MALGUDI DAYS

INTRODUCTION

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001),[1] better

known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer and novelist 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.

Narayan highlights the social context and everyday life of his characters. He has been
compared to William Faulkner who created a similar fictional town and likewise explored
with humor 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,[2]
and in 1994 the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship, the highest honour of India's National
Academy of Letters.[3] He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of
the Indian Parliament.
CHAPTERS

"An Astrologer's Day":

A short story about an astrologer who knows nothing about stars or astrology. He
applied for the job after going on the run, though we are not told why he ran away. The
townspeople believe his predictions because of his study, practice and shrewd
guesswork. One day, a customer bets a large amount of money the astrologer cannot
reveal anything of substance. The astrologer resists the bet until he recognizes the man
(who is called Guru Nayak). After some haggling, the astrologer tells the man he had
been stabbed and left for dead in a well. The impressed customer pays up (although not
the promised sum) and the astrologer warns him not to travel to this part of the country
again. That night, the astrologer's wife asks where he had been so late, and he
confesses he had tried to kill the man years ago.[8]

"The Missing Mail":

A story about Thanappa, a postman who always talks to the people on his route. He
delivered to a man named Ramanujam from before his daughter was born to the time
she is of marrying age. After the last marriage prospect falls through, Thanappa
recommends a suitor in a faraway town. The meeting goes well and everyone is rushing
to get the wedding done May 20. If it is delayed even one day, the groom's "training" will
delay it three years. After the wedding, Thanappa reveals a postcard to Ramanujam
about the death of a relative, which should have been delivered May 20. Thanappa did
not want to disrupt the wedding, even though hiding the letter should cost him his job.
Ramanujam says he will not issue a complaint.

"The Doctor's Word"

:
A story about Dr Raman, who by time and tradition is only called for life-and-death
situations. As such, he believes pleasant lies can't save lives. He is very staunch about
that. Suddenly his best friend, Gopal, falls terribly ill. After treating him, the doctor
privately thinks he has 1:1000 odds of surviving, but his chances are worse the more he
exerts himself. Gopal begs the doctor to tell him if he will make it; if not, he needs to
sign his will then and there. Raman can't bear to tell Gopal the truth, but can't let him
keep straining himself. He tells Gopal he will be fine. The next morning, Gopal's health
is splendid, and the doctor says his survival will puzzle him the rest of his life.
"Gateman's Gift"
:
A story about Govind Singh who served as a gatekeeper and security guard. He only
spoke to the General Manager twice in his 25 years of service, and came to perceive
the GM as a god. After retiring, he took up the hobby of making miniatures and
dioramas using clay, sawdust, and paints. Each time his pension comes, he delivers his
clay work to his old company, always asking what the GM thought of his last one. The
accountant always says he liked it. One day, a registered letter from the GM comes, and
Singh is too afraid to open it, thinking it is something horrible. He goes to an X-ray
technician to see what's inside without opening it, but they tell him he is unwell. Singh
concludes he is mad because he plays with clay, not because of his response to the
letter. He goes through town acting like a complete madman until the accountant sees
him and opens the letter. The GM had thanked him, sent a large check, and hoped to
see more of his work in the future. Singh gives up his clay hobby, saying it is no work for
a sane man.

"The Blind Dog"

A story about a stray dog who befriends a blind beggar. When the old woman who cares
for the blind man dies, he leashes the dog and begs while walking the streets. The blind
man finds he has greatly increased his income this way becomes greedy. He constantly
kicks the dog and beats him to keep working. When the market sellers learn he is so
rich he's lending money, they cut the leash with scissors and the dog runs away. After a
few weeks of not seeing the blind man or the dog, they see them again and the dog's
leash is a metal chain. The blind man says his dog came back to him one night. The
sellers pity the dog.

"Fellow Feeling":

A story about Rajam Iyer, a Tamil Brahmin who is travelling on an express train. Another
passenger gets on and starts verbally abusing a third passenger. Rajam gets involved
and the bully complains that Brahmins are secretly eating meat and driving prices up.
The argument escalates until they stand to fight. Rajam stops short of the first blow and
explains that he will rearrange the bully's face so his mouth is under his left ear, bluffing.
As he is about to strike again, the bully sees they are at a stop and leaps out the
window, saying this is his stop. Rajam lies and tells the other passengers the bully got
back on into a different compartment, but they don't believe him.

