This chaiwala authored 18 Hindi novels

NEW DELHI: He is no ordinary chaiwala. For many, this 66-year-old man may pass on as a regular tea seller. But a close look at his roadside makeshift tea shop outside Hindi Bhawan at Vishnu Digambar Marg in the national capital reveals that he has authored 18 books and is in the process of publishing many more.

Running his tea stall for almost three decades, Laxman Rao began his journey in 1975 that led him to the roads of Delhi from a village in Maharashtra’s Amaravati to fulfill his dream of becoming a writer. However, the beginning of his journey had many obstacles, he worked as a labourer, washed utensils at dhabas, and sold cigarettes.

Facing unlimited get-outs from publishers in the beginning due to his appearance, Mr Rao understood that becoming an author was not an easy task but required a lot of patience and money for which he started selling tea 44 years ago. Honoured with many prestigious awards and titles, his work has also given him opportunities to meet prominent personalities like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Pratibha Patil, Yashwant Sinha and many more.

Writing has been Mr Rao’s passion since childhood; he completed his matriculation in Maharashtra and at the age of 37 he completed his higher secondary from CBSE board. He became a DU graduate at 50 and completed his MA in Hindi Literature at 63.

All his books are real life stories. “Whatever I have achieved till date, it’s a huge thing for me. I still run this stall because this is what my real address is, where my journey began. I still receive my invitations and letters here, some readers come here to buy my books. Writing becomes difficult at times because of tea stall but I work when I reach home at night and also in the morning,” Mr Rao said.

He has self-published all his novels, whatever he earned from selling tea, he used it for publishing his books. He created his own title “Bhartiya Sahitya Kala Prakashan” under which all his works have been published.