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Author Introduction

Important works
R. K. Narayan

 Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May

2001), commonly known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer known for
his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi.

 He was a leading author of early Indian literature in English along with

Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

 Narayan's mentor and friend Graham Greene was instrumental in getting

publishers for Narayan's first four books including the semi-autobiographical
trilogy of Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The English
Teacher.

 The fictional town of Malgudi was first introduced in Swami and Friends.

 Narayan's The Financial Expert was hailed as one of the most original works
of 1951 and Sahitya Academy Award winner The Guide was adapted for
film (winning a Filmfare Award for Best Film) and for Broadway.

 Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters.

 He has been compared to William Faulkner who also created a similar

fictional town and likewise explored with humour and compassion the
energy of ordinary life.

 Narayan's short stories have been compared with those of Guy de

Maupassant because of his ability to compress a narrative.
  In a career that spanned over sixty years Narayan received many awards and
honours including the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of
Literature, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan, India's second
and third highest civilian awards, and in 1994 the Sahitya Akademi
Fellowship, the highest honour of India's national academy of letters.

 He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's
parliament.

Early life

 R. K. Narayan was born in Madras (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu), British

India into a Iyer Vadama Brahmin family.

 He was one of eight children; six sons and two daughters. Narayan was
second among the sons; his younger brother Ramachandran later became an
editor at Gemini Studios, and the youngest brother Laxman became a
cartoonist.

 His father was a school headmaster, and Narayan did some of his studies at
his father's school.

 As his father's job entailed frequent transfers, Narayan spent a part of his
childhood under the care of his maternal grandmother, Parvati.

 During this time his best friends and playmates were a peacock and a
mischievous monkey.
 His grandmother gave him the nickname of Kunjappa, A name that stuck to
him in family circles.

 She taught him arithmetic, mythology, classical Indian music and Sanskrit.

 According to Laxman, the family mostly conversed in English, and

grammatical errors on the part of Narayan and his siblings were frowned
upon.

 While living with his grandmother, Narayan studied at a succession of

schools in Madras, including the Lutheran Mission School in Purasawalkam,
C.R.C. High School, and the Christian College High School.

 Narayan was an avid reader, and his early literary diet included Dickens,
Wodehouse, Arthur Conan Doyle and Thomas Hardy.

 When he was twelve years old, Narayan participated in a pro-independence

march, for which he was reprimanded by his uncle; the family was apolitical
and considered all governments wicked.

 Narayan moved to Mysore to live with his family when his father was
transferred to the Maharajah's College High School.

 The well-stocked library at the school, as well as his father's own, fed his
reading habit, and he started writing as well.

 After completing high school, Narayan failed the university entrance

examination and spent a year at home reading and writing; he subsequently
passed the examination in 1926 and joined Maharaja College of Mysore.

 It took Narayan four years to obtain his bachelor's degree, a year longer than
usual.
 After being persuaded by a friend that taking a master's degree (M.A.) would
kill his interest in literature, he briefly held a job as a school teacher;
however, he quit in protest when the headmaster of the school asked him to
substitute for the physical training master.

 The experience made Narayan realise that the only career for him was in
writing, and he decided to stay at home and write novels.

 His first published work was a book review of Development of Maritime

Laws of 17th-Century England.

 Subsequently, he started writing the occasional local interest story for

English newspapers and magazines.

 Although the writing did not pay much (his income for the first year was
nine rupees and twelve annas), he had a regular life and few needs, and his
family and friends respected and supported his unorthodox choice of career.

 In 1930, Narayan wrote his first novel, Swami and Friends, an effort
ridiculed by his uncle and rejected by a string of publishers.

 With this book, Narayan created Malgudi, a town that creatively reproduced
the social sphere of the country; while it ignored the limits imposed by
colonial rule, it also grew with the various socio-political changes of British
and post-independence India.

 While vacationing at his sister's house in Coimbatore, in 1933, Narayan met

and fell in love with Rajam, a 15-year-old girl who lived nearby.

 Despite many astrological and financial obstacles, Narayan managed to gain

permission from the girl's father and married her.
 Following his marriage, Narayan became a reporter for a Madras-based
paper called The Justice, dedicated to the rights of non-Brahmins.

 The publishers were thrilled to have a Brahmin Iyer in Narayan espousing

their cause.

 The job brought him in contact with a wide variety of people and issues.

 Earlier, Narayan had sent the manuscript of Swami and Friends to a friend at
Oxford, and about this time, the friend showed the manuscript to Graham
Greene. Greene recommended the book to his publisher, and it was finally
published in 1935.

 Greene also counseled Narayan on shortening his name to become more

familiar to the English-speaking audience.

 The book was semi-autobiographical and built upon many incidents from his
own childhood.

 Reviews were favourable but sales were few. Narayan's next novel The
Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in part by his experiences at college,
and dealt with the theme of a rebellious adolescent transitioning to a rather
well-adjusted adult; it was published by a different publisher, again at the
recommendation of Greene.

 His third novel, The Dark Room (1938) was about domestic disharmony,
showcasing the man as the oppressor and the woman as the victim within a
marriage, and was published by yet another publisher; this book also
received good reviews.
 In 1937, Narayan's father died, and Narayan was forced to accept a
commission from the government of Mysore as he was not making any
money.

 In his first three books, Narayan highlights the problems with certain
socially accepted practices.

 The first book has Narayan focusing on the plight of students, punishments
of caning in the classroom, and the associated shame.

 The concept of horoscope-matching in Hindu marriages and the emotional

toll it levies on the bride and groom is covered in the second book.

 In the third book, Narayan addresses the concept of a wife putting up with
her husband's antics and attitudes.

 Rajam died of typhoid in 1939.

 Her death affected Narayan deeply and he remained depressed for a long
time.

 He never remarried in his life; he was also concerned for their daughter
Hema, who was only three years old.

 The bereavement brought about a significant change in his life and was the
inspiration behind his next novel, The English Teacher.

 This book, like his first two books, is autobiographical, but more so, and
completes an unintentional thematic trilogy following Swami and Friends
and The Bachelor of Arts.
 In subsequent interviews, Narayan acknowledges that The English Teacher
was almost entirely an autobiography, albeit with different names for the
characters and the change of setting in Malgudi; he also explains that the
emotions detailed in the book reflected his own at the time of Rajam's death.

 Bolstered by some of his successes, in 1940 Narayan tried his hand at a

journal, Indian Thought.

 With the help of his uncle, a car salesman, Narayan managed to get more
than a thousand subscribers in Madras city alone.

 However, the venture did not last long due to Narayan's inability to manage
it, and it ceased publication within a year.

 His first collection of short stories, Malgudi Days, was published in

November 1942, followed by The English Teacher in 1945.

 In between, being cut off from England due to the war, Narayan started his
own publishing company, naming it (again) Indian Thought Publications;
the publishing company was a success and is still active, now managed by
his granddaughter.

 Soon, with a devoted readership stretching from New York to Moscow,

Narayan's books started selling well and in 1948 he started building his own
house on the outskirts of Mysore; the house was completed in 1953.

 Around this period, Narayan wrote the story for the Gemini Studios film
Miss Malini (1947), which remained the only story written by him for the
screen that came to fruition.
The busy years

 After The English Teacher, Narayan's writings took a more imaginative and
creative external style compared to the semi-autobiographical tone of the
earlier novels.

 His next effort, Mr. Sampath, was the first book exhibiting this modified
approach.

 However, it still draws from some of his own experiences, particularly the
aspect of starting his own journal; he also makes a marked movement away
from his earlier novels by intermixing biographical events.

 Soon after, he published The Financial Expert, considered to be his

masterpiece and hailed as one of the most original works of fiction in 1951.

 The inspiration for the novel was a true story about a financial genius,
Margayya, related to him by his brother.

 The next novel, Waiting for the Mahatma, loosely based on a fictional visit
to Malgudi by Mahatma Gandhi, deals with the protagonist's romantic
feelings for a woman, when he attends the discourses of the visiting
Mahatma.

 The woman, named Bharti, is a loose parody of Bharati, the personification

of India and the focus of Gandhi's discourses.
 While the novel includes significant references to the Indian independence
movement, the focus is on the life of the ordinary individual, narrated with
Narayan's usual dose of irony.

 In 1953, his works were published in the United States for the first time, by
Michigan State University Press, who later (in 1958), relinquished the rights
to Viking Press.

 While Narayan's writings often bring out the anomalies in social structures
and views, he was himself a traditionalist; in February 1956, Narayan
arranged his daughter's wedding following all orthodox Hindu rituals.

 After the wedding, Narayan began travelling occasionally, continuing to

write at least 1500 words a day even while on the road.

 The Guide was written while he was visiting the United States in 1956 on
the Rockefeller Fellowship.

 While in the U.S., Narayan maintained a daily journal that was to later serve
as the foundation for his book My Dateless Diary.

