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CHAPTER: II

The Early Phase

R. K. Narayan belonged a middle class South Indian family

but he had choosen English language for his stories and novels and
got success. Narayan has delighted us with his novels as well as

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with his short stories. He is always a story teller. In short stories
and novels, only the form changes. He is extremely successful in
presenting social reality and a large variety of characters dwelling
in the dream land of Malgudi. In the book Short Stories of R.K.
Narayan: Theme and Techniques Disha Sharma writes:
el
Narayan’s unique comic vision of life which enable him to
contemplate with his characteristic blend of humour and
compassion the absurdities and pathos, fantasies and frustration,
illusion and ironies of everyday life (Preface-I).

Narayan presents south Indian background. Knowingly he

t
limited himself to action of everyday life. For this reason, he has
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selected ordinary men and women for as characters for his short
fiction. His main characters are simply not outstanding. His stories
are absolutely in contract with Shakespeare’s work. Narayan’s
Malgudi is crowded by average and ordinary people. Most of them
belong to middle class of South Indian society. As he himself is a
product of middle-class society, therefore, he properly understands
the desires, expectation and problem of their life. In this
connection, H.W. William in Studies In Indian Fiction In English
writes:
Private life, families, the ambitions, success and frustrations of
simple Indians usually of the lower middle class. These have
provided Narayan with a plethora of subject matter (59).

Rajeev Taranath is of the opinion that Narayan “Cherishes

and explores the unnoticed, Subtle possibilities of the average and
 73

remarkable.” (The Average As The positive-A note on R.K.

Narayan, 16). M. K. Naik in Critical Essays on Indian writing in
English writes:
His Malgudi world is full with reality but in its limited extent. It is
one of the important characteristics’ of his works that he never
glorifies his characters but there is absolute truthfulness, kindness
and unbiasedness. In the short fiction of Narayan without any
failure all his men-women children are not extraordinary persons
with high ambitions, family prestige; full with avenge people these

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are the series of common persons for whom their family and
family matters are everything (61).

In this connection in The World of Malgudi: A Study of R.K.

Narayan’s Novels Graham Green comments:
The life of Malgudi never ruffled by politics proceed in exactly the
el
same way as it has done for centuries and the juxtaposition of the
age old convention and the modern character provides much of the
comedy (11).

Narayan’s stories relate to the Indian land and they are packed with
its culture. He mainly depicts the south Indian life and there is a
t
clear introspection of its culture and the people who live in. Disha
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Sharma in Short Stories of R.K. Nazrayan: Theme and Techqniques

writes:
Simple but fascinating plot lively characterization, strict economy
of narration and beautiful simplicity of language are some of the
most outstanding features of his short stories (Preface).

Malgudi milieu is inseparable from the writings of Narayan.

When he started writing, he was criticized by the publishers. That
criticism was specially based on ‘lack of proper plot in his stories’
and excessive involvement of Malgudi in his short stories. R.K.
Narayan has described this episode in My Days:
I offered sample of my writing to every kind of editor and
publisher in the city of madras. The general criticism was that my
stories lacked plot. There was no appreciation of my literary
values, and I had nothing else to offer. Malgudi was inescapable as
the spy over-head (P-VIII).
 74

But that condition did not remain for a long period. Later on he and
started getting praise had fame for his works. His first collection of
short stories, Malgudi Days came out in November 1942 and his
last collection of short stories Under the Banyan Tree came in
1985. The Early Phase of his carer comprises of two short story
collections Malgudi Days (1942) and An Astrologer’s Day & other
stories (1947). The first collection Malgudi Days contains nine
stories i.e. “Old Bones”, “Neighbor’s Help”, “The Gold Bet”, “The

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White” Flower”, “An end of Troubles” “ The mute companion”,
“The Edge”, “God and the Cobbler” and “Hungry Child”.
Indianans is extremely present though he is not orthodox but he
respects for Indian social set up, heritage and its culture. Malgudi is
the well known imaginary land of Narayan’s fictional world K.R.
el
Iyenger writes:
Malgudi is a Narayan’s Caster Bridge but the inhabitants of
Malgudi-although they may have their recognizable local trapping
are essentially human and hence have their kin ship with all
humanity (M.K. Naik, Critical Essayson Indian Writing In
t
English, 281).

In his stories, Narayan is objective by nature. He is inspired

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by his social set up of south Indian surroundings. Not only he but

every writer almost takes inspiration from his own society and
observes it regularly and keep in touch with it, as a result writing
becomes much more authentic and picturesque. If an Indian writer
chooses western language as medium of his writing i.e. English, he
has to pay attention towards his own society and background, as he
cannot handle western background unless and until he himself is a
part of it. In his, article The Fiction Writer In India: His tradition
and his problems. Narayan writes about the above points:
...hopes to express through his novels and stories the way of life of
the group of people with whose psychology and background he is
most familiar and he hopes that his picture will not only appeal to
circle but also to a larger audience outside (17).
 75

Narayan appears as a social, moral, ethical, physical and financial

representative of Malgudi. South Indian middle class society, he
can easily be compared with Hardy. He is known as ‘Hardy of
Malgudi’.

Two stories of his first collection “old Bones” and

“Neighbor’s Help” deal with supernatural elements. One of the
finest stories of Malgudi Days is “The mute companions” This
story presents the vast difference between rich class and the poor

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class. This is the story of a poor beggar Sami. Beggars are also a
part of our society. However, it is a black dot on our face but it is
there. He is deaf and dumb. But many of the society people think
he pretends to gain sympathy and alms. This is the bitter truth that
in our society people thinks about negative points only. People are
el
not ready to help Sami but at the same time, they have plenty of
time to raise their doubts about him. Once by chance, he gets a
monkey and he trains him simple tricks. Now he starts earning
good amount with the help of the monkey. With his success the
t
jealous people start saying, “Ah, really! It is a wonder how he has
taught it all this though he is dumb!” “I don’t think he is really
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dumb. He must be pretending” (75). Sami is very careful towards

the monkey, as he knows that his whole existence depends on it.
He teaches almost all the rules regarding social manner:
… he never liked his monkey to carry away anything from a house,
not even a pebble… he was never allowed to touch any leaf of
flower or even the flower pots. (76).

Sami takes proper care of the monkey, as it is very precious for

him. He is the only source of his life. Being a down trodden
person, he always maintains a gap between him and high class
society. It is a fact that the rich section of society can never have
healthy link with the poor section. These two sections stand as the
opposite poles. It is very pathetic that those who can do something
for the forsaken people are indifferent. As a result, of it the poor
people also try to maintain a gap to avoid any unwanted situation
 76

in their lives because of the rich people. This short story is one of
the best examples of Narayan’s art. Here Narayan has portrayed a
segment of society which is generally neglected. That section
remains unnoticed. This story stresses the passive nature of the
downtrodden. They accept everything whatever comes in their
lives. Narayan’s mild social criticism is also reflected when he
writes that Sami, “avoided those big places where people were
haughty aloof and inaccessible, and kept formidable dogs and

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servants (76). Swami is right when he maintains a gap between him
and the rich people. Once he goes inside a big house and
surprisingly he is welcomed to present his show. The monkey all of
a sudden due to some confusion goes upstairs and refuses to come
back. Sami is blamed for everything and the master of the family
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orders:
Send him out… He is frightening the child. The excitement won’t
do for him. It’s going to take weeks for him to get over this shock.
Take him away the devil (77).

He pleads much but he cannot get back his monkey. The story is
t
full of pathos. He goes again and again in front of the gate of that
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big house but every time servants chase him. He has lost his only
source of income and is forced to beg again. And pathetically he
accepts everything as his fate only. It should also be noticed that
Malgudi Days is also the title of a later collection, published in the
United States in 1982. There were thirty two stories in this
collection. Four new stories entitled “Naga”, “Selvi”, “Second
Opinion” and “Emden” were included in this collection.

In the middle class scenario parents take much care of their

children and children have a sense of security in the company of
their parents. Upper middle class is not present in Narayan’s
imaginary land. In lower middle class parents are mostly
indifferent towards their children. For them money is more
important. “Naga” is representing story of such theme. It is the
story of a snake charmer and his son. This is also the story of one
 77

of another have-nots. As Sami’s life depends on his monkey in

Naga (As the title suggests) the life of the protagonist depends on
his shake. In this story, again Narayan is presenting the lower
middle class world. The leading character of the story is a snake
charmer who lives with his son. They are illiterate and the father
never bothers about the studies of his son. Their lives are confined
to arrange means for the basic needs of the life. To get two times
meal is the sense of achievement for them. Without being,

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extremely pathetic Narayan is giving a different shade of the
society. In this story the boy and his father (Their names are not
given) earn their livelihood by showing the dance of the snake. In
return, they get some coins, eatables or sometimes old shirts etc.
But later on, this work turns out to be of no use as the Naga is
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getting aged and becomes lazy day by day. The boy says:
You have become too lazy even to open your hood. You are no
cobra. You are an earthworm… No wonder soon after I have to
stand at the bus stop pretending to be blind and beg (145).

Except that Naga, they do not have any other source of livelihood.
t
The boy has followed his father ever since he could work and when
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he attains the age of ten his father asks him to handle Naga. The
father expects a jewel from the Naga. He tells his son:
We must not fail to give Naga two eggs a week. When he grows
old, he will grow shorter each day; someday he will grow wings
and fly off, and do you know that at that time, he will spit out the
poison in his fangs in the form of a brilliant Jewel, and if you
possessed it, you could become a king (146).

One day his son is attracted towards a monkey, the father helps him
to catch it. The Monkey is trained by the son and his income is
increases. He starts for monkey shows with his father. The monkey
is named as Rama:
Rama become popular schoolchildren screamed with joy at the
sight of him. Householders beckoned to him to step in and divert a
crying child. He performed competently, earned money for his
masters and peanut for himself (146).
 78

Monkey’s shows are successful. Now they earn sufficient money.