"The Tiger's Claw":

A story about The Talkative Man, a recurring character in several short stories. Some
hunters bring a dead tiger into town, and The Talkative Man tells a story to some
children. When he was a fertilizer salesman, he stayed in a tiny village overnight in their
train station. He left the door cracked because it got too hot to sleep. A tiger barged in
and woke him up in the middle of the night. He barricaded himself behind a lot of
furniture, so the tiger could only reach in one paw. The man used his knife to cut off
three toes before the tiger retreated. Back in the town, the children ask to see the tiger's
paw; sure enough, three toes are missing. The hunters say some tribesmen like to take
tiger cubs and cut off three toes as good luck charms.

"Iswaran":

A story about a man named Iswaran who failed his intermediate college exams nine
years in a row. After taking the exams a tenth time, the day scores are reported has
arrived. Instead of viewing his scores, Iswaran goes to the cinema. When other boys
come in to the theater celebrating their own success, Iswaran becomes self-loathing
and is sure he failed again. He decides to drown himself in the river. He writes a suicide
note and leaves it in his jacket on the shore. But wanting to know for sure, he checks his
score. Not only did he pass, but with second-class honors. In his excitement, he leaps
into the river. His body and suicide note are discovered the next day.

"Such Perfection":

A story about a sculptor who finishes a statue after five years of labor. It is a statue of
the god Nataraja, and everyone insists its form is perfect; so perfect that if the people
saw it, the glory of the god would consume them. The priest asks the sculptor to break
off its little toe so that it will be safe to view, but the sculptor won't do it. The priest thus
refuses to consecrate it in the temple. The sculptor turns his house into a temple to
have it consecrated there. The god then comes to life and rattles the region with every
kind of natural disaster. The people beg the sculptor to mar the statue's perfection after
so many people died, but he won't. He ran to the overflowed lake to drown himself as an
offering to the god, but on the way, a tree falls on his house. He returns to see the
statue was unharmed except for a severed little toe. The imperfect statue is
consecrated at the temple, and the sculptor gives up his trade.

"Father's Help":

A story about Swami, a character from his first novel "Swami and Friends". Swami
oversleeps on Monday and convinces his mother to let him stay home from school. His
father insists he still go to school with a "headache," so Swami lies and says his teacher
Samuel beats children severely for lateness or any small offense. His father writes a
letter for Swami to deliver to the headmaster and sends him to school. The letter will
surely get Samuel fired, maybe even imprisoned. At school, Swami provokes Samuel to
do something deserving of getting fired. But Samuel only canes his hands a few times,
which Swami doesn't even react to. When he tries to deliver the letter to the
headmaster, he is on leave all week. The assistant headmaster could accept it, but it's
Samuel. Swami runs home without delivering the letter. His father thinks he was lying
about the headmaster being on leave and says he deserves Samuel.

"The Snake-Song":

A story about the Talkative Man. A group of men leave a concert hall having enjoyed the
performance, but the Talkative Man looked tortured. He says taste has sunk and tells
his story. He studied the bamboo flute with a master musician (who is so obscure his
name is unknown, of course). A beggar interrupts the Talkative Man's practice at night
and asks him for food. He declines the beggar even the right to come in and listen to
him practicing. The beggar curses him, saying this was his last day of music. Later that
night, a massive cobra comes and listens to him play. It gets agitated when he stops or
plays anything other than the snake-song. After playing the same song all night, he
throws himself prostrate and begs the snake to spare him. When he looks up, it is gone.
The Talkative Man says he gave up his flute, but if he could find the beggar and ask
forgiveness, he would take up his flute again.

"Engine Trouble":

Another story about the Talkative Man. A carnival comes to town, and he wins a road
engine (steam-powered tractor). Not knowing even how to drive or power the road
engine, he simply leaves it in the park. The city starts to fine him for the parking space
at over double his home rent. He arranges to move it, but it crashes in a wall instead,
leaving him to pay for the damages. A swami comes to town, eating glass, burying
himself alive, etc. The swami asks for a road engine for his assistant to run over his
chest, but the city magistrate refuses to allow it. After a massive earthquake, the road
engine lodges in a well owned by the same man whose wall was destroyed. He thanks
the Talkative Man, as the city was going to fine him for the dirty water if it wasn't sealed.
Of course, you can't see the engine lodged in the well anymore, as it is now sealed with
concrete.

