A lover of books since his school days, he had to drop out of school and take up the job of ironing cloths owing to financial constraints. During the last 10 years he has purchased around 3000 valuable books which include the Complete Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda and Shakespeare, the 3-volume Das Capital, Encyclopedia, Puranas etc.

5 years ago, he went to Thalassery with Rs.25000 got through chitty and came back with a sack full of books, These are arranged in his home library. A serious reader of inspiring biographies and psychological books, Lakshmanan spends considerable part of his spare time in the library.