hindi books, he’s received awards from NGOs and literary associations and been covered more than 100 times in print, broadcast and digital media. All the while, until Delhi went into lockdown last year, you could still walk right up to a tea stall on Vishnu Digambar Marg and treat yourself to a cuppa from this celebrated author.
The pandemic brought change and, in its own way, peace. Rao’s sons were doing well, so he could quite happily wrap up the tea business and focus on writing and promoting his works. Several are now available on online shopping sites and Kindle. And currently in the works is a Mahabharata-based play called Hastinapur. It’s an epilogue to the epic that aims for contemporary relevance, with an emphasis on “diagnosing and redressing the moral dilemmas of our times,” he says. It has a focus on Karna, a “great warrior, a great human being and a great friend” who Rao feels has been given short shrift by recent adaptations.
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