Some time they have lunch in the restaurants too. It is a very
common thing. In Indian society, if the lower class people get
something they cannot make proper use of it. Instead of saving,
they restart to the wrong things like drugs and drinks. The snake
charmer is no exception. He leaves his son in the evening. He says
“stay I’ve a stomach ache; I’ll get some medicine for it and come
back” (149). He also has an illegal relationship with a woman. He

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returns tottering late at night. The boy feels terrified of his drunken
father. He lies on his mat pretending to be asleep. The father kicks
him and says, “Get up lazy swine, sleeping when your father
slaving for you all day comes home for speech with you. You are
not my son but a bastard” (149).
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Middle class people bother a lot about their prestige, as they
have nothing except honour but lower middle class people never
think about right or wrong. For the snake charmer his son is
worthwhile because he earns otherwise he abuses him very badly.
t
Not only it one night he leaves his son forever and escapes with the
woman with whom he has an affair. He has also taken his son’s
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monkey because the income of the monkey shows is more than that
of the cobra. He does not bother to think about his son, his future in
his absence. He leaves his child as an orphan but settles his life
some where else with another woman. For such people wife,
faithfulness, love for family and other such type of words are
meaningless. This is also one of the darkest shades of Malgudi
milieu. Not only the father but the son is also like that. He is not so
much sorry for his father infect he is happy for his freedom. But he
misses his monkey. In this world, all are interested in their own
selfish matters. No one has time for emotions and feelings. Later
on, the condition of the son becomes very pathetic even he can not
afford his snake too. In such a poor condition, the boy says to the
snake:
 79
If you don’t grow wings soon, enough, I hope you will be hit on
the head with a bamboo staff, as it normally happens to any cobra,
know this: I will not be guarding you forever I’ll be away at the
railway station (154).

This story shows the pathetic condition of the boy who

develops pleasant relationship with the snake is constructed by the
cruel behavior shown by the father. If one asks “what is Malgudi”
the answer comes it is nothing but the real world experience of
Narayan. Though it is an imaginary world but it is a picture image

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of our real India. In an interview, Suresh Kohli views of Indian
Novelist: An Interview with R.K. Narayan he admits, “I get all
influences from life from the surroundings, a little bus-stop or a
street stop” (13-14). H.M. Williams in Sweat Mangoes and Salt
Vinegar writes:
el
Narayan’s stories are packed with Malgudi and Malgudi is spread
from first word to the last one. And Narayan is primarily
concerned with telling stories and presenting Indian characters
against the cycloramas of Malgudi, which is for him only secondly
a symbol of India (62).
t
Narayan shows shades of people through all aspects of life
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because he had a priceless experience and knowledge as with a

variety of human beings. He pictured the social and cultural
changes that have been happening in Malgudi. Though he is telling
about Malgudi but it is also true that what is applicable to Malgudi
is applicable to the whole India. That is why Narayan has presented
a significant part of the national condition. He has a sense of
truthfulness for his Malgudi background and at the same time he is
attached to his little bit of ivory as a result he writes only about that
particular place i.e. South India and people a part of society he is
very much familiar and he himself is a part of that society. In this
connection William walsh in Sweet Mangoes and Salt Vinegar
remarks, “…send out long sensitive feeler to the villages where the
inhabitants are innocent and unsophisticated in most matters
excepting their factions and fights” (123).
 80

Selvi is the next story of the collection. This story resembles

with Narayan’s famous novel The Guide. The character of ‘Selvi’
is inspired by ‘Rosi’ of the guide and Raju’s role is performed by
Mohan. It’s a traditional story. The story is told by a third person.
Selvi, the protagonist is a well knows singer. The story revolves
around Selvi and her so called husband Mohan. The relationship
between Selvi and Mohan is not human but commercial; Mohan is
just like his personal secretary arranging her concerts after

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concerts. She hardly speaks to him but only follows orders given to
her by him. The author gives description of the physical
appearance of Selvi in these worlds:
Her eyebrows, which flourished wildly, were trimmed and arched.
For her complexion by no means fair, but just and the borderline,
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he discovered the correct skin cream and ileum which imparted to
her brow and cheeks a shade confounding classification (155).

This story shows the involvement of money in human

relationship. In our society, there are many people for whom
money is everything. Mohan is representing that crowd. He is very
t
much particular about each and every detail which he can use in his
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favor. Influence of Mahatma Gandhi is seemed in Narayan’s

stories. Mohan as he never wants to encourage the use of cosmetics
because he has been a follower of Mahatma Gandhi and has spent
many years in prison. As a result, he avoids all luxury. He is not
comfortable with the artificial aids to increase the personality of his
wife. He is a very practical person and knows how to create
importance. Selvi is merely a puppet of his hand. She sings
remarkably and due to that money showers on her but she is
indifferent to all her success and market value. This is Mohan who
arranges everything and collects everything. Like other money-
minded persons of our society, he is also an opportunist. The
following line suggests his professional nature. Many times just to
create the importance he speaks, “Leave your proposal with my
secretary and we will inform you after finalizing our calendar for
 81

the quarter.” This statement he uses for one but if another person
also comes for some programme. His statement is, “My schedule is
tight till 1982-if there is any cancellation we’ll see what can be
done. Remind me in October of 1981, I’ll give you a final answer”
(157).

Some time he rejects many offers for no other reason than to

preserve a rarity value for Selvi. When her concert goes on though
his eyes are on her, his mind would be busy doing complicated

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arithmetic with reference to momentary problems, and he will also
watch unobtrusively for any tape-recorder that might be smuggled
into the hall (he never permits recording) and note slyly the
reactions of the VIPs. Selvi’s mother, brothers and sisters generally
come by train or car and leave again within twenty-four hours.
el
When Selvi and Mohan have time and if Selvi timidly talks about
her mother, Mohan speaks angrily.
I know, I know I’ll send Mani to Vinayak Street but some other
time. We have asked the governor to lunch tomorrow and they will
t
expect you to sing, informally of course, for just thirty minutes
(161).
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After that Selvi never talks about her mother. It is a kind of victory
for Mohan. He is happy with his way to tackle her. Once the news
of her mother’s death come, at this she cancels all her previous
appointments and comes to her mother’s place. Now she decides to
live there at her mother’s house only, Mohan objects this decision
but she ignores his objection and says, “My mother was my guru,
here she taught me music, lived and died… I’ll also live and die
here, what was good for her is good for me too…” (163). In a very
beautiful manner, Narayan presents her revolts. He writes:
Selvi has never opened her mouth but now she does what she likes.
She leaves all her glamour and comes in her old simple lifestyle.
All the efforts of Mohan prove fruitless (164).
 82

In this story, Mohan is presented as a selfish and self

centered man. For him, money is more important than any other
thing. This story reminds us of Narayan’s novel The Guide. As
Raju was behind making Rosie, the famous dancer also tried to
control her life in the same way Mohan makes Selvi the musical
sensation tries to handle her according to his wish. Rosie became
fed up with Raju’s commercial attitude as Selvi is with Mohan in
this story. Here Narayan has presented the importance of emotions

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and feelings for human beings. We are not machines so we should
not be treated like that otherwise the innocent girls like Selvi can
also revolt. In this story, Narayan has presented high middle class
world and it is contrasted with low middle class world. Here is a
scene which shows the superstitions present in our society. There is
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the reference of an old house where no one comes as people think
that a ghost lives in that house. To quote the lines:
No one would tenant the house, since sir Frederic’s spirit was said
to hover about the place and money weird tales were current in
Malgudi at that time. The building had been abandoned since 1947,
t
when Britain quit India (157).
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All these things which Narayan has shown are still present in our
society. However developed and smart we are still we are not free
from such things. Narayan has shown only the glimpse of our
society but he is not promoting such thing that is why later on
Mohan decides to purchase that house he thinks:
Let me try. Gandhi ji’s non-violence rid the country of the British
rule. I was a handle disciple of Mahatma and I should be able to rid
the place of a British ghost by the same technique (157).

All the stories of Narayan revolve around Malgudi world.

Where is this Malgudi situated? What is so special about this
place? These are the basic questions which will certainly come in
the mind of the readers. The answer of this question is; it is
estimated in the dream of Narayan. Though Malgudi deals with the
 83

lives of south Indian people but in the vast sense it describes the
zest of Indian middle class world. In the stories of Narayan,
Malgudi comes as a spirit of a place not as a boundary of a place.
In this connection William Walsh in Sweet Mangoes And Salt
Vinegar writes:
The physical geography of Malgudi is never dealt with as a set
piece but allowed to reveal itself beneath and between the events.
One comes to have a story feeling for the places identify. The
detail suggests surely and economically (123).

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The recurrence of the same landmark serves to put together the
various stories on a complete body. The right expression is to call
them is Malgudi stories similarly as Hardy’s novels are called
Wessex novels. The setting or place thus makes the actual essence
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of a story being of the most important characteristics. The story
writer makes a dream world which becomes the backbone for his
work tangibles his vision of life. As a result, the writer’s vision
presents distinctiveness.
t
Though Malgudi is an imaginary land but it’s a depiction of
the real world. In literature there is a term known as regional. It in
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used for the writers who write just as an outsider. But Narayan
never writes on an outsider but writes about Malgudi as complete
insider. Malgudi becomes inseparable blend of custom belief and
the life style of people. It shows definite rules and moral, social
codes. It presents the writer’s point of view. In one way or the
other, the writer and the place can not be separated. This type of
involvement is required among the writer and the place. About this
Narayan has said in one interview:
I must be absolutely certain about the psychology of the character.
I know the Tamil and Kannada speaking people most. I know their
background. I know how their mind work and almost as if it is
happening to me. I know exactly what will happen to them in
certain circumstance. And I know how they will react (R.K.
Narayan in an Interview to S. Krishna, 21).
 84

Just like ‘Thomas Hardy’ and ‘William Faulkner’ Narayan has also
achieved success to create the sprit of the place. As a result of it,
the place has become a living personality. It is representing the
whole of the India. Graham Green in Introduction, The Financial
Expert My sore writes:
…Into those loved and shabby streets and see with
excitement and a certainty of pleasure a stranger approaching past
the bank, the cinema the haircutting saloon, a stranger who will
greet us, we know, with some unexpected and revealing phrase that

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will open a door to yet another human existence (5).

“Second opinion” is another story of the collection. It is the

longest story of the collection. This story is told by the protagonist
himself. His name is Sambu. He is in the advance stage of teenage.
He is a fatherless boy. In his stories, Narayan has presented male
el
teenagers only. All of them are not good in studies.Sambu is also
no exception. He can not clear his exams and now he is doing
nothing except wondering here and there. As a result when he
comes his home late is the night, takes proper care so that his
t
mother will not notice his presence. He is the lord of his room and
he is not comfortable if any change come in his arrangement. As
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the title of the story suggests the importance of ‘second opinion’.