 Around this time, on a visit to England, Narayan met his friend and mentor
Graham Greene for the first and only time.

 On his return to India, The Guide was published; the book is the most
representative of Narayan's writing skills and elements, ambivalent in
expression, coupled with a riddle-like conclusion.

 The book won him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958.

 Occasionally, Narayan was known to give form to his thoughts by way of

essays, some published in newspapers and journals, others not.
 Next Sunday (1960), was a collection of such conversational essays, and his
first work to be published as a book.

 Soon after that, My Dateless Diary, describing experiences from his 1956
visit to the United States, was published.

 Also included in this collection was an essay about the writing of The Guide.

 Narayan's next novel, The Man-Eater of Malgudi, was published in 1961.

 The book was reviewed as having a narrative that is a classical art form of
comedy, with delicate control.

 After the launch of this book, the restless Narayan once again took to
travelling, and visited the U.S. and Australia.

 He spent three weeks in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne giving lectures on

Indian literature.

 The trip was funded by a fellowship from the Australian Writers' Group.

 By this time Narayan had also achieved significant success, both literary and
financial.

 He had a large house in Mysore, and wrote in a study with no fewer than
eight windows; he drove a new Mercedes-Benz, a luxury in India at that
time, to visit his daughter who had moved to Coimbatore after her marriage.

 With his success, both within India and abroad, Narayan started writing
columns for magazines and newspapers including The Hindu and The
Atlantic.
 In 1964, Narayan published his first mythological work, Gods, Demons and
Others, a collection of rewritten and translated short stories from Hindu
epics.

 Like many of his other works, this book was illustrated by his younger
brother R. K. Laxman.

 The stories included were a selective list, chosen on the basis of powerful
protagonists, so that the impact would be lasting, irrespective of the reader's
contextual knowledge.

 Once again, after the book launch, Narayan took to travelling abroad.

 In an earlier essay, he had written about the Americans wanting to

understand spirituality from him, and during this visit, Swedish-American
actress Greta Garbo accosted him on the topic, despite his denial of any
knowledge.

 Narayan's next published work was the 1967 novel, The Vendor of Sweets.

 It was inspired in part by his American visits and consists of extreme

characterizations of both the Indian and American stereotypes, drawing on
the many cultural differences.

 However, while it displays his characteristic comedy and narrative, the book
was reviewed as lacking in depth.

 This year, Narayan travelled to England, where he received the first of his
honorary doctorates from the University of Leeds.

 The next few years were a quiet period for him.

  He published his next book, a collection of short stories, A Horse and Two
Goats, in 1970.

 Meanwhile, Narayan remembered a promise made to his dying uncle in

1938, and started translating the Kamba Ramayanam to English.

 The Ramayana was published in 1973, after five years of work.

 Almost immediately after publishing The Ramayana, Narayan started

working on a condensed translation of the Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata.

 While he was researching and writing the epic, he also published another
book, The Painter of Signs (1977).

 The Painter of Signs is a bit longer than a novella and makes a marked
change from Narayan's other works, as he deals with hitherto unaddressed
subjects such as sex, although the development of the protagonist's character
is very similar to his earlier creations.

 The Mahabharata was published in 1978.

The later years

 Narayan was commissioned by the government of Karnataka to write a book

to promote tourism in the state.

 The work was published as part of a larger government publication in the

late 1970s.

 He thought it deserved better, and republished it as The Emerald Route

(Indian Thought Publications, 1980).
 The book contains his personal perspective on the local history and heritage,
but being bereft of his characters and creations, it misses his enjoyable
narrative.

 The same year, he was elected as an honorary member of the American

Academy of Arts and Letters and won the AC Benson Medal from the Royal
Society of Literature.

 Around the same time, Narayan's works were translated to Chinese for the
first time.

 In 1983, Narayan published his next novel, A Tiger for Malgudi, about a
tiger and its relationship with humans.

 His next novel, Talkative Man, published in 1986, was the tale of an aspiring
journalist from Malgudi.

 During this time, he also published two collections of short stories: Malgudi
Days (1982), a revised edition including the original book and some other
stories, and Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories, a new collection.

 In 1987, he completed A Writer's Nightmare, another collection of essays

about topics as diverse as the caste system, Nobel prize winners, love, and
monkeys.

 The collection included essays he had written for newspapers and magazines
since 1958.

 He was Living alone in Mysore, Narayan developed an interest in

agriculture.

 He bought an acre of agricultural land and tried his hand at farming.

 He was also prone to walking to the market every afternoon, not so much for
buying things, but to interact with the people.

 In a typical afternoon stroll, he would stop every few steps to greet and
converse with shopkeepers and others, most likely gathering material for his
next book.

 In 1980, Narayan was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the
Indian Parliament, for his contributions to literature.

 During his entire six-year term, he was focused on one issue—the plight of
school children, especially the heavy load of school books and the negative
effect of the system on a child's creativity, which was something that he first
highlighted in his debut novel, Swami and Friends.

 His inaugural speech was focused on this particular problem, and resulted in
the formation of a committee chaired by Prof. Yash Pal, to recommend
changes to the school educational system.

 In 1990, he published his next novel, The World of Nagaraj, also set in
Malgudi.

 Narayan's age shows in this work as he appears to skip narrative details that
he would have included if this were written earlier in his career.

 Soon after he finished the novel, Narayan fell ill and moved to Madras to be
close to his daughter's family.

 A few years after his move, in 1994, his daughter died of cancer and his
granddaughter Bhuvaneswari (Minnie) started taking care of him in addition
to managing Indian Thought Publications.
 Narayan then published his final book, Grandmother's Tale.

 The book is an autobiographical novella, about his great-grandmother who

travelled far and wide to find her husband, who ran away shortly after their
marriage.

 The story was narrated to him by his grandmother, when he was a child.

 During his final years, Narayan, ever fond of conversation, would spend
almost every evening with N. Ram, the publisher of The Hindu, drinking
coffee and talking about various topics until well past midnight.

 Despite his fondness of meeting and talking to people, he stopped giving

interviews.

 The apathy towards interviews was the result of an interview with Time,
after which Narayan had to spend a few days in the hospital, as he was
dragged around the city to take photographs that were never used in the
article.

 In May 2001, Narayan was hospitalized.

 A few hours before he was to be put on a ventilator, he was planning on

writing his next novel, a story about a grandfather.

 As he was always very selective about his choice of notebooks, he asked N.

Ram to get him one.

 However, Narayan did not get better and never started the novel.

 He died on 13 May 2001, in Chennai at the age of 94.

Awards and honours

 Narayan won numerous awards during the course of his literary career.

 His first major award was in 1958, the Sahitya Akademi Award for The
Guide.

 When the book was made into a film, he received the Filmfare Award for the
best story.

 In 1964, he received the Padma Bhushan during the Republic Day honours.

 In 1980, he was awarded the AC Benson Medal by the (British) Royal

Society of Literature, of which he was an honorary member.

 In 1982 he was elected an honorary member of the American Academy of

Arts and Letters.

 He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times, but never
won the honour.

 Recognition also came in the form of honorary doctorates conferred by the

University of Leeds (1967), Delhi University (1973) and the University of
Mysore (1976).

 Toward the end of his career, Narayan was nominated to the upper house of
the Indian Parliament for a six-year term starting in 1989, for his
contributions to Indian literature.

 A year before his death, in 2001, he was awarded India's second-highest

civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, honorary membership of American
 Academy of Arts and Literature, AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of
Literature.

Novels

 Swami and Friends (1935, Hamish Hamilton)

 The Bachelor of Arts (1937, Thomas Nelson)

 The Dark Room (1938, Eyre)

 The English Teacher (1945, Eyre)

 Mr. Sampath (1948, Eyre)

 The Financial Expert (1952, Methuen)

 Waiting for the Mahatma (1955, Methuen)

 The Guide (1958, Methuen)

 The Man-Eater of Malgudi (1961, Viking)

 The Vendor of Sweets (1967, The Bodley Head)

 The Painter of Signs (1977, Heinemann)

 A Tiger for Malgudi (1983, Heinemann)

 Talkative Man (1986, Heinemann)

 The World of Nagaraj (1990, Heinemann)

 Grandmother's Tale (1992, Indian Thought Publications)

Non-fiction

 Next Sunday (1960, Indian Thought Publications)

 My Dateless Diary (1960, Indian Thought Publications)

 My Days (1973, Viking)

 Reluctant Guru (1974, Orient Paperbacks)

 The Emerald Route (1980, Indian Thought Publications)

 A Writer's Nightmare (1988, Penguin Books)

 A Story-Teller's World (1989, Penguin Books)

 The Writerly Life (2001, Penguin Books India)

 Mysore (1944, second edition, Indian Thought Publications)

Mythology

 Gods, Demons and Others (1964, Viking)

 The Ramayana (1972, Chatto & Windus)

 The Mahabharata (1978, Heinemann)

Short story collections

  Malgudi Days (1942, Indian Thought Publications)

 An Astrologer's Day and Other Stories (1947, Indian Thought Publications)

 Lawley Road and Other Stories (1956, Indian Thought Publications)

 A Horse and Two Goats (1970)

 Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories (1985)

 The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories (1994, Viking)

Adaptations

 Narayan's book The Guide was adapted into the Hindi film Guide, directed
by Vijay Anand.