"Forty-Five A Month":

A story about a daughter, Shanta, and her father, Venkat Rao. Shanta is a primary
school student who is eager to go home from school early, as her father has promised
to take her to the cinema. At home, she gets dressed up and waits for her father. When
he doesn't come home by the time he said he would, she tries to find his office, but gets
lost. A servant leads her back home. We flash back to that morning and follow Venkat
Rao's day. He feels guilty that he stays at work until after his daughter goes to bed,
seven days a week. So when Shanta asks to be taken to the cinema, he promises to
take her. That afternoon, he asks his boss for personal leave or else he resigns. His
boss tells him nothing is more urgent than work, so he goes back to working. Fed up
with being bought for forty rupees a month, he writes a letter of resignation. His boss
tells him he got a raise to forty-five rupees a month, so he tears up his letter. Venkat
Rao gets home after his daughter falls asleep and tells his wife he can't take Shanta out
at all since he got a raise.

"Out of Business"

A story about Rama Rao, a man who had just lost his gramophone business as the only
factory in the region closed down. Rama Rao looks for a local job, to no success. The
family lay off their servants and rent out the house they built to live in a smaller abode.
With no more job prospects, Rama Rao enters a magazine crossword contest, where
everyone who gets every answer right wins 4000 rupees. After seeing how badly he
lost, he lays down on the train tracks to die. After waiting too long, he finds a crowd at
the station and hears that a derailment has delayed all trains three more hours.
Recognizing his good fortune, he goes home and his wife tells him the renters want to
buy their house. He is excited to sell for 4500 rupees and will use some of the money to
go to Madras and get a job there.

"Attila":

A story about a friendly dog named Attila, after the "Scourge of Europe". After the
neighborhood experienced a number of break-ins, a family buys a dog for security. He is
friendly with everyone and does not stop thieves from taking their garden flowers, so the
family keep him inside at night. One night, a thief named Ranga does break in to steal
jewels. Attila is so excited to meet this new friend that he follows Ranga into the open
street. The family assumes the dog was stolen too, but they see Attila run to catch him.
Ranga gets scared and runs, but trips over the dog, spilling the jewels he stole. The
police arrest Ranga, and Attila is praised for being a master detective.

"The Axe"

A story about Velan, who an astrologer predicted would live in a three-story house.
Velan came from the poorest family in his village. At age 18, his father slapped his face
in public, and he left. After a few days of walking and begging, he got a job as a
gardener for an old man. The plot of land was large and they built a three-story mansion
on it, but Velan lived in his hut on the grounds. After being awed by the mansion's
construction, he grips a margosa's stem in his fingers and tells it to grow up big and
worthy of the house or he will pluck it out. It does grow, and his master's
great-grandchildren play under it and hundreds of birds live in its branches. Velan's
master dies and the house trades hands with family members for some years until wear
and tear make the house look haunted and no one will live in it, except Velan when he is
given the keys. Some years later, a man arrives to say the plot has been bought and will
be cleared for small housing. One morning, Velan awakes to the sound of men
chopping the margosa tree with axes. He begs them to stop until he has gathered his
belongings and gone out of earshot.

"Lawley Road"

Another story about the Talkative Man. Just after India's independence, there was a
flurry of patriotism. The municipality renamed streets from English things to Indian
names. There was a statue of a Sir Frederick Lawley in town, and when the street
bearing his name was changed, the municipality voted to remove the statue. The people
also researched Lawley and found he had been a British tyrant over the Indians. When
the city failed to find anyone to remove it within budget, the Talkative Man is offered the
chance to take it for himself. He does and lodges it halfway inside his house with great
difficulty. When he writes in the news how he got the statue, historical societies across
India are outraged, as there are two Sir Lawleys, and the statue celebrated a kind man
who founded Malgudi and even died to save Indians. The public protests the removal of
the statue, but now neither the city nor the Talkative Man have funds to move it again.
An election is coming, and if the statue problem is not returned to the city, the whole
council will be voted out. The Chairman of Malgudi buys the Talkative Man's house with
his private fund.
MALGUDI DAYS REVIEW

✳️"Malgudi Days" consists of 32 short stories, all set in the fictional

town of Malgudi. The story revolves around the residents of Malgudi.
Although all events take place in the same town, the stories are
independent of each other. Each story tells about the life of a family or
a person. It ranges from the life of a celebrity to the everyday life of a
beggar. Some stories had happy endings, some had sad endings,

✳️
some were funny, and in some the author gave the readers freedom to
come to a conclusion.