There is the reference of a restaurant owner Verma who uses to
order tea, and coffee after every two-hour for him and for Sambu
(as he use to spend most of his time there). It is not due to
hospitality but because of his one selfish motive, he wants second
opinion for the coffee or tea of his restaurant. In the story Narayan
has also presented a practical doctor. There he shows the work
style of the doctors. In our society most of the doctors are also not
concerned about the life of patient mainly they are concerned with
themselves and their benefits. The following statement from the
story shows the truthfulness of the above statements, “Do you see
why there is greater rush here than at other places? It’s because if
you measure, you will find this is equidistant from anywhere in this
city” (167). Not only that he is not at all has any confidence on his
 85

diagnosis he uses to say, “such is any diagnosis go for a second

opinion if you like” (167). Narayan’s presentation of doctor is very
apt for the present time doctors for them this profession is not a
noble task but another means to earn money only, Dr. Kishan is
one of such doctors who practices in Malgudi. He believes in show
of his intelligence for that, he use to write long prescriptions’ and
he never believes in giving tablets only. He uses to say, “Every
prescription must be a special composition to suit the individual.

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How can man produced tablets help” (180). According to Dr.
Kishan if the patients are waiting for long hours and he is, writing
long prescriptions then only he is a good doctor. It is very
ridiculous. He uses to give an open offer i.e., “I’ll give free
medicine to anyone who can produce a longer prescription
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anywhere in this country (180).

At first look these types of people seems to be a black dot

for this noble profession but everywhere in the country such
doctors are present. In small towns, the problem is serious which is
t
one of the biggest problem of Malgudi town also. For such doctors
human life is nothing but means to earn money. Healthy people are
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of no use for them. Dr. kishan also tells it to his friend Sambu, “…I
know. I know. You are a healthy animal of no worth to the medical
profession. still I want to speak to you” (180).

This doctor is a very shrewd businessman. He does not show

any sympathy and humanly concerned for his patients. For him
they are only a means of money making. While dealing with them
he is very rude too. If his patients try to come first or repeat their
requests he scolds them very badly “Don’t you see I’m busy? Am I
the four headed Brahma? One by one. You must wait” (181). This
profession is supposed to be the noblest one and free from wrong
habits. But there are many doctors who themselves smoke
continuously. Dr. Krishan’s cabin use to fill with the misty and
choking smoke and in this dangerous environment patients use to
 86

come for diagnosis. He never bothers what example he is giving to

his patients. He takes out his cigarette and lights it without
bothering about the presence of his patients. This is a harsh reality
of our society there are rule for common people but as for as
powerful or rich people are concerned they can do every thing and
no one is there to question them.

Narayan’s observation is very minute but he is not towards

on anyone. With gentle eyes he keeps on looking at everyone.

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Though he is writing a story about business oriented doctor but he
is no where blaming him or his practices. Narayan accepts
everything with open heart without blemishes. All of the people are
welcomed in his imaginary world, Malgudi. It seems Malgudi
society is incomplete without a single one. No society of the world
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can be made only by good people. He is not an extremist. His good
and bad people are also average ones. In R. K. Narayan his social
vision Dr. Mrs. Harinder A. singh and Dr. B. P Singh write:
There is no sting or banter. It is evident that he does not lash out of
t
follies and frailties of the persons he portages. There is no
cynicism to malign humankind. He does not, like an angry dragon,
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breathe fire to scare people away (5).

Mother and son relationship is one of the most important

relationships of our society and Narayan has also written many
stories dealing with the same subject. “Second opinion” is also the
story of mother and son. But it seems they do not understand each
others feeling when the son comes late and does not take dinner
next morning the mother shows her anger for rejecting dinner and
says:
If this sort of thing goes on. I don’t know where it is going to take
us I sliced cucumber specially for you and you don’t hesitate to
throw it away….. At least mention your likes and dislikes. You
don’t even do that but just reject (167).

When the mother starts speaking hardly she bothers to see the
reaction of her son. As for as the son is concerned he wants to
 87

escape from all of these things. Mother is a very religious lady. For
her a river is a very secret and she is not ready to use modern
technology things in place of traditional means like river. In that
matter, she is very conservative. For her the old believes are more
important than her comforts. She does not appreciate that her
husband has dug well in the house according to her, “That was
before wells were dug in every house when wells were dug people
became lazy and neglected the river” (168). She is not going to

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forgive the well diggers. Well digging was her husband’s decision
and she was not at all agreed with this. She says, “I begged your
father not to dig a well, which encourage others also”(168). She is
an innocent and simple house maker whose life is revolved around
her son and the four walls of her house. She is not comfortable
el
with the truth of sciences. When her son explains her process of
well-water and makes a connection between well and river very
simply she says, “I don’t know what has come over you, I talk of a
simple matter like water and you keep on talking like a prophet”
(169).
t
Both mother and son are two poles apart. She is not at all
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ready to believe on the modern themes about which son use to talk.
At the same time, for her academic degree is very important which
her son cannot get that is why she is always after his life for this
reason. In his father’s room, there is a huge collection of precious
books in which he is very much interested. But his mother thinks
that instead of reading such books he should concentrate on his
studies. Not only it his mother insists him to be ready to merry the
girl of her choice but he is not ready for marriage. Samba, the arch
escapist does not want to be involved in any kind of alliance. Now
at his refusal her mother starts taunting him as, “With all that
reading you could not even get a B.A. while every girl is a graduate
today” (179). Later on Sambu is informed by his doctor friend that
his mother is suffering with a very dangerous disease that is a kind
of fainting which comes on suddenly. Sambu is troubled in his
 88

conscience when he realizes that he has not paid, “any attention to

my mother to her need or her wants or her condition and had taken
to be made of some indestructible stuff” (184). Sambu feels guilty
for his behavior to his mother. He becomes ready to marry just to
please his dying mother. He thinks:
I had to do a thing. I hated to please a dying mother…one had to
do unpleasant things for another person’s sake. Did not Rama
agree to exile himself for fourteen years to please Dasaratha (185).

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Like this in spite of so many differences Sambu is ready to
do the biggest sacrifice of his life. From his inner feeling, he is not
ready to marry but he is going to be a looser from both the aspects.
He is not ready to welcome neither marriage nor his mother’s
death. It seems as if he has been trapped in a situation from which
el
there is no possible escape route just then he decides, “I don’t rely
on any single opinion before deciding the issue” (188). After this
decision a ray of hope comes in his life, he only hopes that mother
has taken, no action on his impulsive request in the morning
concerning the matrimonial proposal. Next day he goes to doctor
t
Kishan and again seeks his permission to take a “second opinion”
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about his mother’s condition. Then like a good son, he takes his
mother to a big and advanced hospital. Narayan here gives true
expression of a simple lady who has never visited a big hospital in
her full life time. Instead of being terrified with the big machines,
“She looked pleased to be the centre of so much attention and to be
put through so many gadgets (190). With the reports of all these
tests, Sambu feels his fate is also hanging. On the doctor’s word,
his future freedom depends. Sambu takes a great sign of relief
when doctor Natwar tells him that there is nothing wrong with his
mother. Even after this, he can’t resist the impulse to ask the
doctor:
“How long will she live”? The doctor’s reply is very classic. He
says “Who can answer that Question. I would not be surprised if
she outlived you and me” (190)!
 89

After getting this answer from the doctor again he denies to marry
the girl of his mother’s choice. Again, they have come back on the
same point from where they have started. He therefore expresses
his wonder at the whole thing.
I couldn’t understand what pleasure she derived in destroying my
independence insulating me into a householder running up to buy
vegetables at the bidding of the wife or changing baby’s nappies
(191).

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Later on she knows the rejection of Sambu. The story ends when
Sambu promises that he will go to the bus stand and bring the
visitor home. The different treatment of Sambu and his mother to
life, society and human relationships reflect the generation gap of
two generations as two distinct philosophies of life. The mother’s
el
character is based on an awareness of togetherness and human
solidarity with due regard for social relationship and obligations,
while Sambu is marked by a self-centered and narrow
individualism which wishes to enjoy the luxury of detachment by
t
practically feeding on the good will and hospitality of others. This
one feels impelled to have a second opinion on the question of
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relationship between individual and society and the different

philosophies of detachment and attachment. Except developing
mother and son relationship Narayan has shown a very practical
phase of doctor’s lives too. It is a noble profession still doctors are
also not free from the race of money making. Doctors are known
for their prescriptions. In the story, Dr. Kishan says a very practical
thing about it. “Every prescription must be a special composition to
suit the individual. How can man produced tablets help” (180).

Narayan has presented everything in the most realistic way.

Though mildly he talks about the follies of our society but in his
stories, he is neither appreciating nor blaming anyone. In Malgudi
everyone is justified in once place.
 90

“Cat within” is another story of this collection. In this story,

Narayan laughs on the simple life style and superstitious nature of
simple Indian. Very easily, they believe on ghosts and due to this
weakness other cunning people try to befool them. The story is a
common example of Narayan’s humour. It presents an interesting
situation and makes humorous observation on the life and thoughts
of the common Indians. He shows in this story how simple Indians
believe in supernatural elements. They never apply any logical

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thinking but blindly follow others. “Cat within” is the story about a
man who has a shop in which he sells sweets, pencils and ribbons
to children. Once at night hours a cat enters inside the shop chasing
the mouse. The cat thrust its head in a jug made of brass. The
mouth of the jug is not narrow enough to suffocate the cat or wide
el
enough to allow it, to withdraw its head. As a result of this, the cat
began to jump and run around hitting its head on every wall. When
the shopkeeper hears the sound, he thinks the thief has come in the
shop. Thus, he starts shouting as a result all his tenants wake up.
Now they see inside the shop suddenly someone says, “Oh some
t
devilish creature, impossible to desire it…wake up the exorcist”
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(195). There no one tries to see the reality but all of them are
saying about superstitious things for example:
Oh, its jug spirit is it! It always enters and animates an empty jug
that’s why our ancients have decreed that no empty vessel should
be kept with its mouth open to the sky but always only upside
down (196).

