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| Sunday, 3 October 2004 |
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Junior Observer |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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The father of Malgudi Days
For most of us, this fictional town of Malgudi, the home of lively characters such as Swami and his friends seems real. But this little town was born out of the pen of R.K. Narayan. Rasipuram Krishnaswami Ayyar Narayanswami or R. K. Narayan as he is called was born in Madras in 1906. A product of Maharajah's College in Mysore, Narayan's maiden novel 'Swami and friends' was published in 1935. It is believed that Narayan's fictional town Malgudi has captured everything Indian while having a unique identity of its own. However, Narayan was not immediately successful in his writing career. He struggled to earn his living out of the small money he earned by writing stories and essays to newspapers. But it all changed when the famous British writer Graham Greene read 'Swami and friends'. Greene financially assisted Narayan to publish his first novel and from then onwards the writer never looked back. Narayan has written 29 novels all based on Malgudi, and numerous short stories. His publications include five collections of short stories - A horse and two goats, An astrologer's day, Lawley road, Malgudi days and The grandmother's tale; two travel books - My dateless diary and The emerald route; four collections of essays - Next sunday, Reluctant guru, A writer's Nightmare and A story tellers world; a memoir - My days; and some translations of Indian epics and myths - The Ramayana, The Mahabharatha and Gods, demons and others. He bagged the prestigious Sahithya Academic Award in 1958 for his novel 'The Guide', which was given to an English book for the first time in Indian history. In 1980, Narayan was awarded the A.C. American Awards and Institute of Arts and Letters. In 1989 he was made a member of the Rajya Sabha (the non-elective House of Parliament in India). He was short-listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature several times, but never made it all the way. This great story teller, known around the world and hailed as one of the greatest Anglo-Indian writers died at the age of 95 in 2001. Compiled by Chamitha Kuruppu |
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There is no doubt that you have all heard about a little town called 'Malgudi',
a naughty little boy named 'Swami' and his mischievous friends.