🔹“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅. 𝑰 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒘 𝒊𝒕 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒘. 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒕. 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕
𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏...”🔹

✳️The first time I heard about this book was when I had an excerpt
from it in my school textbook. It was a fun short story from the book
and I was really excited to read the whole novella when I got the
chance to read that one. So I took the book from the school library
and read it. So basically this is my re-read. But as I started reading
this, I realized that there were some stories I couldn't recall and some

✳️
stories that have been etched into my heart since I was a child.
Anyway, it was a wonderful second experience for me.

🔹“𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒘 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒈𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆.”🔹
✳️R.K. Narayan is a legend. He has written a timeless classic that
everyone will cherish. His language is simple yet quite beautiful. His
way of telling the story of ordinary people's lives is quite captivating.

✳️
This book was a part of my childhood and I recommend this book to
all adults and children alike.

I finished Malgudi days a bit late than I expected, so I am running late with the book to
be picked up this week. But on to the review.Malgudi days as I mentioned in an earlier
article most of us know the stories in some way or the other. It was adapted to a TV
Series when we were growing up and we got hooked up to it back then. The children
and adults both had the same amount of interest.

After a long time I was able to get my hands on the book that the Series was based on.
Malgudi days is written by prominent writer R.K. Narayan, his contribution is well-known
and he is a renowned author of many books but I think no other book of his got so much
prominence and publicity as Malgudi days.

There is a quote on the back cover of the book by Francis King which I liked and totally
agree with he says, “The hardest of all things for a novelist to communicate is the
extraordinary ordinariness of most human happiness…Jane Austen, Soseki, Chekhow:
a few bring it off. Narayan is one of them”.

This pretty much summarizes the entire book. If you are looking for some obvious
humor, laughs, mystery, drama, love stories, etc. then this is not what you will get from
it. The book will leave no impression on you when you finish any story (it’s a collection
of short stories) but then when you will be off the book each story will leave a lasting
impression on you. The beauty of the stories as King aptly says is the extraordinary
ordinariness.

Very few authors can capture the human emotions in such a beautiful way.In all there
are 32 stories and all the stories revolve around a town in south India called Malgudi
(it’s a fictitious town don’t look it up in the map). The characters in each story are so well
crafted that you can identify them with the few people around you, they are pretty
ordinary characters but then again they are extraordinary in their manners.I would even
commend the TV Series in this regard that they did a pretty decent job with the book as
the people still remember a lot many characters from that Series still.

All the stories are excellent, it’s hard to pick a few but a few I liked the most are The
Missing Mail, The Doctor’s word, The blind dog, Such Perfection, Engine Trouble,
Forty-Five a month, The Axe, Lawley Road, A willing Slave, Leela’s Friend, Mother &
Son, Selvi, Second Opinion.In “The Missing Mail” a village postman’s emotions with a
household are displayed when he doesn’t deliver a bad mail to the house until the
daughter of the house is wedded.

In the “Doctor’s Word” it shows how a doctor’s word is considered to be God’s word
and just by listening to a lie how the doctor’s friend cruises through a bad disease which
almost killed him.In “Forty-Five a Month” a man’s tussle with the love for his child and
fighting with the financial reality is depicted where he wants to take his little daughter for
the movie after promising her but he has to slog in the office every day and the result he
gets is a five rupee increase.

In “Mother & Son” the relationship of mother and son is beautifully shown when after
getting angry with his son she says some harsh words to him and later she becomes
restless when her Son doesn’t come back late in the night. The love and relationship
are beautifully depicted.Each story is unique and touches some or the other part of our
everyday life and as Narayan mentions in the beginning that the characters of Malgudi
can be found anywhere in the world and the stories have universal appeal.I enjoyed
“Malgudi days” thoroughly and this has re-kindled a wish to watch the entire TV Series
again, so may be I will try to find out some you tube links showing the episodes.How did
you like the Series? And have you read the book, and did you like it? Do let me know.

Conclusion

The author will never reveal what happened at the end and will leave it to your
imagination. It will make you go mad thinking what would have happened. The author
will tease you by leaving you wondering for ever as those endings will never be written
as the author himself is dead.Well, to come back to our lives. This book is one of those
extra extra ordinary book which you MUST read. If you do not, then you are losing
something very valuable. I recommend this book to all readers. The book is available in
amazon. So buy yourself one for sure…

REFERENCE

https://thebookthisweek.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/review-malgudi-days/
https://www.aringram.com/malgudi-schooldays-r-k-narayan/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._K._Narayan
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malgudi_Days_(short_story_collection)