The shopkeeper is a great miser now all his tenants get a chance to
blame his cheap nature. All start saying that due to the lack of
electricity such thing happen with them. He is also giving them a
neck to neck competition. The shopkeeper says that in that case of
no electricity they should arrange lantern. It is the general nature of
the mob to follow blindly. If one starts complaining others have
also started the same, they think it is the good opportunity to blame
the house owner. In our society tenant and house owner is also a
 91

very celebrated relationship but most of the time they don’t have
healthy relationship. It is also a fact that both the parties require the
presence of the other. India is a very populated country. Here all of
the people can’t afford separate houses and for the house owner it
is the means to earn money. The quarrels between tenant and
landlord are very common here. One such scene is also present
here in the story. Narayan has presented it with perfect care and
perfection. As a result of that a great verbal humour has created.

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For example later on one exorcist has also been called. Narayan has
given a very funny expression of the make up of the exorcist. He is
very much particular about his make up as he knows very well that
his livelihood depends on his outward appearance only. He knows
that he should look strange and horrible that is the demand of his
el
work. The following lines highlight Narayan use of humour:
The exorcist never emerged from his habitation without the
appropriate make up for his role. His hair matted and coiled up
high his untrimmed beard combed down to flatter in the wind, his
forehead splashed with scare ash, vermilion and sandal paste, and a
t
rosary the Himalayan slopes around his throat (195).

The exorcist is doing nothing but having sufficient pleasures of

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life. He is earning due to the foolishness of the rustic people. He

comes and starts asking routine questions. He gives his prediction
to the shopkeeper in the following words, “In your last life you did
certain acts which are recoiling on you now. How could it be
otherwise? It is karma” (195).

After that he has started asking silly questions with the

shopkeeper. There are the common questions which he uses to ask
everyone. Here Narayan is laughing on the follies of Indian middle
class. This story is one way or the other resembles his another story
“An Astrologers Day” Nothing can be more foolish than to
implement same formula everywhere by the astrologer to get
benefits. And surprisingly people believe in those things. He uses
to start his questions:
 92
Was there an old woman in your life who was not well disposed to
you? Be frank. She has cast a spell. Dig under the big tree in your
village and bring any bone you may find there and I’ll throw it into
the river (196).

After that a series of funny things have started. Some time the
illiterate people are saying. “A jug seems to have come to life and
bodes up and down. Hitting every thing around it bang-bang”
(196). After that, people have started talking about many other
superstitious things. They all have started blaming the landlord for

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lack of electricity and other uncomforts of his house. Narayan
writes:
“Only a single well for twenty families a single lavatory!” One
man added, when I lie in bed with my wife the littlest Whisper
between us is heard on all sides” Another retorted, “But you are
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not married” “What if? There are other with families (197).

In this manner the story develops. In fact it is a satire on the

present living condition of middle class Indian families, where
logical reasoning hardly come in their religious matters and
t
amazingly their believes in ghosts and witches are very strong.
When the cat anyhow becomes successful to come out from the pot
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the exorcist says with confidence, “yes, it may appear to be a cat.

How do you know what is inside the cat” (201)? He is saying
everything on the one side but the shopkeeper blindly believes him
and asks, “Will it visit us again”. At this he replies, “can’t say”
(202). The people’s believe are so deeply rooted that they can not
even imagine that exorcist like people know nothing but they know
how to cheat the simple and innocent people. They are very greedy
and selfish persons for them their own profits come foremost. The
last lines of the story are the best example of it, “Call me again if
there is trouble don’t worry about my dakshina now. I can take it in
the morning” (202).

Though Narayan is never a teacher but always an

entertainer. In such type of stories, he is performing both the roles.
 93

Here he is full with humour and he is raising a social issue. He is

only showing the problem but not suggesting one way to solve
them. Directly he is not saying that is good or this is bad. He only
depicts what is present there. He is entirely indifferent with his
characters No one is his favorite. He does not have any bad
emotions for any one of his characters. Though indirectly he says
these superstitious believe can vanish from our society with proper
education. Illiteracy is the root cause and it is responsible for many

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of the other social problems of our society. For the exorcist like
people of our society ‘dakshina’, means money is everything not
only it, but to have this they can go at any extent. This is the true
picture of Malgudi milieu. People are befooled and cheated
financially and emotionally but no law is checking them because
el
unless people will not control themselves nobody can help them. If
our country want to progress its people should have mental
development. Every society is made of people and their life style
and Narayan has remarkably presented the real Indianess though
his characters. In The World of Malgudi: A Study of R.K. Narayan
t
Novels A. Hariprasanna rightly writes, “What is characteristically
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great about him is that he has been able to capture the essence that
is Indian” (60).

Malgudi the imaginary small land piece by Narayan is

nothing but a true picture of Indian Middle class society. Along
with that, Narayan has presented lower middle class and the
poorest group of society. He has given us a real picture of it. All
his characters are not good or bad but life like. Their life is also a
mix tail of happiness and challenges. A. Hariprasanna in The world
of Malgudi is rightly comment:
In the Malgudi world appearance and reality Individual and
society, hope and despair, laughter and tears are all inseparable and
interwoven like Chekhov has produced from their very
inadequacies from their weaknesses and shallow pretensions, a
combination of sadness and comedy that is irresistibly appealing
(15).
 94

Narayan is a master to create humour in each and every

scene and episode of life but it doesn’t mean he is unaware with the
sad picture of their lives but there is a perfect blend of the feelings.
In his vast world, there are shopkeepers, serviceman, businessman,
watchman, soothsayers, house wives potters etc. It means he
represents true picture of India but he has given it another name
Malgudi. The short story “The edge” is remarkable in the sense that
it reflects a particular feature of India’s socio-political situation at a

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particular time. This theme is not very usual to Narayan. The
writing time period of this story is the emergency period in the mid
of 1970 that was the time when India had started many family
planning programmes to control the increasing population of our
country. It was unfortunate that the medical officers and the other
el
concerned officers adopted both fair and foul means to achieve
their target. They used to have target. Just like L.I.C people, they
were forced also to achieve their goals. People particularly from
the lower section of society were lured by the promise of money
and gift to undergo family planning operations the same thing
t
happen with Ranga, the central character of “The Edge”. He
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belongs to the lowest group of the society. Such people are

commonly found in our society. Any time their sharp loud voice
can be heard likewise: “carrying that grinding wheel around and
sharpening knives” (203).

Mostly these people adapt their career from their family and
it works like a heritage in their life. If someone asks him about the
starting time of his knife sharpener work his answer is, “Ever since
a live of moustache began to appear here” (203). Such people are
very practical. For them their work is everything rests of other
worldly pleasures are meaningless. The following lines present a
picturesque description of road vendors:
Apparently, he never looked at a colander, watch, almanac or even
a mirror. In such a blissful state, clad in a dhoti khaki shirt and
turban, his was a familiar figure in the streets of Malgudi as he
 95
slowly based in front of house, offering his service in a high picted
sound cry, “Knives and scissors sharpen” (203).

Not only with appearance, he is rough and tuff but with his
conversation, also he is very direct spoken. The knife sharpener has
to catch every body’s attention towards him and he use to force
other’s to produce blunt knife and other things so that he can earn
something. He dose not hesitate to say, “If you do not sharpen your
articles now, you may not have another chance since I am going

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away on a pilgrimage” (204). There are only three family members
in his family, he his wife and their one daughter. He has to come in
a town to earn in a better way. Here also he is sharpening knives
and scissors. His wife and daughter live at the village. In the town,
he misses his wife and daughter too much. He is suffering with
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home sickness. He is very smart in his work, when people say that
they do not have anything to be shared he cleverly tells the
importance of his work. Ranga’s customers like his jokes and they
are happy with his perfect work. He uses to give guarantee of his
work for sixty days.
t
In this story, Narayan has raised migration issue also. Earlier
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Ranga works in his own village but due to lack of income and
opportunities he has to leave his village and shift in town. Here the
pain of separation from home and home sickness is seen. Though
he does not have happy relationship with his wife still he wants to
go his home, as he loves his daughter so much. Ranga is
representing the low middle class world. These people get involve
in bad habits very soon. Though they earn a little but they are ready
to spend some amount on bad habits such as dinking and gambling.
In the company of the village blacksmith Ranga has started
drinking. As a result, when he uses to go home he has to face the ill
temper of his wife. He himself is an illiterate but he knows the
importance of education so he wants to educate his daughter
against the will of his quarrelsome wife. His wife is very
conservative. According to her, a girl should know domestic work
 96

and without delay, her education should be stopped. To earn more

money and to educate his daughter Ranga has started living in
Malgudi. In regular intervals, he uses to visit his village, as he
loves his daughter a lot.

Once he is going from his village to Malgudi, he has to wait for a

long time for the transport. After a while, he notices a car.
Actually, this car is a yellow car of propagandist of birth control.
The man who is in the car offers him lift which Ranga accepts.

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This man is an agent of birth control department and he wants to
complete his target so he asks Ranga if he is ready to earn 30
rupees and a radio. Ranga becomes very happy as this money he
wants to use for his daughter’s education and radio he wants to
give her. He does not bother to know why the other unknown man
el
is ready to give him that amount. After some time they reach in a
camp there another man inquires Ranga few questions about his
marriage and children; Ranga gives their round about answers.
Though he has only one daughter but the officer mentions seven
t
and starts, doing arrangements for the operation at this Ranga
suspects him:
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He recollected his butcher friend reading from a newspaper how

the government was opening camps all over the country where
man and women were gathered and operated upon so that they
could have no children (214).

After knowing this, he starts shouting and denies for the

operation and says, “No, I won’t be cut up” (214). Through this
story, Narayan has tried to say many things. He has shown life
style of a simple knife sharpener who is illiterate but the impact of
progress and self development is seen is him. In spite of his low
middle class, he is aware about the modern ways and knows the
importance of education also. Another important thing which he
shows is that in our country the male always tries to save his
fertility power. The same thing is applicable here also. Ranga is
getting thirty rupees and a radio which is a very precious gift for
 97

him but he is not accepting it at the rate of his birth control

operation. Another thing which he (Narayan) presents is the
importance of a son for a family. He has only one daughter that is
why he is not ready for that operation. At present time, also a male
child is very important for a family. No one is ready to give up it.
Here very beautifully and realistically Narayan has shown the
picture of our society. The next short story of this collection is
“God and the cobbler”. It is the story of a cobbler and a hippie.