 An English-language version was also released. Narayan was not happy with
the way the film was made and its deviation from the book; he wrote a
column in Life magazine, "The Misguided Guide," criticising the film.

 The book was also adapted to a Broadway play by Harvey Breit and Patricia
Rinehart, and was staged at Hudson Theatre in 1968 with Zia Mohyeddin
playing the lead role and a music score by Ravi Shankar.

 Mr. Sampath was made into a Hindi film of the same name with Padmini
and Motilal and produced by Gemini Studios.

 Another novel, The Financial Expert, was made into the Kannada film
Banker Margayya.
  Swami and Friends, The Vendor of Sweets and some of Narayan's short
stories were adapted by actor-director Shankar Nag into the television series
Malgudi Days.

 Narayan was happy with the adaptations and complimented the producers
for sticking to the storyline in the books.

Swami and Friends

 Swami and Friends is the first of a trilogy of novels written by R. K.

Narayan (1906–2001), English language novelist from India.

 The novel, the first book Narayan wrote, is set in British India in a fictional
town called Malgudi.

 The second and third books in the trilogy are The Bachelor of Arts and The
English Teacher.

 Malgudi Schooldays is a slightly abridged version of Swami and Friends,

and includes two additional stories featuring Swami from Malgudi Days and
Under the Banyan Tree.

Characters

 W.S. Swaminathan:

 A ten-year boy studying at Albert Mission School, Malgudi.

 He lives in Vinayaka Mudali Street.

  He is later transferred to Board High School.

 Mani:

 Swami's classmate at Albert Mission School, lives in Abu Lane, he is known

as 'Mighty good-for-nothing'.

 He carries around a club sometimes, and threatens to beat his enemies to a

pulp.

 He hardly concerns about his studies.

 M. Rajam:

 Swami's classmate at Albert Mission School lives in Lawley

Extension.

 His father is the Deputy Police Superintendent of Malgudi.

 He previously studied at an English Boys' School, Madras.

 He is also the Captain of Malgudi Cricket Club (MCC).

 Somu:

 Monitor of 1st Form A Section, lives in Kabeer Street.

 He fails in 1st Form and is "automatically excluded from the group".

 Sankar:
  Swami's classmate in 1st Form A Section.

 His father gets transferred at the end of the term.

 He is the most brilliant boy of the class.

 Samuel ("The Pea"):

 Swami's classmate in 1st Form A Section.

 He is known as "The Pea" because of his height.

 W. T. Srinivasan:

 Swami's father, a lawyer

 Lakshmi:

 Swami's mother, homemaker

 Subbu: Swami's little brother

Plot summary

 The story revolves around a ten year old school boy named Chaminathan
and his friends.
 Throughout the novel he is called as Swami.

 All the events take place in Malgudi, A fictional town.

 Swami wakes up a bit late on a Monday morning.

 As usual, his father scolds him for not getting up in time and his
grandmother comes to defend him as mostly she does throughout the novel.

 His father takes him strictly and scolds him for not completing his
homework.

 Swami rushes through his homework and then he goes to School.

 He is studying in Albert Mission School.

 He feels bored in the class.

 He gets a poor grade in Mathematics.

 Swami gets involved in some arguments with his class teacher, Mr.
Ebenezar, a Christian ideologist.

 Mr. Ebenezar criticizes the practices of Hindu religion, like Idol Worship.

 Swami and his friends feel offended. Swami tells about this to his father.

 Next day, he comes with a letter from his father to the headmaster
complaining against that teacher for not giving respect to non-christian boys
and their religion.

 The headmaster scolds Ebenezar and also asked Swami to report to him in
the future but not to his father.
 Swami also tells his friends about the letter.

 Among his friends, there are Mani, Somu, Sankar and Samuel.

 Mani is a mighty boy, lazy at times and not so good at studies.

 Somu is the class monitor. Sankar is very sharp and intelligent in studies.

 Samuel is nick named as 'The Pea' for his height.

 Later in that evening, Swami and Mani sit on the banks of the Sarayu river
and they are talking about Rajam, one of their classmates.

 Rajam is the son of a wealthy Police Superintendent.

 Mani does not like Rajam and he wants to throw him into the river.

 Mani sees Rajam as his rival.

 Swami says that he will always take his side.

 But at the same time, Swami wishes him to reconcile with Rajam.

 In the school, Mani challenges Rajam for a fight to prove who is better and
more powerful.

 Swami acts a mediator between the two.

 They decide to meet for the fight on the banks of the river.

 But when the time for the fight comes, Rajam suggests that they should
become friends and Mani agrees.

 By their reconciliation, Swami is the one who is the happiest of all.

 He has great admirations for Rajam for his good qualities.

 Swami's mother is expected to give birth to a baby.

 Most of the time, she is lying in the bed.

 Taking her to be ill, Swami worries about her.

 She gives birth to a boy.

 The baby boy is called as Subbu.

 His mother is very caring and sweet.

 His father also loves him very much.

 But he is always concerned about his studies and exams as at times Swami
becomes careless and negligent.

 Swami is more attached to his grandmother.

 More often, he talks about his friends especially Rajam, to his grandmother.

 Rajam invites his friends at his house and serves them with delicious food
and toys.

 One day in the school, Somu, Sankar and Samuel make fun of Swami by
calling him as "Rajam's Tail".

 Because they feel that Swami has ignored them and now he is always
flattering Rajam because of his wealth. Swami feels hurt for being rejected
by his friends.

 Coming home, Swami enjoys playing with paper boat.

 In school, Somu and others keep teasing him with the remarks of “Rajam’s
Tail”.

 Rajam promises Swami to make a visit to his house.

 Swami requests his father to allow him use his room to welcome Rajam.

 He asks his mother to prepare delicious food.

 He enjoys Rajam's company.

 In the school, he is again mocked as Rajam's tail by Somu, Samuel and

Sankar.

 They even draw pictures and write words on the board.

 Swami slaps Sankar and Samuel. Later Mani joins them and takes Swami's
side.

 Mani and Somu fights until the headmaster comes to stop them.

 A few days later, Swami and Mani go to Rajam’s house. Swami and Mani
acts as puppy and kitten while entering his room.

 To their surprise, Somu, Sankar, and Samuel are already present there.

 They all enjoy delicious food.

 Rajam advises them all to be friends and not to fight ever again.

 He offers each of them a gift if they promise to be friends.

 They all accept his gifts.

 Now it is the month of April, There are only two weeks left for their exams.
 Swami’s father treats him strictly to study consistently.

 Swami makes a list of things that he needs for exams like nib, ink, paper
board.

 His father scolds him and refuses to give him money, instead telling him to
take things which are already available in his study desk.

 Mani is so scared of the exams that he tries some unfair ways to know about
the questions in advance.

 Eventually, exams are over. Swami finishes the final exam far too earlier
than any other student.

 After the final exam, all the students come out in excitement and celebrate in
jubilation.

 Swami realizes that Mani and Rajam are his close friends than any other.

 He gives some money to a coachman for a wheel to play.

 But the coachman cheated him.

 Mani and Rajam make a plan in which Mani will kidnap the coachman’s
son, but the plan goes wrong as the boy gets away and his neighbors attack
Mani and Swami.

 Later they try to frighten a young cart boy named Karuppan.

 At home, Swami’s father makes him study again even though school is off.

 Swami has a visit to a Tennis club where he finds the same boy, the son of
the coachman working there.
 Swami gets scared that the boy will attack him.

 In the month of August, A protest is going for Indian independence.

 The leaders are motivating the people with their speeches to use Indian made
goods.

 The English goods are boycotted. Swami and Mani become the part of this
protest.

 Even Swami is persuaded to throw his cap into the fire as the protesters take
it a foreign-made.

 The protesters are now enraged as an Indian political leader is imprisoned.

 They forcibly block the entry gate of the school to keep it closed for the day.

 Swami gets excited by the protest as he breaks window pane of the

headmaster's office in Missionary school by throwing stone.

 But the peon notices him.

 The protesters destroy the property at both the Mission School and nearby
the Board School.

 Swami sees Rajam’s father ordering his policemen to take control over the
protesters. Swami comes back home.

 His father tells him that his cap was locally made of Khadi.

 He also has sympathy for the protesters.

 The next day, the headmaster calls the peon into the class to testify Swami’s
act of breaking the window panes.
 Swami is severely punished and in anger, he runs away condemning the
school authorities as foreigners.

 Swami is now admitted to the Board School, the only other school in
Malgudi.

