Laxman conferred the Agarkar awards instituted by Choufer, a socio-cultural organisation here, upon former editor of Maharashtra Times Govind Talwalkar and editor of Miloon Saryajani and activist Vidya Bal at the function, which turned out to be listeners' delight, albeit the missing political fireworks. The function coincided with the death anniversary of the sculptor of modern Maharashtra, Y B Chavan.

The present and former Chief Ministers sharing a dias, after a long time, against the backdrop of the volatile political situation in the State, had raised the expectations of many, over a ``war of words'' between wittyJoshi and an unruffled Pawar.

R K Laxman added colour to the function when he drew Manohar Joshi, Sharad Pawar and finally his brainchild, the `Common Man' (a fictional character symbolising the average middle-class Indian), for the applauding audience.

In his brief address, Laxman reminded the listeners of Pandit Nehru's famous speech where he had termed Indian Independence as a ``tryst with the destiny''. The speech inspired people to march ahead, hand in hand, with dreams of betterment and prosperity, he said and added that what we were seeing today was a transition from bad to worse. In spite of many serious challenges before the nation, the quarrels were on topics like Saraswati Vandana, Vande Mataram and whether or not to play cricket, he rued.

Except during the Emergency, he had had no problem in drawing his cartoons, he said. And if the situation continued to surge towards the worst, it would only serve better for a cartoonist like him, Laxman added.

Earlier, drawing parallels betweenthe social activities of Gopal Ganesh Agarkar and Y B Chavan, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Pawar, stated that both worked to achieve similar goals in different eras. A staunch rationalist, Agarkar always stressed on social changes and at the same time supported the freedom struggle, he said.

Agarkar was very active in laying the foundation of the Indian National Congress party while he was in Pune in 1885, Pawar said.

Editors of dailies having completed 50 years, including Anand Agashe, Resident Editor of the Pune edition of Loksatta, Suresh Palnitkar of Eaikya and Pratapsinh Jadhav of Pudhari and a journalist from Karad Mohan Kulkarni were honoured by Laxman on the occasion.

The dignitaries paid their respects to Y B Chavan before the function at the samadhi of the late leaders on the banks of Krishna.