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Hippies from America are very common sight in India. They can
be seen in almost all the religious and historical places of India.
They are young men and women who have left their country in
search of spiritual happiness and peace. In this story, Narayan
depicts one such hippie. When the story starts, the hippie comes to
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the cobbler to get the sandal mended. The Cobbler makes a
comparison between the hippie and God Shiva. His outward
appearance is similar to God Shiva. Narayan writes, “With those
matted locks falling on his nap, looks like God Shiva, only the
cobra coiling around his neck missing” (215). When he sees his
t
leather sandals, thick with patches he guesses that the hippie is
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coming from the Himalayas, the abode of Shiva. The cobbler starts
examining his sandals. When the cobbler is stitching his sandals
the hippie sits down on the sheet of papers provides for him. Next
morning, the cobbler sees the hippie again. He offers him a beedi.
The cobbler hesitates to accept it, at this, the hippie says, “Go on
you will like it, its good, the parrot brand…” (219) he asks to the
cobbler, “Do you believe in God” (219)? The cobbler is assuming
the hippie as God himself. He thinks that God is asking him
questions directly only he has come in another figure. The cobbler
is overwhelmed with this and he replies:
Do not wink their eyelids or sleep. How can they? In the winking
of an eyelid, so many bad things might happen. The planets might
leave their courses and bump into one another, the sky might pour
down fire and brimstone or all the demons might be let loose and
devour humanity, oh, the cataclysm (220)!
 98

The hippie terrifies at the sight of disaster. The cobbler

replies. “I ask God everyday and keep asking every hour. But when
he is a little free. He will hear me, till then, I have to bear it (220).
The hippie cannot understand this. The cobbler tells him that he
wants to die because of his poverty. He thinks that all his previous
acts are responsible for his conditions. Narayan depicts Indian
believe in God, birth and rebirth. It is there in our scriptures also.
All of the Indians believe in birth and rebirth. We know whatever

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we get in this birth is the reward or the punishment of our last birth.
The cobbler also thinks so when he says the ‘God is punishing
him’. According to him in his last birth, he must be a money lender
extorting money from the poor. As a result, he is facing monetary
problems in his present birth. We Indian believe in the concept of
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birth and rebirth and our last dream is salvation only. Everyone
thinks for that final fulfillment. Our believe is that until we get the
salvation we have to come in this earth and face birth and rebirth.
The cobbler is free from all the holy knowledge but he also wishes
for that final abode of all living beings. When the hippie asks him,
t
“what do you want to be in your next birth (221)? He replies that
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he does not want birth on this earth.

If we compare Narayan’s this story with his other stories it is

different from others. Here he is directly talking about the other
world, otherwise in most of the stories he bothers about the
problems of this world specially Malgudi world. This story shows
another picture of Malgudi milieu. This world is packed with
religiousness. They all are worldly people who fear God and shift
the responsibility of their problems on Him only. They are not
sitting at a place and worshiping God for hours and are not going
far long religious tours to remember God but they are doing their
work and fulfilling God’s orders and in this manner they are
showing their respect and love for God. Here Narayan can be
compared with ‘John Milton’s “On His Blindness”. In this sonnet
Milton says God does not need our works and favors who does
 99

bear what God has given him and who does not complain but wait
for his turn, for God that person is his true worshipper. The same
opinion is of the cobbler also. Narayan is here giving the spiritual
background of Malgudi Milieu. In Malgudi (Actually the whole
country) a large section of society believes in God. They fear with
God and this fear stops them doing any wrong thing. This is very
beautifully presented in this story. This story is one of those stories
of R. K Narayan in which he has presented strange encounter

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between strangers.

Many of Narayan’s stories are inspired by his novels. In the

story, “Hungry child” also Narayan takes up the clue from the
novel. The Painter of Sighs. The central character Raman is also
the central character of this story. In this story Narayan takes up the
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character of Raman who is a mature man still a bachelor. The story
is about a lost child in a fair whom Raman meets. Malgudi is the
place of exhibitions and such type of social gathering is a part and
parcel of Malgudi world. Narayan presents a description of the fair
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in his typical style. He writes:
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At the expo, as they claimed, you could get anything from a pin to
an automobile although the only automobile in sight was a 1930
for displayed under a festoon of colored bulbs and offered as a
prize to anyone with a certain lucky number on his ticket (223).

Once Raman is enjoying wandering through the fair,

suddenly his ears are attracted to a public announcement through
the loudspeaker. It announces that a boy of five years old whose
name is Gopu has been found by the organizer lost in the fair and is
brought to the central office. His parents are requested to take the
child away. Just because of curiosity, Raman decides to see the
child. He is childless that’s why there is a soft corner in his heart
for children. But he is surprised to notice the carelessness of the
parents he thinks:
 100
Must know what sort of a child gets lost. What sort of parents are
those that prove so careless or have they willfully abandoned the
child? Perhaps a bastard or a delinquent to be got rid of (224).

When he goes to meet the lost child there is no trace of tension on

his face instead of that he is quite peaceful. When he enquires
about the child the officer who has been announcing about the
crying child says:
He is not the sort but one has to say so otherwise parents will never

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turn up until they are ready to go home, leaving it to us to keep
watch over the little devils. It’s a trick where is his mother (225)?

Then the child joins Raman and starts giving his demands after
demands. He has asked for many edibles and he has fulfilled his
desires too. But he is surprised also that the child is not bothering
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about his parents. Within few hours the hungry child has tasted
almost each and everything whatever is available there and at last
when he sees his parents he leaps out from his hand. All it was his
plan to take benefits from the lonely condition of the poor man. It
shows cunning nature is not only related with grown ups but
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children are also very smart in it. We can say our environment is
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responsible for that and in lower middle class society children are
not, properly treated and pampered as a result they cultivate
shrewdness and cunningness. In this story, Narayan raises few of
the important questions such as a child can enjoy any amount of
time with anyone for sometime but at the end he will certainly go
with his parents. This thing happens here also. The naughty boy
after fulfilling all his demands goes to his parents.

Narayan’s stories can’t be separated from Malgudi Milieu.

Malgudi is the strong character present is his stories or in his
works. Though it is a dream town full with south Indian habitation
and its existence in our map in no where. It’s only a dream land
where Narayan has arranged his characters and incidents
magnificently. In Indian writing In English, William Walsh writes:
 101
Among the Indian English writers. In his short fiction, he has
created characters with a little oddities and eccentricities. In his
short stories he has covered the whole India and Indian soil (316).

Haydn Moore Williams in Studies in Modern Indian Fiction in

English, Vol-II has given a fine observation of Narayan’s work:
R.K. Narayan always has a good story to tell, like the bazaar story-
teller of immemorial tradition. George Steiner, writing of the
decline of story- telling in the modern novel says that few of our
modern idles… could have kept a railway carriage. Entertained on

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a long journey. Narayan certainly could (97).

R.K. Narayan belongs to a middle class Indian family but he

has adopted an alien medium for his writing. In spite of that, India
lives in his heart. His readers have spread worldwide but he has
written only about Indians; in his stories he celebrates Indian
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culture, Indian believes, short comings of Indian gentility or
greatness of Indians. As for as the lower middle class family life is
concerned Narayan is absolutely at ease with it and describe it with
a proper and tender touch. In his stories easily we can see family
t
members are sitting on the floor side by side and eating their meal
together with a rice pot within their reach, by the sooty tin lamp
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stuck on a nail in the smoke- stained wall and after the meal the
children of the family sleeping on a mat on the verandah while the
mother is waiting sometime for husband and some time for grown
up boy of the family. Narayan has a deep sense of Indian
agricultural communities. He knows how they suffer due to
weather and how they celebrate small happiness.

Malgudi is the basic background of all his stories. Though it

is a small town in south India but it represents all of the Indian
towns. In Malgudi world all of the people are having corporate
living style. Here the whole community is helping and sharing.
M.K. Naik also believes on the complete brotherly hood present in
Narayan’s stories. In his book Aspect of Indian Writing In English
he writes:
 102
Here is a true homogeneous community where corporate living is
possible around the village peepal tree. The spacious brick
platform round it, the stone figures anointed with oil and
worshipped by women and on the other side of this spacious
platform the village elders sitting and conferring on local problems
(177).

This is a very common scene of almost each and every Indian town
or a village. That’s why it is said that though Malgudi is a fictional
town of south India but actually, it shows the picture of the whole

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India. In the same manner Narayan is not only the writer of south
Indian background but Indianans is deeply rooted in his short
fiction. Shanta Krishna in The woman In Indian Fiction writes:
When he expresses his belief in the continuity of India, he means
his belief in the Indian spiritual continuity and coherence. Malgudi
el
is remarkable not because of its physical characteristics it could be
any little town anywhere in the world but because it projects
successfully the author’s sense of the continuing spiritual image of
India (92).

India is a large country, variety of people live here. Their

t
casts religion, thinking habits and social status are different but
India accepts all. Here everybody gets a place. Every culture and
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society flourishes here having their own privacy and importance.

To quote Shanta Krisha’s in The woman In Indian Fiction writes,
“According to Narayan, in so far as the myth of possession is
plausible in a world of Maya, it is India that possesses everybody”
(92).

When we talk about the works of Indian writing in English,

we find that it is full of Indianans. The Indian authors have adopted
English medium of writing but they cannot leave their roots. In our
society, the mass of middle class people is a lot that’s why most of
the Indian English authors have selected this class for their writing.
Narayan is also not an exception. Knowingly he has confined
himself in the day today life of Indian common men, women and
children. His fictional characters specially the leading characters
 103

don’t have heroic qualities. They have common likings and general
shortcomings of ordinary human beings. Malgudi world is crowded
with such type of people of middle class and lower-middle class of
South Indian society. He is also a part of that society that’s why his
stories seem to be absolutely real. In simple word, we can say that
his writing world is limited to the middle class section of the south
Indian society. Haydn Morre William In Modern Indian Fiction in
India Vol-1 writes:

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Private life, families the ambitious, success and frustrations of
simple Indians usually of the lower middle class. These have
provided Narayan with a plethora of subject matter (59).

The same thing is also observed by Rajeev Taranath in A Note On

R.K. Narayan: Critical Essays on Indian Writing In English”
el
writes about Narayan that he “cherishes and explores the
unnoticed, subtle possibilities of the average and unremarkable”
(61). Though his characters are common men but he has not tried
to glorify them. He has presented them as they are without any
glorification and touch of falsehood. They seem to live at our
t
neighborhood without any illusions and without great
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achievements. Sometime the question comes why Indian writers

have adopted a foreign language to describe Indian people and their
lives. The following quotations from the Indian writing In English
written by Manmohan K. Bhatnagar is the suitable reply he writes:
Indian writing in English is the expression of Indianans in the
English language to impress on the foreigners of Indians nobility
tradition and culture. Now it has become a part of the literature of
India in the same way as Sanskrit literature and other literatures of
Indian languages (26).