 He misses his friends who all are in the Mission School.

 Rajam has decided to form a cricket team with the name MCC (Malgudi
Cricket Club).

 All friends are agreed to be part of it.

 They write a letter for ordering the supplies like bat, ball, pads, gloves,
wickets etc.

 Swami established himself to be a good bowler and is given the nick name
as Tate by his friends, after Maurice Tate, an English fast bowler.

 One evening, the grandmother asks Swami to bring some lemons as she is
feeling unwell.

 But he ignores her and goes to play.

 Later he realizes his mistake of ignoring her and feels sorry to her.

 Swami finds that the board school has drill practices in the evening which is
compulsory for every student.

 As a result he often gets late for the bowling practice.

 It annoys Rajam that he decides to talk to the headmaster of the Board

School and to request him to allow Swami to escape the drill.
 Swami doesn't like the idea and tries to avoid this situation.

 But Rajam is adamant and he leads Swami to the headmaster’s office.

 The headmaster flatly decline their request.

 The MCC schedules a cricket match against another local team YMU
(Young Men's Union).

 Swami tells a physician named Dr. Kesavan about this problem.

 Dr. Kesavan agrees to convince his headmaster about this.

 Swami gets delighted and skips the drill practices.

 He continues to practice his cricketing skills with his friends.

 But to his bad luck, Dr. Kesavan doesn’t talk about this issue to the
headmaster.

 When the headmaster comes to know about Swami missing the drill
practices, he threatens to beat him.

 Being frightened, Swami runs away from the school.

 Swami fears that his father will be very angry, so he decides to run away.

 He goes to the Mission School.

 There, he thinks about his past life as a student.

 He asks someone to call Rajam.

 He meets Rajam and tells him about his running away from the Board
School.
 Later wandering here and there, Swami finds himself in forest and being
scared, he falls senseless.

 Finding Swami missing, his father searches for him in the town, even at
Rajam’s house.

 But no clue he gets about Swami’s whereabouts.

 The situation gets tense as it is close to mid night.

 His mother, grandmother all are in deep concerns for his well-being.

 On the next day morning, Ranga, a cart man, finds him lying fainted by the
roadside and takes him in his cart to the District Forest Office.

 Mr. Nair, an officer, takes care of him.

 When Swami comes back to his senses, the officer talks to him and gets to
know about his parents.

 Swami inquires him about the day.

 He tells him that he has a cricket match on Sunday.

 Mr. Nair lies to him that today it is Saturday.

 But in fact it is Sunday, he doesn't want to hurt his feelings.

 On the other side, the cricket match is going on.

 The MCC team is missing Swami's bowling as they are losing the match.

 Everyone is cursing Swami for missing the match.

 Rajam's father comes to know about Swami's whereabouts and he
accompanies Swami's father to bring him home.

 Swami reaches home and he is still thinking it to be Saturday.

 Mani arrives and informs him that he has missed the cricket match.

 Coming to know this, Swami gets devastated.

 Mani tells him that Rajam is enraged with him.

 Swami decides to meet him but does not get any chance.

 Ten days now, there is no talk or meeting between the two.

 Mani tells him that Rajam’s father is transferred and they are leaving the
town the next morning.

 Swami chooses a book of fairy tales from his study desk as a present for
Rajam and goes to the railway station.

 Still he has no courage to face Rajam.

 The train starts.

 Swami asks Mani about giving the gift to Rajam.

 They run along the train and Mani gives the book to Rajam on Swami’s
behalf.

 Rajam may have said something to Swami.

 But it is not clear neither to Swami nor to the readers.

 The words are somewhat lost with the hooter of the train.
  Mani assures Swami that Rajam has promised to write to him.

 But Swami still doubts his words.

Publication

 Swami and Friends is the first novel written by R. K. Narayan.

 It was published through the intervention of a friend and neighbour ("Kittu"

Purna) who was studying at Oxford.

 Through him, Graham Greene came into contact with Narayan's work,
became especially interested in it and took it upon himself to place the book
with a reputable English publisher (Hamish Hamilton).

 Graham Greene was responsible for the title Swami and Friends, changing it
from Narayan's Swami, the Tate, suggesting that it would have the
advantage of having some resemblance to Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co.

 Greene arranged the details of the contract and remained closely involved
until the novel was published.

 Narayan's indebtedness to Greene is inscribed on the front endpaper of a

copy of Swami and Friends Narayan presented to Greene: "But for you,
Swami should be in the bottom of Thames now".

The Bachelor of Arts

 The Bachelor of Arts (1937) is a novel written by R. K. Narayan.

  It is the second book of a trilogy that begins with Swami and Friends and
ends with The English Teacher.

 It is again set in Malgudi, the fictional town Narayan invented for his novels.

Plot summary

 The story describes the complex transition of an adolescent mind into

adulthood and the heartbreak which a youth faces.

 It revolves around a young man named Chandran, who resembles an Indian

upper middle class youth of the pre-independence era.

 First, Chandran's college life in late colonial times is described.

 After graduation, he falls in love with a girl, but is rejected by the bride's
parents, since his horoscope describes him as a manglik, a condition in
which a manglik can only marry another manglik and if not, the non-
manglik will die.

 Malathi, the girl with whom Chandran falls from college, is then married to
someone else.

 Chandran is absolutely heartbroken to the extent that he goes to Madras and

starts living on streets.

 Famished, delusioned and full of self-pity, he ends up wandering from one

place to another.

 Also frustrated and desperate, he then embarks on a journey as Sanyasi.

  On his journey he meets many people and he is also misunderstood as a
great sage by some villagers.

 After 8 months, he thinks of what mess he has become and thinks about his
parents.

 Due to the compunctions and the realizations, he decides to return home.

 He takes up a job as a newsagent and decides to marry, in order to please his

parents, thinking of the discomfort he had caused them earlier.

 Even after returning home, he is still unable to get Malathi out of his head
completely and though he tries hard, the pictures and memories of her keep
haunting him for a long time.

 After a long time, his father comes to him with a proposal of marriage to
another girl Sushila.

 Chandran is still skeptical about love and marriage and initially refuses but
later decides to see the girl.

 When he goes on to see the girl, he ends up falling in love with her.

The Dark Room

 The Dark Room is a novel written by R.K.Narayan, the well-known English-

language novelist from India.

 Like most of his other works, this is a tale set in the fictitious town of
Malgudi.
  This work of literature was first published in Great Britain in 1938 by
Macmillan & Co., Ltd. London.

 The first Indian edition came out in 1956.

The English Teacher

 The English Teacher is a 1945 novel written by R. K. Narayan.

 It is a part of a series of novels and collections of short stories set in

"Malgudi".

 The English Teacher was preceded by Swami and Friends (1935), The
Bachelor of Arts (1937) and Malgudi Days (1943) and followed by Mr.
Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi.

 This novel, dedicated to Narayan's wife Rajam is not only autobiographical

but also poignant in its intensity of feeling.

 The story is a series of experiences in the life of Krishna, an English teacher,

and his quest for inner peace and self-development.

Plot summary

 As an English teacher and lecturer at Albert Mission College, Krishna has

led a mundane and monotonous lifestyle comparable to that of a cow.

 He too plays an important role of protecting the Indian culture.

 Soon his life took a turn when his wife, Susila, and their child, Leela, come
to live with him.

 With their welfare on his hands, Krishna learns to be a proper husband and
learns how to accept the responsibility of taking care of his family.

 He felt that his life had comparatively improved, as he understood that

there's more meaning to life than to just teaching in the college.

 However, on the day when they went in search of a new house, Susila
contracts typhoid after visiting a dirty lavatory, keeping her in bed for
weeks.

 Throughout the entire course of her illness, Krishna constantly tries to keep
an optimistic view about Susila's illness, keeping his hopes up by thinking
that her illness would soon be cured.

 However, Susila eventually succumbs and passes away.

 Krishna, destroyed by her loss, has suicidal thoughts but gives them up for
the sake of his daughter, Leela.

 He leads his life as a lost and miserable person after her death, but after he
receives a letter from a stranger who indicates that Susila has been in contact
with him and that she wants to communicate with Krishna, he becomes more
collected and cheerful.

 This leads to Krishna’s journey in search of enlightenment, with the stranger

acting as a medium to Susila in the spiritual world.
  Leela, on the other hand, goes to a preschool where Krishna gets to meet the
headmaster, a profound man who cared for the students in his school and
teaches them moral values through his own methods.

 The Headmaster puts his students as his top priority but he doesn’t care for
his own family and children, eventually leaving them on the day predicted
by an astrologer as to be when he was going to die, which did not come true.

 Krishna gets to learn through the headmaster on the journey to

enlightenment; eventually learning to communicate to Susila on his own,
thus concluding the entire story itself, with the quote that he felt 'a moment
of rare immutable joy'.

Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi

 Mr. Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi is a 1949 novel by R. K. Narayan.