Many of Narayan’s short stories are evidence of this. There

are many characteristics of India but India is mainly known for its
traditions customs, religiousness and it’s believe in superstitious.
Narayan has a keen observation power of Indian customs. He has
observed various faiths and believes of Indians along with the
 104

customs and conventions that prevail in India. Not only he has

observed Indian customs but also he has presented them all through
his short stories in a perfect way. The cast ridden religious people,
pujaries, sadhus, sanyasis, the common men we have been
observing in our daily life, are found in his stories. In his short
factions the theme of the stories are generated from daily life only.
There are not any heart rending episodes, murder mysteries and
revenge stories.

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Now a day we see a glimpse of westernity in our country.
Indians have started to change themselves according to the western
culture but we are deeply attached to our culture. Even today for us
marriage is supposed to be the most important religious and social
ceremony. It is settled after completing a lot of religious and
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traditional formalities. It is our belief that if one fails to complete
all those formalities, has to be ready to suffer the consequences.
“The white Flower” is another story of this collection. In this story
Narayan is presenting the background of marriage settlement in a
t
middle class family. It is the story of an eligible bachelor Krishna,
a girl and their parents. Though a marriage is held between a bride
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and a bridegroom but in our society in traditional families, the

decision of marriage is taken not by them but by their parents.
Parents play prominent role in the whole process of marriage
settlement. They decide the marriage partners and also the proper
time of marriage. Here in the story a common friend have started
the negotiation. On an auspicious day, the girl’s father comes to
Krishna’s house. As in our society, the girl’s father is supposed to
be the needy one and they have to take the initiative for their
daughter’s relationship. But the importance of horoscope is not
avoided by them. Once the girl’s father goes to Krishna,’s house
and says to his father:
This is my daughter’s horoscope. I should feel honored if our
families could be united by matrimonial alliance. I shall feel equal
honored said Krishna’s father, receiving the horoscope (77).
 105

After matching the horoscope, a vital flaw is noticed by the

astrologer. The hindrance of the up coming marriage is that there is
mars in the seventh house of Krishna’s horoscope and it indicates a
short life for the wife. The astrologer suggests, “That it would not
be safe even to keep the two horoscopes in the same envelope”
(77). Though Kirshna, the boy is desperate to marry the girl of his
choice but no one dares to go against on such sensitive matters.
The poor boy only prays. Nothing is there in his hand except it.

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The following quotation shows the poor condition of human beings
in front of planets and stars.
Krishna frequently prayed to god to give the decision in his favor
and to make mars as important as a piece of straw, and to put
enough sense in people’s heads to make them see that it was
important (79).
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This point is very common in Narayan’s stories. Malgudi world
believes in astrology and at the time of marriage, its importance
increases. At this time, the girl’s father is in a dilemma. He knows
the offer is very good but at the same time, he can not overlook
t
mars also. Krishna’s father suggests that they may restart from the
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usual method of dealing with such dilemmas, leaving things to

God’s decision. The girl’s father also accepts it. Religiousness is
present in each and every core of Narayan’s stories. Malgudi
environment is packed with ritual and holy practices. In the story
when the girl’s father becomes ready to test God’s wish, many
arrangements have been done to test it. The following lines give an
example of the spiritual background of the Malgudi world:
They stood in the dim inner sanctuary coconuts were broken,
plantains were offered, and as the camphor flame. Everybody
prayed with folded hands (79).

They place two flowers on the door step of the innermost

sanctuary. The indication of the red flower means no and white
flower means yes from the God’s part. A small girl is selected, “to
play a medium between God and Man, A mouthpiece for God to
 106

say whatever Krishna could marry his choice or not” (79). The girl
selects the red flower, means ‘No’ from God’s wish; Krishna is
extremely disappointed with the decision. He knows now nobody
can help him.

In many of Narayan’s stories such superstitious ideas run.

But he himself remains aloof with all these things. Though in his
life also he suffers because of the ‘mars in seventh house’. In spite
of that in his stories neither he is condemning such things nor

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promoting. He is quite indifferent with everything. He presents
what is their in Malgudi. His real amusement lies in making other
happy.

The last story of this collection is “Emden” This is the story

el
of the oldest man of Malgudi. He doesn’t know his actual age but it
is almost ninety to one hundred five. He has a long family. Even
his grandchildren are of sixty to eighty age groups. His birthday
use to be celebrated with great pomp and show by his relatives.
The deception of his birthday is full with irony and great humour.
t
The birthday description is packed with the typical writing style of
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Narayan:
The religious part of it was so tremendous that he was laid up for
fifteen days there after with fever. During the ceremony they
poured pots of cold water, supposedly fetched from sacred rivers,
over his head, and forced him to undergo a fast while they
themselves feasted gluttonously (233).

Narayan has depicted the birthday celebration of an extremely old

person very realistically. This story shows another picture of
Malgudi Middle class society. It shows the desire of human being
to live long. Rao is the protagonist of the story. He is terribly old
and is completely detached with family responsibilities. In his
family there are seventy five members. He is too old to remember
the names of most of the children at home. Not only this but also
he doesn’t know how many are living under his roof. His sons
handle every matter of the family. He is only concerned with
 107

himself. He had three wives but he lost all of them. After loosing
all his wives he has started believing in the stars. The reference of
mars in the seventh house is not new for Narayan. In few of his
other stories and in novels he has used the reference of seventh
house. In this story Rao’s one of the uncles knows the science of
stars. He reads the stars for the whole family. (Reading stars is very
common in Malgudi world). He has told him that Rao has mars in
the seventh house. Therefore, he has lost his wives. After the third

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marriage and more children, he becomes sure of the ill will of
mars.

Irritation, lack of patience and excessive quarrel some nature

is the basic characteristics of old age. All these short comings are
there in his character too. Because of his age, he has become
el
extremely short tempered. He is happy with his position that he has
not any responsibility. He is a typical old man of our society who is
completely depended on others but at the same time, he is not
ready to bend. The following lines show the typical attitude which
t
he has developed:
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If I see less or hear less so much the better. Nothing lost my legs
are still strong enough to take me out and I can bathe and wash
without help... I enjoy my food and digest it (234).

Once Rao has decided to walk all alone without the help of
the family members. At his age he is very nervous to cross the
roads or to walk on the uneven roads but he decides to go all alone.
He is all alone so many of the shopkeepers offer him help. Jayraj is
also one of them. Jayraj is one of the most important characters in
many of the other stories. He is known for his extreme
professionalism and selfishness. He is a man of extreme
interference. All the time he speaks at the back of people. Such
type of people is easily found in our society. By creating such
characters, Narayan is only presenting a real picture of our society.
When Rao goes away Jayraj comments to his customers:
 108
At his age! Moves through the crowd as if he were in the prime of
youth. Must be at least a hundred and ten! See his recklessness. It
is not good to let him out like this (232).

At this, the customer who is waiting for their pictures to be framed

asked him who he is. Then Jayraj tells them that they call him
Emden. Emden was a German warship that shelled Madras in
1916; ever since, the term shows anything or anyone who is
formidable and ruthless. Name giving practice is very old in our
country. One name is given to every one by their parents but this

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another name we get because of our habits, nature or people give
name to tease also. Jayjaj adds that they were afraid of him when
they were boys. When he was on the road on his bicycle in his
khaki uniform they considered him to be a police inspector from
his dress. They were unaware that he wore the uniform of the
el
exercise department. He behaved like the police when Jayraj was a
boy he used to linger about the market gangs. When Emden used to
see them, he ordered him to go home. Once he caught them
urinating against the wall at Adam’s street as they always did. He
t
caught four of them and carried them before the headmaster and
said:
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What are you doing, headmaster? Is this the way you train them?
Or do you want them to turn out to be guttersnipes? Why don’t you
keep an eye on then and provide a latrine in your school (237).

By all these examples, Narayan shows the effect of time or every

one. Who was once so particular about so many things but now in
his old age he is not getting a simple address which he is searching
for. It shows no body is safe from the clutches of time. After
searching a lot Mr. Roy has to return home.

Society is made up of many families and such various type

of families are part and parcel of Malgudi milieu too. Narayan
believes that no man is perfect in this world. All are depended on
one another. ‘I’ cannot stand in this world. ‘We’ is required for this
purpose. Narayan is the man of family and society. K.V.S. Murti in
 109

The Crown Critical Studies In Indian English Literature writes,

“Narayan presents everything from the viewpoint of the individual
and society” (125). Narayan’s characters are deeply emerged in
their society and culture. There is always a struggle to achieve
something and to define one’s own fate. They have their own
aspirations and hopes for betterment. For this, they work hard or
try to give a proper shape to their future. Sometime to get it they
have to go beyond the social norms of their society. If there is a

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dispute between an individual and society. It is the society who
always wins and shows that the existence of human being is only
because of society. They are for society. Narayan’s stories shows
that characters cannot do anything all alone they are bound by their
circumstance. There is nothing good and bad, all human have the
el
same as well as bad qualities it depends on our circumstances that
which aspect is stronger in a particular person. A. Hariprasanna
also believes in it. In The World of Malgudi: Study of R.K. Narayan
he writes:
t
The protagonist usually sets out on a quest for something or the
other. Sometimes it is money, at other times it is self identity or
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love and marriage yet other times it is a meaningful relationship

with his family members and many more (88).