 It was adapted into the films Mr. Sampat (Hindi, 1952) and a Tamil film
sharing the same title (1972).

 A comic realist novel of manners, Mr. Sampath marks the first of three
Narayan novels that take an external approach, focusing on events outside
the protagonist, in contrast to Narayan's more internally-focused earlier
novels.

 The novel is set in 1938 under the British Raj, in the fictional town of
Malgudi.
Plot

 The novel is made up of two parts: a first part dealing with the publication of
a newspaper and centered on Mr. Sampath, and a second part focus on
movie production and centered on Mr. Srinivas.

 In the first part, to bring out the journal The Banner, Mr. Srinivas, the editor,
and Mr. Sampath, the printer, have to work together.

 The two entirely contrasting good-hearted characters forge a great

partnership that makes The Banner the center of attention in Malgudi.

 However, a situation arises and they have to temporarily discontinue the

journal.

 In the second part, Srinivas and Sampath join hands with a film-making
company where they have to trace varying paths, with their special bond still
very deep.

 A love affair with the actress of the movie makes life difficult for the daring
and over-ambitious Sampath, while the ethical Srinivas has his problems of
over-responsibility.

 Some sour incidents in the studio force Srinivas to quit and revive his
Banner with another printer, a thing that doesn't seem to bother Sampath
caught entirely in the charm of the heroine.

 But Sampath comes back after the loss of the lady, his wealth, fame, and
peace.
The Financial Expert

 The Financial Expert is a 1952 novel by R. K. Narayan.

 It takes place, as do many other novels and short stories by this author, in the
town of Malgudi.

 The central character in this book is the financial expert Margayya, who
offers advice to his fellow townspeople from under his position at the
banyan tree.

 He is a man of many aspirations and this novel delves into some level of
psychological analysis.

 The Financial Expert tells the story of the rise and fall of Margayya.

 The theme of the novel is lust for money.

 But Margayya is no monster of greed and wickedness.

 In his depiction of Margayya, Narayan humanises him and shows that

despite his lust for money, he is still a human being.

Plot

 The protagonist of the novel, Margayya begins his career as petty money-
lender doing his business under the Bunyan tree, in front of the Central Co-
operative Land Mortgage Bank in Malgudi.

 He helps the shareholders of the bank to borrow money at a small interest

and lends it to the needy at a higher interest.
 In the process, he makes money for himself.

 The Secretary of the Bank and Arul Doss, the peon, seize from his box the
loan application forms he has managed to get from the Bank through its
shareholders; they treat him with contempt, and threaten to proceed against
him.

 This sets the path of improving his position.

 Balu, his spoilt-child throws his account book, containing all the entries of
his transactions with his clients into the gutter, and it becomes impossible for
Margayya to resume his old practice.

 He shows his horoscope to an astrologer and is assured that good times will
come for him if he offers puja to Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth.

 The puja is done for forty days, with ash from a red lotus and ghee made of
milk from a grey cow.

 Margayya goes through the puja with all rigour and at the end of it is full of
a prosperous career.

 Dr. Pal, who sells him the manuscript of a book on Bed Life, for whatever
ready cash Margayya's purse contains, assures him that the book named
Domestic Harmony will sell in tens of thousands if only he can find a
publisher. Madan Lal, “a man from the North”, reads the manuscript and
agrees to publish it on a fifty-fifty partnership basis.

 The book is at once popular and sells like hot cakes and Margayya hits a
fortune.

 Margayya is again ruined through his son Balu.

 He had admitted him in school in great style, getting the blessing of his
brother and sister-in-law next door.

 His wealth had made him become the Secretary of the School Managing
Committee.

 This had armed him with enough power over the Headmaster and the School
Staff.

 He had engaged a private tutor for his son and instructed him to thrash the
boy whenever necessary.

 But Balu was not good in his studies.

 He could not clear his S.S.L.C.

 He tried to persuade him to take the examination for he second time.

 The result was that Balu seized the School Leaving Certificate Book, tore it
into for quarters and threw them into the gutter the same gutter which closed
its dark waters over Margayya's red account book, carried away the School
Leaving Certificate Book.

 Then Balu ran away from home.

 A few days later there was a letter from Madras telling Margayya that his
son was dead.

 The brother's family immediately comes to his help, though Margayya felt
that he could do without their help and wondered if that would change the
existing relationship between them.
 He left for Madras, discovered through the good offices of a fellow traveller
a police inspector in plain clothes that his son was not really dead, traced the
boy and brought him home.

 He wanted to marry him to a girl named Brinda, the daughter of the owner
of a tea estate in Mempi Hills.

 When a pundit, after an honest study, declared that the horoscopes of Balu
and Brinda did not match, he was curtly dismissed with a fee of one rupee.

 Another astrologer, whom Dr. Pal found, gave it in writing that the two
horoscope matched perfectly and was paid Rs. 75 for his pains.

 “Money can dictate the very stars in their course.”

 Balu and his wife were helped to set up an establishment of their own in
Lawley Extension.

 Margayya, wishing to draw Dr. Pal away from his son, sought his help in
attracting deposits from Black Marketers on the promise of an interest of
29%.

 If he got Rs. 20,000 deposit each day and paid Rs. 15, 000 in interest, he had
still Rs. 5000 a day left in his hands as his own. Margayya became rich.

 It was now necessary for him to own a car.

 Every nook and corner of his house was stuffed with sacks full of currency
notes.
 He was on the right side of the police, contributed to the War Fund when
driven to do so, and worked day and night with his accounts and money
bags, though his wife was unhappy at his straining himself so much.

 One day Margayya visited his son in Lawley Extension.

 He found Brinda and her child.

 The girl could not hold back her tears, while narrating Balu's nocturnal
activities.

 When Margayya got out of the house, he found a car halting in front of it.

 Out of which emerged Balu.

 His companions were Dr. Pal and a couple of women in the town.

 The enraged Margayya pulled Dr. Pal out of the car, beat him and dismissed
the two women with contempt.

 The next day Dr. Pal with a bandaged face whispered to all and sundry that
things were not going well with Margayya's concerns.

 Hundreds of people swarmed Margayya and pressed him to return their

deposits forthwith.

 All the accumulated wealth was disbursed.

 Still hundreds of people could not be satisfied.

 The run on the Bank led to Maragayya's filing an insolvency petition.

 And thus like a house of cards the wealth that Margayya had accumulated
was blown away.
  He advised his son to take his place under the Banyan tree with the old box.

 When Balu hesitated to do that for fear of what people would say about it,
Margayya offered to do so himself.

Waiting for the Mahatma

 Waiting for the Mahatma is a 1955 novel by R. K. Narayan.

Plot summary

 Sriram is a high school graduate who lives with his grandmother in Malgudi,
the fictional Southern Indian town in which much of Narayan's fiction takes
place.

 Sriram is attracted to Bharati, a girl of his age who is active in Mahatma

Gandhi's Quit India movement, and he becomes an activist himself.

 He then gets involved with anti-British extremists, causing much grief to his
grandmother.

 Sriram's underground activity takes place in the countryside, an area alien to

him, and the misunderstandings with the locals provide the book's best
comic moments.

 After spending some time in jail, Sriram is reunited with Bharati, and the
story ends with their engagement amidst the tragedy of India's partition in
1947 and Gandhi's death in 1948.
  Waiting for the Mahatma is written in Narayan's gentle comic style.

 An unusual feature of this novel is the participation of Gandhi as a character.

 His revolutionary ideas and practices are contrasted with the views of
traditionalists such as the town's notables and Sriram's grandmother.

 This note of ambivalence towards the freedom movement may be due to

Narayan's needing to reassure his mainly British audience.

 The political struggle serves as a background to Sriram and Bharati's

unconventional romance which is concluded outside either's family circle.

 This is one of Narayan's most successful novels, where much happens

behind the facade of the low key storytelling.

The Guide

 The Guide is a 1958 novel written in English by the Indian author R. K.

Narayan.

 Like most of his works the novel is based on Malgudi, the fictional town in
South India.

 The novel describes the transformation of the protagonist, Raju, from a tour
guide to a spiritual guide and then one of the greatest holy men of India.

 The novel brought Narayan the 1960 Sahitya Akademi Award for English,
by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters.
Plot summary

 Railway Raju (nickname) is a disarmingly corrupt tour guide who is famous

among tourists.

 He falls in love with a beautiful dancer, Rosie, the wife of archaeologist

Marco.

 They have come to Malgudi, the fictional town in South India, as tourists.

 Marco does not approve of Rosie's passion for dancing.

 Rosie, encouraged by Raju, decides to follow her dreams and start a dancing
career.

 In the process they become close to each other.

 On learning of their relationship, Marco leaves Rosie in Malgudi and goes

back to Madras alone.

 Rosie turns up at the home of Raju and they start living together.

 But Raju's mother does not approve of their relationship, and leaves them.

 Raju becomes Rosie's stage manager and soon, with the help of Raju's
marketing tactics, Rosie becomes a successful dancer.

 Raju, however, develops an inflated sense of self-importance and tries to

control her life and he wants to build as much wealth as possible.
 Raju gets involved in a case of forgery of Rosie's signature and gets a two-
year sentence despite Rosie's best efforts to save him.

 After completing the sentence, Raju passes through a village, Mangal where
he is mistaken for a sadhu (a spiritual guide).

 Since he does not want to return in disgrace to Malgudi, he decides to stay in

an abandoned temple, close to the village.

 There he plays the role of a Sadhu to perfection delivering sermons and

discourses to the villagers and solving their day to day problems and
disputes.

 Soon there is a famine in the village and villagers somehow get the idea that
Raju will keep a fast in order to make it rain.

 Raju confesses the entire truth about his past to Velan, who had first
discovered Raju in the temple and had developed a complete faith in him
like the rest of the villagers.

 The confession does not make a difference to Velan and Raju decides to go
on with the fast.

 With media publicizing his fast, a huge crowd gathers (much to Raju's
resentment) to watch him fast.

 In the morning of the eleventh day of fasting, he goes to the riverside as part
of his daily ritual.

 He feels that the rain is falling in the hills in the distance and he sags down
in water.
  The ending of the novel leaves it to the reader to guess whether Raju died,
and whether it rained.

Adaptations

 The film Guide was released in 1965, based on the novel.

 It was directed by Vijay Anand.

 It starred Dev Anand as Raju, Waheeda Rehman as Rosie, and Leela Chitnis
in the lead roles.

 The film's score was composed by S. D. Burman.

 The movie's ending differs from that of the novel, in which the fate of some
characters remain unanswered.

 A 120-minute U.S. version was written by Pearl S. Buck, and directed and
produced by Tad Danielewski.

 The film was screened at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, 42 years after its
release.

 The novel was also adapted into a play in 1968.

 The play was profiled in the William Goldman book The Season: A Candid
Look at Broadway.
The Man-Eater of Malgudi

 The Man-Eater of Malgudi is a 1961 Indian novel, written by R. K. Narayan.

 In this novel R.K. Narayan uses the historical reference of Bhasmasura.

Characters

 Nataraj - a printing press owner.

 Poet - friend of Nataraj

 Sen - A journalist, friend of Nataraj.

 Sastri - employee and friend of Nataraj.

 Vasu - a taxidermist, the antagonist of the novel.

 Muthu - a tea shop owner.

 Kumar - an elephant which was brought from Mempi Hills by Nataraj, for
medical treatment.

 Rangi - a temple dancer and a prostitute.

 Joshi - doctor who treats Kumar (the elephant).

Plot

 This story revolves around the life of an Indian printer named Nataraj.
 Nataraj lives in a huge ancestral house in Malgudi, a fictional town in south
India.

 This place is near Mempi hills which is very calm, pleasant and beautiful.

 He leads a contented lifestyle, with his own circle of friends, such as a poet,
a journalist named Sen, and his one employee, Sastri.

 Like his other novel, Talkative Man, R.K. Narayan introduces a character
who enters the life of Nataraj and the town of Malgudi.

 The character, Vasu, is a taxidermist who comes to Malgudi in search of the

wildlife in Mempi hills near Malgudi.

 His introduction begins with hsis arrival at Nataraj's printing press, where he
demands the printing of 500 visiting cards.

 This arrival begins the relationship between Vasu and Nataraj.

 While Nataraj wasn't sure whether Vasu is a friend or an enemy, he dislikes

the company of Vasu because of his brazen actions.

 Vasu is a bully, and is once compared to a Rakshasa (a demon) by Nataraj

and Sastri.

 Vasu takes up residence in the attic of Nataraj's press by chance and

convinces Nataraj that he would stay there as a guest (self-declared) only for
a few days until he gets put up some place else.

 Little known to Nataraj, Vasu sees the place very suitable for his activities as
a taxidermist plans otherwise.

 Vasu is a 'pehelwan' (muscleman), proud of his strength.

 As the story continues, Vasu encroaches on Nataraj's life, every now and
then bullies away his friends, his customers, shoots someone's pet dog and
many other animals and birds near the dwelling place, poaches wildlife from
Mempi hills, creates stench in the neighborhood through his activities as a
taxidermist.

 When Nataraj questions this, Vasu files a complaint with the Rent Control
authority on Nataraj as a self-declared tenant, entertaining women in the
attic, disturbs the peace of Malgudi, whom the narrator refers to as "the man
eater of Malgudi"

 As in Talkative Man, the end comes with the commemoration of a function.

 This time, it is for the release of a poetry book on Krishna by his poet friend.

 Rangi informs Nataraj that Vasu wants to kill Kumar, the elephant, which
Nataraj had brought down from Mempi Hills to treat an ailment as a favour
to one of his friends.

 Muthu, the tea shop owner helps Nataraj, when Nataraj happens to meet him
under unexpected circumstances, owing to Vasu's adventures.

 Now Nataraj comes to know of the plans of Vasu to shoot Kumar, the
temple elephant, for his collection and business.

 The protagonist frantically tries to stop him, but in vain.

 As Nataraj decides to talk to Vasu for once and for all, he finds Vasu
sleeping, but the next morning he discovers that Vasu is dead.

 The autopsy takes place with the verdict being that he was not poisoned and
that he was attacked on the head by a blunt weapon.
  The case is closed, but the reputation of Nataraj's press is ruined and his
friends and other people start avoiding him.

 Later, Nataraj learns through his friend Sastri (who learns from Rangi) that
Vasu was not murdered, but died in an attempt to smash a mosquito sitting
on his head.

 He had damaged one of his nerves with his powerful hand and died
instantly.

 Now Nataraj had got rid of Vasu, and the story ends on the note that all
demons-rakshashas, devils and monsters bring the downfall to themselves.

 The narration is very humorous and lively all along.

 The story with its pleasant twists features the metamorphosis of a quiet,
spineless man (Nataraj) to rise up against his "friend" Vasu and the self-
destruction of the evil.

The Vendor of Sweets

 The Vendor of Sweets (1967), by R. K. Narayan, is the biography of a

fictional character named Sri K. V. Jagan who is a sweet vendor of (a
fictional Indian town) Malgudi.

 His conflict with his estranged son and how he finally leaves for
renunciation, overwhelmed by the sheer pressure and monotony of his life is
beautifully reflected in the story.
  The novel was produced into Mithaivalla, part of the Hindi TV series,
Malgudi Days, and was subsequently dubbed into English.

 The vendor of sweets tells about the relationship between a father and a son
after the death of the mother.

Plot

 Jagan is a 55-year-old sweetmeat vendor, a successful businessman, a

vehement follower of Mahatma Gandhi and an honest, hardworking and
humble resident of the fictional suburb, Malgudi, India.

 In his youth, he was influenced deeply by Mahatma Gandhi and left his
studies and his peaceful life to become an active member in India's struggle
for freedom from the British Empire.

 The Bhagavad Gita forms the staple of his life; he tries to act on the
principles described in the great epic.

 Naturopathy forms the pivotal of his life and he even desires to publish his
natural way of living in the form of a book, but it becomes obvious that it is
a futile dream as the draft has been gathering dust in the office of the local
printer, Nataraj, for the last five years.

 Jagan wears hand spun cloth that signifies purity to him, and he has been
commended for it by Gandhi himself.

 In his early days Jagan's wife, Ambika, dies from a brain tumor and leaves
him to care for his only son, Mali.
 Mali is gradually spoilt by Jagan and his almost 'maternal' obsession towards
his son's life.

 Later, in his college days, Mali displays his deep dislike for education and
says that he would like to be a 'writer', which Jagan at first interprets as a
clerical occupation.

 Afterwards, Mali decides to leave to America to study Creative Writing.

 He gets his passport and tickets ready without even informing Jagan about
his plans.

 In fact, Jagan used to conceal some part of his earnings to avoid the taxes.
Mali takes the money from his father's hidden treasure to fulfill his
expenditures.

 Eventually it becomes known to Jagan. But, he accepts this diversion with

good heart and treasures every letter received from Mali and proudly
exhibits it to anyone whom he met in his daily activities.

 A few years later, Mali returns to Malgudi very Westernized and brings
along a half-American, half-Korean girl, Grace, whom Mali claims is his
'wife'.

 Jagan assumes that they are married according to the social norms and
standards, but also realizes that Mali's relationship with him has further
eroded.

 However, Jagan develops an affection for Grace and feels that Mali is not
giving her the attention she deserves.
  Soon Mali expresses his grandiose scheme of starting a machine factory with
the association of some anonymous business partners from America.

 He asks his father to invest in this factory, but Jagan is unwilling to provide
the financial infrastructure of this venture, which causes more friction
between Jagan and Mali.