Circumstances play a prominent role to shape up one’s

character and decision. Many people decide something else in their
life and later on things come in absolutely different manner.
Narayan’s another short story collection which will come in “The
Earlier phase” is An astrologer’s Day and other stories. Eighteenth
stories are there in this collection. They are entitled as: “An
astrologers Day”, “The missing mail”, “The doctor’s word,
“Gateman’s Gift”, “The watchman” “The performing child”,
“Crime & punishment”, “The tigers claw”, “Iswaran”, “The
Evening Gift”, “A shake song”, “An accident” and “Old man of the
temple”.
 110

“An astrologers Day” is the central story of this collection

and the collection is named after this story. It presents an
interesting encounter of wits. This is the story of a road side
astrologer who earns money through his presence of mind. With
his common sense, he saves his life also. It is a typical Narayan
story with its turn and twist, its humor and its racy narrative style.
The story begins with a description of the astrologer. The impact of
Malgudi Milieu clearly resembles in Narayan’s characters. The

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astrologer is also no exception. Just like the other stories of
Narayan, the setting or the background of the story is of a small
town. In the market there are many well furnished shops as well as
there are few small shops without walls and furniture. There are a
lot of such road side shops, which also try to attract attention of the
el
people. They are small shopkeepers but they too have to face
competition. The astrologer’s shop is one of them. He uses to sit
under the boughs of a spreading tamarind tree which flanks a path
running through the town hall park. The story starts with a
description of the astrologer. The astrologer, “had not in the least
t
intended to be an astrologer when he began life” (2).
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Malgudi society pays a lot of importance to the stars or the

science of stars i.e. astrology. Whatever astrologer says his words
are supposed as gospel truth. Mostly simple people of Malgudi
Milieu never try to find out the reality behind that. Though
astrology is, a well established science but many persons misuse it.
Whatever they know or do not know but they earn money by
befooling others. In “An Astrologer’s Day” Narayan has presented
such type of a astrologer. He becomes astrologer because he has
nothing to do. He knows nothing about astrology but physically he
makes all the arrangements to attract people, “To crown the effect
he wore a saffron colored turban around his head. This colour
scheme never failed. People were attracted to cosmos or dahlia
stalks” (3).
 111

His physical preparations are up to the mark and he has a

long list of customers also but as for as his knowledge of astrology
in concerned these lines can tell better:
He was as much a stranger of the stars as were his innocent
customers. Yet he said things which pleased and astonished
everyone. That was more a matter of study. Practice and shrewd
guesswork (4).

It is the presentation of ironical humor by Narayan. Whatever is

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presented is not only fiction but it’s a picture of our society.
Everywhere in our country such type of over smart people are
present. Most of the time the astrologer is right as the long practice
has made him expert enough to know human psychology. He is
fully aware with the tangle of human ties. When he sees palm of a
el
man. Opens his month, “In any way you are not getting the fullest
result for your efforts” (4). Ninety nine out of hundred use to agree
with it. For every question, he asks charges and takes proper time
to answer it. We cannot say if he is a good astrologer or not but no
doubt, he is a good businessman. Some time his answers are like,
t
“Most of your troubles are due to your nature. How can you be
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other wise Saturn where he is? You have an impetuous nature and a
rough exterior” (4).

Our society is a religious society and luck factor is very

important here. Though the astrologer is tricky but all the time he is
successful because he is very lucky too. His luck has decided his
new profession for him and he is earning his livelihood due to this
profession. It shows Malgudi world is full with hopes for everyone.
One day as he is about to move after the days business, a stranger
comes to him and requests him to foretell where he will get one
person, who tried to hill him to take revenge. The astrologer
refuses as it is getting late and he is in hurry to go home. When his
credibility is challenged astrologer asks for more money which is
agreed. When the astrologer observes the face of his client he
becomes very comfortable and answers all his quarries:
 112
“You were left for dead. Am I right?” “Ah, tell me more.” “A knife
has passed through you once”, said the astrologer. “Good fellow!”
He bared his chest to show the scar, “what else? “And then you
were pushed into a well nearby in the field (5).

The story ends with the shock of discovery that what the
astrologer has read and advised is from his own experience and that
he is the man who has knifed his client in his native village. This is
an example of irony of circumstance, which Narayan deftly unfolds
to his readers after a lot of suspense. There irony is present in of

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both circumstances, astrologer’s reading of the past and his advice
to his client is brought home. There is a bit of humor in the story
when the astrologer and Gurunayak, the client try to make a fool of
each other. The astrologer tries to charge more money for reading
Gurunayak’s past and on the other hand the client wants to know
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his future at less money. At last the client makes a fool of the
astrologer by giving him less money than he has promised to give.
Narayan keeps it secret till the end that the astrologer is himself the
person who knifed that man. We know the truth at the and of the
t
story, when he talks to his wife.
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Narayan has adopted the technique of third person narration

to tell this story. Coincident plays an important role in the story.
Because of it this story is criticized by the critics. P.D West Hook
criticizes the story for its element of unconvincing coincidence. He
does not realize the importance of coincidences is life. But there
are many persons who know that coincidences are part of lives. As
Brooks and Warren argue in Indian Reading In Common Wealth
Literature and they write:
Coincidence do occur in real life, sometimes quite startling ones,
and is one sense every story is based on a coincidence namely that
particular events happen to meet, for example. But since fiction is
concerned with a logic of character and action, coincidence is so
far as it is purely illogical has little place. Truth can offered to be
stranger than fiction, because truth is ‘truth’ is acceptable and it
has its own merits but the happenings of fictio must justify
 113
themselves in terms of logical connection with other elements in
fiction and in terms of meaningfulness (112-113).

It is absolutely logical that the stranger a gullible rustic in

search of his assailant to take revenge may call upon an astrologer
and request him to foretell if he would be successful in his mission
or not. Even educated people in India approach astrologers to know
their future. The use of coincidence in the story is extremely logical
and not at all far from reality. Narayan is famous for the realistic

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presentation of life. The story is praised for its dialogue between
the astrologer and the stranger in the beginning and the astrologer
and his wife at the end. The dialogues reveal the common sense of
the astrologer’s character and it gives a hint about the further
dramatic action of the story. A final shock and surprise is that the
el
astrologer is the person who tried to kill the visitor due to some
misunderstanding. The same theme is of the next story of the
collection “The Missing Mail” also. A postman Thanappa is the
protagonist of the story. The story is also told by the omniscient
narrator. He is a very social person and perfect in his work. In the
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beginning of the story, Narayan has given the brief description of
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the work of Thanappa:

Though his beat covered Vinayak Mudali Street and its four
parallel, roads, it took him nearly six hours before he finished his
round and returned to the head office in market road to deliver
accounts (8).

The postman is known for his gentle behavior. He takes

interest in everybody’s problems and takes initiative is their
matters. Though in this modern world people have stopped writing
letters as phones and mobiles, computers all such things are present
for us. But as for as small places are concerned even today people
wait for letters and write letters for their relatives. They use to wait
for the arrival of the postman. Not only the people but also the
postman comes very close to them. Postman knows who is waiting
for whose letter. This is the reality of small towns like Malgudi.
 114

The following lines will be the best example to show the postman’s
presence of mind about the Malgudi locklers, “At no. 13 kabir
street, lived the man who had come halfway up the road to ask for
a letter for so many years now” (8). The postman cares for all the
people of Malgudi world. He knows each and every one and their
relatives too. He becomes the witness of the news of every function
and sad occasions in each and every family. He is not hesitant to
say the following statement to one of the Malgudi inhabitants:

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Your son at Hyderabad has written again madam. How many
children have he now? I did not know that you had applied for this
Madras job, you haven’t cared to tell me (8)!

Wherever he goes to deliver letter he stay there for half an hour

because of his friendly nature. If someone is getting money order
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he will stay there to enquire where each and every pany is going to
spend. Such intimacy is developed among the postman and
Malgudi dwellers. Though Thanappa, the postman is the central
character of the story but the story moves round a marriage
problem in which Thanappa plays an indirect but very important
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role.
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Ramanujam is a clerk in the Revenue Division office and

lives at no. 10 Vinayak Mudali Street. Thanappa has been carrying
letters to the address for over a generation now. Thanappa’s earliest
association with Ramanujam and his family is very old.
Ramanujam is the father of a daughter whose name is Kamakshi.
He is worried for his daughter’s marriage and his father-in-law
thinks that he is not sufficiently active in finding a husband for his
daughter. Most of the time money use to be the matter for delay but
in this case, money is not such a big problem. As the girl’s father
says:
He has set apart five thousand rupees for this girl’s marriage and is
worrying me to find a husband for her immediately. But money is
not everything”...“No-no”, echoed the postman “unless the
destined hour in at hand, nothing can help (9).
 115

In spite of everything he is not getting a perfect match for his girl.

In Malgudi society at the time of settlement of marriage, three
things are very important and Kamakshi is not getting a perfect
husband due to them. Malgudi society is the photocopy of Indian
middle class- world. In this class, people think that girl’s age plays
a very important role to find a husband for her. If a girl is, young it
is easy to get a perfect husband but age can be a hindrance in this
task. Ramanujam’s family is also not free from this. For example

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they think, “The girl would be seventeen in a few days. The
reminders from her grandfather were becoming fiercer” (9).

In our society people long for male child as the daughter’s

parents condition is very pathetic at the time of marriage.
Ramanujam has lost all his comfort and becomes very miserable.
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Not only it but at each and every place we are affected with this
mentality of our society because we cannot aloof ourselves form it.
For parents girl’s matter seems us to be very delicate. Once his
family gets a very promising proposal from a boy’s party. The
t
horoscope match and photograph of the girl is also approved but
the boy’s family want to see the girl for that they wish girl’s father
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and kamapshi should go to meet the boy’s party at Madras. At this

point the family is divided. Girl’s mother says:
We shall be the laughingstock of the town, said Ramanujams wife,
“if we take the girl out to be shown round.” “What queer notions!
If you stand on all these absorb antiquated formalities, we shall
never get anywhere near a marriage (11).

Variation in thoughts is very common. Most of the time the elderly

members and the female members of the family talk about the
traditions and in Malgudi world the people are simple and they do
not dare to raze the society and they feel it is their duty to follow
the trodden path only.

For Indian or for Malgudi dwellers marriage play very

important role in their life. People save for that occasion and try to
 116

do their level best to make it a grand occasion. The same thing is

applicable to Ramanujam also. At last the marriage of his daughter
takes place. Narayans has given the description of the place where
marriage is held:
It was four hours past the muhurtam on the day of the wedding. A
quiet had descended on the gathering. The young smart
bridegroom from Delhi was seated in a chair under the pandal.
Fragrance of sandal and flower, and holy smoke hung about the
air. People were sitting around the bridegroom talking (12).