 Troubled by this turmoil, Jagan decides to retire from active working.

 Through an unexpected meeting with the top businessmen of the region,

Jagan comes across the 'bearded man', a rather eccentric hairdryer whose
eloquence makes Jagan contemplate on his dull and monotonous life.

 He starts to develop a desire to have renunciation from his life, and suddenly
falls into a recollection of his happy past with his family and his wife, which
further strengthens his need for reconciliation.

 As this happens, Mali is caught by the police for driving under the influence
of alcohol and deserts his wife.

 Jagan then asks his cousin to make sure that Mali stays in prison for some
time, so that he can learn his mistakes.

 Jagan also writes a cheque to the cousin so that he can buy a plane ticket for
Grace so she can go back to her motherland.

Main characters

 Jagan:

 The protagonist.
  A follower of Gandhi in his youth, he is now a sweetmeat vendor by
profession.

 The novel portrays him as a typical Homo Narayans; Jagan is a timid

man, not notably wealthy or poverty-stricken, and yearns to spend life
with the least troubles.

 He appears to be an extremely orthodox and peaceful man.

 His only son is the pearl of his eye. Occasionally, Jagan exploits
religion and his Gandhian principles to save himself from his mental
agitations and Mali's various attempts at bulldozing his peace and
hates European culture

 Mali:

 Jagan's son.

 An ambitious young man, spoilt by Jagan, he has a strong repugnance

towards the educational system of India, and desires for more modern
prospects of business.

 Blames his father for his mother's death.

 After studying Creative Writing in America, he comes back to his

hometown and tries to "modernize" it.

 The cousin:

 The 'man-about-town', he claims his cousinhood with everyone in

Malgudi.
  He proves to be helpful in creating a communicative bridge between
Jagan and Mali.

 He is quite an affable character who displays appreciation of Jagan's

simple Gandhian lifestyle and simultaneously gets on well with Mali
and his various modern notions.

 Close criticism may prove him to be an ambitious, calculating man

with the intention of gaining the control of Jagan's business, which he
does at the end of the story. Creates humor, hypocrisy in the story.

 Grace:

 A half-American, half-Korean girl whom Mali brings home, claiming

that she is Mali's wife.

 She works like a catalyst between the two conflicting cultures, and
tries to integrate into the Indian culture that she has entered into, but
results only in strengthening the cultural difference.

Analysis

 The novel is predominantly about the relationship between father and son.

 Jagan – whose wife died when their son was a young boy – constantly tries
to bond with his son, but fails badly due to his own backwardness in
communication.

 Another major theme expressed in this book is the clash of the Indian and
western cultures.
  Jagan's lives in Malgudi and follows the Indian culture and traditions.

 On the other hand, Mali comes to India completely influenced by the

western culture.

Summary

 'Chapter-1 At the beginning of the chapter one, we learn that Jagan is a very
religious person who offers prayers to Lakshmi every morning.

 He lives by the adage 'Conquer taste, and you will have conquered the self.'

 When Jagan's cousin questions his faith in the maxim, Jagan merely states
that he is only following the advice of sages.

 Jagan is the vendor of sweets.

 He owns a sweet mart where sweetmeats are prepared and sold to the
customers.

 The writer employs both visual and olfactory imagery to depict the scene of
Jagan's religious activities performed in the morning with the scent of
jasmine flowers and the incense sticks.

 Even the scent of the sweetmeats frying in ghee spreads all around.

The Painter of Signs

 The Painter of Signs is a 1976 novel by R. K. Narayan.

Plot

 One of Narayan's later works, the Painter of Signs is a bittersweet novel that
looks at the lives of Raman, a painter of sign boards, and Daisy, a social
worker interested in curtailing India's population growth.

 The story is set in Malgudi, like many of Narayan's works with the Sarayu,
Ellaman street and The Boardless Hotel being significant landmarks in the
novel.

 At its very core, The Painter of Signs is Raman and Daisy's progressive love
story in a conservative town in South India.

 Raman is a sign-painter who takes the art of calligraphy very seriously.

 He devotedly creates the perfect signboard for all his customers, taking great
care in the styling of words on the board.

 Made using the "best rosewood" from the Mempi mountains, Raman
believes that his signboards are a notch above his rival Jayaraj's.

 Living with his aunt, a conservative old woman who likes to ramble about
mythological stories and old family gossip, on Ellaman Street, Raman goes
through periods of frustration at his aunt's interest in his going abouts and
feelings of guilt for ignoring her affection and presence.

 Not orthodox himself, Raman neither sports a tuft like others from his caste
nor has inhibitions in eating meat if necessary.
 He looks down on superstitions and old-fashioned notions of religion and
caste and spends his time reading ancient copies of books on science and
history.

 He does have a tendency to quote from the scriptures and make associations
with events in the scriptures and those in his life.

 Daisy, an intense young woman involved in family planning campaigns,

hires Raman to make a signboard for her office.

 For no reason whatsoever, Raman finds himself bewitched by her beauty,

and more so by her precision, authority and her devotion to her career.

 It so happens that he has to accompany Daisy on a three-week campaign in

the villages around Malgudi to identify potential sites where he can paint
signs and messages on population control and finds himself further attracted
to her firmness, simplicity, and her tendency to shun luxuries and comforts
of all sorts.

 He finds that his resolve to remain unmarried, seeing marriage as

commonplace and unnecessary is weakening.

 The story goes on to outline Daisy's complicated past and her eventual
admission of a mutual attraction for Raman.

 The two start spending the nights together, and decide to get married in the
("Gandharva" style),the simplest form of marital union.

 Daisy seems to be unaffected by the relationship though, and tells Raman

that she will not change her last name, or house-keep for him.
 Raman mulls over the eventualities of such a wedlock, but is steadfast in his
affection and love for Daisy and constantly tells himself that her needs and
wishes will always be more important than his.

 His aunt, upset over her nephew's unorthodox afflictions - especially at his
decision to marry out of caste - asks him to arrange a one way trip to
Benaras for her.

 His repeated beseechings to her to stay and bless him and Daisy have no
effect.

 On the morning that Daisy is to move into Raman's house on Ellaman Street,
she changes her mind about Raman, feeling that her sense of purpose and
her independent existence may be affected by married life.

 She decides to leave Malgudi for a three-year family planning initiative in

villages all over India.

 Confused and befuddled, Raman tries his best to convince her, telling her
that his house on Ellaman street will be open for her whenever' she decides
to return.

 The Painter of Signs is preoccupied with the complications of human

characters and human relationships.

 As Raman finds himself being torn between his Aunt and Daisy, the
traditional way and the modern way, we see the protagonist as being "in-
between" in the town of Malgudi.
  At the end of the novel, Raman's aunt left for Benares on a pilgrimage and
Daisy left the town of Malgudi to pursue her career which means that Raman
is left alone in Malgudi.

 This depicts the fact that it seems as though Raman cannot facilitate either
women or what they represent (traditionality and modernity respectively),
thus presenting the problematic themes of human character and their
relationships with one another.

A Tiger for Malgudi

 A Tiger for Malgudi is a 1983 novel by R. K. Narayan told by a tiger in the

first person.

 Deeply moving is the attachment of the tiger to the monk and the monk's
care for the tiger.

 R. K. Narayan consulted with noted tiger expert K. Ullas Karanth on the

writing of this novel.

 Narayan used the myth of Buddha's enlightenment in this particular novel.

Plot

 The tiger recounts his story of capture by a circus owner, but he never tried
to escape.

 He lived freely in the wild jungles of India in his youth.

  He mates and has a litter with a tigress, and raises a litter until one day he
finds that hunters have captured and killed his entire family.

 He exacts revenge by attacking and eating the cattle and livestock of nearby
villages, but is captured by poachers.

 He is sent to a circus in Malgudi, where a harsh animal trainer known only

as "the Captain" starves him and forces him to do tricks in the circus.

 He lives in captivity successfully for some time, but eventually his wild
instincts overcome him and he mauls and kills the Captain.

 After an extended rampage through town, he is recaptured, but this time

voluntarily by a monk/renunciant with whom he befriends and finds peace
on the hills.

 The monk, called the Master, later realizing his own days are coming to an
end, donates the elderly tiger to the local zoo, where he is cared for, admired
by onlookers, and passes his days.

 He is looked at by many children and realizes that he is done something to

make humans happy.

Talkative Man

 Talkative Man is a novel by R. K. Narayan first published in 1986 by

Heinemann.

 Like his earlier novels, this one is also set in the fictional town of Malgudi.
  The novel is a bit short by Narayan's standards but provides the same level
of enjoyment one experiences with his other writings.

Plot

 The main character is an ordinary man who is wealthy and works as a

journalist.

 He has a regular routine in his life: posts articles in the post box, has a talk
with people in a tea shop, goes to the library and the house.

 One day, he meets a man from an unknown land called "Timbuctoo",

another of Narayan's creations, the land being similar to the US.

 The man seems to have come for an official duty for UN and seeing the
calmness of the place, decides to stay here for his work.

 There comes a twist of what is exactly the man up to and how the main
character of the novel solves the problem.

 The story is simple, and the author honestly admits to being a short story
writer, rather than a novelist as he tells; most of the people skip the intrinsic
details given about the places and only catch the content (at the end of the
book, his words about the story).

 It is a good read book and can be read for the calmness with which Narayan
writes his story, as a critic rightly points out .
The World of Nagaraj

 The World of Nagaraj (1990) is a classic piece of literature by R. K.

Narayan.

 It is based in the fictional town of Malgudi, a small town in South India.

Plot summary

 Nagaraj's world is comfortable.

 Living in his family's spacious house with only his wife, Sita, and his
widowed mother for company, he fills his day writing letters, drinking
coffee, doing some leisurely book-keeping for his friend Coomar's Boeing
Sari Company, and sitting on his verandah watching the world and planning
the book he intends to write about the life of the great sage Narada.

 But everything is disturbed when Tim, the son of his ambitious land-owning
brother Gopu, decides to leave home and come to live with Nagaraj.

 Forced to take responsibility for the boy, puzzled by his secret late-night
activities and by the strong smell of spirits which lingers behind him,
Nagaraj finds his days suddenly filled with unwelcome complication and
turbulence, which threaten to forever alter the contented tranquility of his
world.

Characters
  Nagaraj :

 A mild mannered man belonging to a wealthy aristocratic family

based in Kabir Street.

 Bereft of any children himself, he develops a fondness for his elder

brother's son, christened Krishnaji, but generally known as Tim.

 He leads a tranquil life in his ancestral house and nurses grandiloquent

plans to write a book on the life of the Sage Narada.

 Sita: Nagaraj's wife, sometimes seems very sharp and farsighted.

 Gopu: Nagaraj's elder brother, ambitious, and always self-centered man.

 Jayaraj, the photographer, whose shop is located at the Market archway. He

sleeps on a wooden bench in front of his shop because he feels his camera
lens might get stolen and is woken up by Nagaraj every day.

 Kanni the Paan-wala, the old absent minded priest,

 Bari the stationery owner and the drunkard engineer and Talkative Man.

My Dateless Diary

 My Dateless Diary is a collection of autobiographical essays by R. K.

Narayan published in 1960.

 The book was the output of a daily journal that he maintained during his
visit to the United States on a Rockefeller Fellowship in 1956.
  While on this visit, Narayan also completed The Guide, the writing of which
is covered in this book.

 The book is focused on Narayan's interactions with the American people and
the people themselves.

 The book also highlights Narayan's view of the west, his appreciation and
admiration in general, but subtle disapproval of specific aspects while
making it known that there isn't much of a gap between his values and those
he has come across.

 The book offers insights into both, the author and his subjects.

My Days

 My Days (1974) is an autobiography by R. K. Narayan.

 It tells the story of Narayan's upbringing.

 My Days is an autobiography which starts with his childhood spent in his

grandmother's home in Chennai.

Reluctant Guru

 Reluctant Guru is a book by R. K. Narayan published in 1974 by Orient

Paperbacks.

 The book consists entirely of discursive essays, some of which were his
weekly contributions to The Hindu.
  Some of the essays relate to the topic of his American stay, describing with
his characteristic irony, the expectations of Americans that he would show
them the key to the spiritual life of Indians.

 One criticism of the book is that the essays were too short and therefore
lacking in depth.

 The Emerald Route is a travelogue by R. K. Narayan.

 It was published by Indian Thought Publications in 1980.

 It is a pseudo-travel guide for Karnataka, India.

 The book was commissioned by the Government of Karnataka, and the

initial non-commercial version was published in 1977 as part of a
government publication.

 The book is focused on local history, culture and heritage, and doesn't
exhibit much of Narayan's characteristic personal narrative.

A Writer's Nightmare

 A Writer's Nightmare is a collection of essays by R. K. Narayan published in

1988 by Penguin Books.

 The essays included in the book are about topics as diverse as the caste
system, love, Nobel prize winners and monkeys; the book provides readers a
unique view of Indian life.
  The essays were written at various points between 1958 and 1988; the book
includes a significant essay, Misguided Guide, expressing Narayan's
displeasure with the film Guide, based on his book The Guide.

The Ramayana

 The Ramayana is a mythological book by R. K. Narayan.

 It was first published by Chatto and Windus, London in 1972.

 The book is a shortened, prose adaptation of the Tamil Kamba Ramayanam.

 In 1938, Narayan made a promise to his dying uncle that he would translate
the Kamba Ramayana to English, however, he did not think about this
promise until 1968 when he began work on this effort.

 He later wrote The Mahabharata, published in 1978.

The Mahabharata

 The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic is

a mythological book by R. K. Narayan.

 It is a modernised, shortened, and translated retelling of The Mahabharata.

 It was first published by Heinemann, London in 1978.

  The book was published as a result of a long endeavour that included three
Hindu mythological works, Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana and
finally The Mahabharata; in 1995, these works were republished as part of a
new book, The Indian Epics Retold.

Summary

 Narayan's version of the Mahabharata focuses on the central conflict of the

epic, the Kurukshetra War, while abridging many of the tangential stories-
within-stories found in the original text.

 It begins with the ancestry of the central characters of the story, starting off
with the life of King Santanu, the vow of Bhishma, the birth of the Pandavas
and the Kauravas, and the tragic death of Pandu.

 The tale then follows the tutelage of the Pandavas by Drona, the burning of
the house of lacquer, and the swayamvara of Draupadi.

 From there, the story continues building toward the central war of the story,
as Yudhisthira loses everything in the dice game, sending him and his
brothers into years of exile in the forest, where they remain until tensions
upon their return escalate into the Great War.

 Narayan focuses the rest of his version of the Mahabharata on the

Kurukshetra War (with the central dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna, the
Bhagavad Gita, summarized into two pages), ending off with a swift post-
war chapter and a two-to-three page epilogue.
Malgudi Days

 Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan published in

1943 by Indian Thought Publications.

 The book was republished outside India in 1982 by Penguin Classics.

 The book includes 32 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located
in South India. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi.

 The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the
book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular
hour.

 It's an art we need to study and revive."

 In 1986, a few of the stories in the book were included in the Malgudi Days
television series and directed by actor and director, Shankar Nag.

 In 2004, the project was revived with film-maker Kavitha Lankesh replacing
the late Shankar Nag as director.

 The new series was telecast from April 26, 2006 on Doordarshan.

 In 2014, Google commemorated Narayan's 108th birthday by featuring a

Google Doodle showing him behind a copy of Malgudi Days.

An Astrologer's Day

 An Astrologer's Day is a thriller, suspense short story by author R. K.

Narayan.
  While it had been published earlier, it was the titular story of Narayan's
fourth collection of short stories published in 1947 by Indian Thought
Publications.

 It was the first chapter of the world famous collection of stories Malgudi
Days which was later telecasted on television in 2006.

 Themes found in An Astrologer's Day recur frequently throughout Narayan's

work. The story was adapted into a 2019 Kannada movie Gara.

Features of the story

 The ironical fact about the protagonist is that a gambler and a murderer, who
is ignorant of his own future has become an astrologer.

 The writer reveals how the only qualification needed to be an astrologer in

India is saffron clothes, a few charts and tilak and a keen observation of
human nature along with a presence of mind.

 The astrologer should have been greatly relieved that he is not a murderer
after all and he has managed to put Guru Nayak off, and he should not have
bothered about how much money he had received.

 Yet, when he realizes Nayak has cheated him of some money he is angry.

Themes

 Irony of fate
  Religion and blind faith

 Crime and Punishment

 Human Greed

 Karma (tit for tat)

A Horse and Two Goats

 A Horse and Two Goats and Other Stories (also published as A Horse and
Two Goats) is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan, published in
1970 by The Bodley Head.

 The book is illustrated by R. K. Laxman, Narayan's brother, and includes

five stories.

 The title story is a sly narrative of a business transaction between an

American tourist and an Indian goat-herder as Muni, the result of an inability
to communicate with each other.

 Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by
R. K. Narayan, set in and around the fictitious town of Malgudi in South
India.

 The stories range from the humorous to the serious and all are filled with
Narayan's acute observations of human nature.

 The concluding story, Under the Banyan Tree, is about a village story-teller
who concludes his career by taking a vow of silence for the rest of his life,
 realizing that a story-teller must have the sense to know when to stop and
not wait for others to tell him.

The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories

 The Grandmother's Tale and Selected Stories is a book by R. K. Narayan

with illustrations by his brother R. K. Laxman published in 1994 by Viking
Press.

 The book includes a novella, Grandmother's Tale and some other stories in
the characteristic Narayan style that captures suffering through comedic
narratives.

 The book was a bestseller in the United States.

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