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The story ends in a surprise. Thanappa, the postman has kept
secret the news of Ramanujam‘s uncle death. He does not deliver
the letter and the telegram to Ramanujam. Has it been otherwise
the marriage which is fixed for certain urgent reason, would not
have taken place? Thanappa knows very well that the marriage of
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Ramanujam’s daughter must not be postponed under any
circumstances. It is only after kamakshi’s marriage that
Ramanujam learns about the sad demise of his uncle. After the
marriage, Thanappa hands over Ramanujam the telegram and
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confess:
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…Yes, sir, and the telegram followed next day that is on the day
of the marriage. It was unhappy to see it. But what has happened
has happened. I said to myself and kept it away, feared that it
might interfere with the wedding” (13).

He is also ready to undergo punishment for this and mumbles,

“You can complain if you like, sir. They will dismiss me. It is a
serious offence” (13).

This is the story of Malgudi Milieu where people are so

simple that they are not hesitant to leave their government job for
the sake of others. The whole story moves round Thanappa,
Ramanujam and his family. Thanappa is a practical man and he is
an altruistic postman. He is well wisher of Ramanujam and his
family. He keeps secret the news of the death of Ramanujam’s
uncle only for a good purpose. He knows that if he would hand
 117

over the telegram to Ramanujam, the marriage of Kamakshi might

be postponed. He does not want any obstacle in Kamakshi’s
marriage. Another character in the story is Ramanujam. The author
has described his metal condition very well. It is quite possible that
being a father of a young daughter he is worried about her
marriage. Kamakshi comes on the stage for a short time. But the
whole story moves round her marriage. The wife of Ramanujam
comes into two scenes only Narayam has not given the description

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of physical appearance of the characters, except few worlds about
Kanakshi and his bridegroom. The story starts at Vinayak Mudali
Street and ends in house of Ramanujam. This story also ends in a
coincident and surprise. It is merely a coincidence that
Ramanujam’s uncle dies that particular date. This is an example of
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irony life use to surprise us by such ironies. In the story each and
every character is behaving like common mass. No one is heroic
here but all are ordinary people. In Narayan’s stories character are
not important but the circumstances are important. Malgudi
environment help them to complete their responsibilities skillfully.
t
No doubt Narayan characters are not heroic but at the same time
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most of their hearts are packed with humanity and they are ready to
sacrifice their happiness for the sake of others. Inspite of war,
worry, tensions and troubles the world is a pleasurable place to
live.

“The Doctor’s word” is another story of this collection. The

story describes the importance of faith. Faith can create miracle. In
fact, human beings are known as senior race because of this feeling
only. Nothing is impossible in this world if faith is there. Doctor is
a very nobel profession and our society respects them as God. It’s
true that doctors are second God. If God give us life, it is the
doctors who try to save us from any health hazards. “The Doctor’s
word” is the story of such a doctor who is known for his best
performance. He is a well experienced man and his long practice
has given him the experience to know the possibility of particular
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case. He never believes in misguiding the patients by telling

soothing lies. He is a very practical doctor. About him Narayan
writes:
He never believed that agreeable words ever saved lives. He did
not think it was any of his business to provide comfortable lies
when as a matter of course nature would tell them the truth in a
few hours (15).

He never believes in saying but only in saving lives of his patients.

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He is so perfect in his work that if he has seen a ray of hope in a
patient he will not rest till he can save his life. Narayan writes, “He
rolled up his sleeve and stepped into the arena: it might be hours or
days, but he never withdrew till he wrested the prize from yam’s
hand” (16). Malgudi environment is so pious that due to the
el
positive environment Dr. Raman like doctor is present here. Just as
it is the rule of every society price use to raise high according to the
demand. Dr. Raman is the priceless doctor. His words are
considered like God’s words for the Malgudi dwellers. If he says
the patient will live, nobody can check his life. Because of all these
t
qualities his fees in more than that of other doctors. Therefore,
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people come to him when the patient is on his last stage. He is not
a mere doctor expressing an opinion but a judge pronouncing a
verdict. The patients’ life hung on his words.

Every human beings life is incomplete without friends. Dr.

Raman also has a very good friend. His name is Gopal. Gopal and
Dr. Raman’s friendship has started from their kindergarten time as
a result; they know each other for last forty years. As both of them
are busy in their professions, so they cannot meet often. On every
Sunday, they use to meet. For last, there months Gopal did not
come to meet Dr. Raman but Dr. Raman could not notice it, as he
was extremely busy with his patients. He only remembers this
when he sees Gopal’s son in his clinic later on Dr. Come to know
about the ill health of his friend Gopal. Directly from the clinic he
goes to his friend’s house where he finds that Gopal is suffering
 119

from heart attack. Then he operates him still he cannot see a ray of
hope for the survival of his friend. He says to his assistant:
If the pulse keeps up till eight in the morning, it will go on for the
next forty years but I doubt very much if we shall see anything of it
at all after two at night (16-17).

At about eleven in the morning, Gopal opens his eyes and

smiles at his friend Dr. Raman. He shows slight improvement he is
able to take his food too. A great feeling of relief and joy goes

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through the household. But Gopal feels he is about to die so he
wants to sign his will before he die at this point he wants Dr.
Raman’s assurance for his life other wise he wants to sign his will
to avoid any confusion and troubles for his family. He asks the
doctor, “Am I going? Don’t hide it from me” (17) Being a good
el
friend of his patient the doctor is not willing to answer his question.
He has never faced such situation in his life. It is not in his nature
to speak a soothing lie. But as for as truth is concerned he is not
willing to disclose it to his dying friend. The importance of the
doctor’s words is presented in the speech of Gopal, where he wants
t
to know about the possibilities of his life. His faith in Dr. Raman’s
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words is very deep. That is why he says to him, “I must know how
long. I am going to last. I must sign the will. It is all ready let me
ask my wife for the dispatch box. You must sign as a witness” (17).

Gopal’s insistence to know about the reality of his condition

shows the value of faith for someone. This is only the faith which
makes us to believe in God. Malgudi people are very simple and
Dr. Raman is second God to them. The following speech is the
most appropriate example of it:
Ramu, it is my good fortune that you are here at this moment. I can
trust your word. I can’t leave my property unsettled. That will
mean endless misery for my wife and children (17).

Dr. Raman is in confusion that he should tell truth or not. It is a

perplexing situation for him. He has never concealed the truth from
 120

the patient. Gopal is not merely a patient he is an old friend too. If

he asks him to sign the will, it will mean that he also does not
expect him to survive. This will take away the slightest chance that
he has of recovery. Dr. Raman says to himself, “If my word can
save his life, he shall not die” (17). At last, he decides to tell a
soothing lie. He says to Gopal with deliberate emphasis, “Don’t
worry about the will now. You are going to live. Your heart is
absolutely sound” (48). Because of the deep faith in the doctor’s

ar
word. Gopal says with a great relief, “Do you say so? If it comes
from your lips it must be true…” (18). In this way Dr. Raman told
a lie to his friend by giving him the hope of surviving. This creates
a great confidence in the mind of his friend and he eventually
recover. Dr. Raman himself gets surprised and says to his assistant,
el
“How he has survived this attack will be a puzzle to me all my life”
(18).

This story approves that life is full with surprise and ironies.
We wait for something but suddenly something else happen. At the
t
same time it emphasis the importance of faith in life. Malgudi is a
religious society and its inhabitants believe in miracles. This story
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reflects the impact of Malgudi milieu in Narayan’s characters. Just

as Dr. Raman is also a product of Malgudi. Though he get name
and fame because of his firm believe in truth still all his
professional commitments and moralities come in secondary
position but his duty toward his dying friend comes in primary
position. This is the impact of his environment only. Here in the
story the author has not given the description of physical
appearance of any characters. Because for him circumstances are
more important than that of characters. The whole focus is on
Gopal’s illness. The dialogues are apt and forceful. The story is
told by the third person omniscient narrator. The author gripped the
reader at the very end of the story. The story has taken place at
Gopal’s house in Lawley extension.
 121

The next story of the collection is “Gate man’s Gift”. The

background of the story is middle class Malgudi world. Maximum
of Malgudi society covers common or middle class people. The
most important and common characteristics of common people is
that they easily believe on those things which are believed by
others. They always go with the majority and stop their own
thinking. Due to this sometime very funny but sympathetic
incidents occurs. The present story “Gate Man’s Gift” starts with

ar
this idea, “When a dozen persons question openly or slyly a man’s
sanity, he begins to entertain serious doubts about himself” (19).

It is the story of a man, Govind Singh. He is an illiterate ex-

gateman. Now he is retired and gets pension every month. Being a
retired man he has a lot of time. In his free state, he makes a new
el
discovery that he knows to make fascinating models out of clay
and dust. Just like the common people of our society Govind Singh
uses to love his job and he considers his manager as God because
he represents the common mass of our society for whom work is
t
like God as it is the only means by which they get their food and
shelter. Like the other common people of our society neither he
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gets bore with his job nor he has any complains and grudges
against his master. To raze question and to dissatisfy with the work
conditions is the quality of leaders but as for as simple person like
Gopal is concerned, he is fully satisfied with the nature of his job.
He has complete satisfaction from his life. To prove the point
Narayan writes:
Singh carried his stool in, placed it under the staircase and placed
his stick across it. Then he came out and the main door was locked
and sealed. In this way he had spent twenty five years of service
and then he begged to be pensioned off (20).

Common people’s lives are divided in pre job and post job
situations as for as young time is concerned one is young and can
earn money but when old age come one is totally depended on the
pension merely. Govind Singh is also facing the same. His life is
 122

depended on his pension and small work of his wife. Narayan

writes, “His life moved on smoothly. The pension together with
what his wife earned by washing and sweeping in a couples of
houses was quite sufficient for him” (20). Ordinary people’s lives
complete without any excitement. They live a monotonous life still
they are fully satisfied with their lot. They never wish for any
adventure in their lives Govind, an ordinary man lives peacefully
with his wife and he does not wish for more than this. In fact, rest

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of full month his life move in a single track. On the first date of
every month, a change uses to come in his life. It is the date when
he goes to take his pension. This is a special day of the full month.
He waits for this day and makes arrangement for it. In this
connection, Narayan writes:
el
This tenor of life was disturbed on the first of every month when
he donned his old khaki suit, walked to his old office and salaamed
the accountant at the counter and received his pension (20).

For a person who was busy in his full life is not easy to pass time.
To do nothing in really a tiresome thing. After retirement one has a
t
lot of time and this is the time when people discover new hobby
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and sometime this is the best period when one can give shape to
one’s hidden talents. When Govind Singh is free from his job
related responsibilities, he realizes that he has a great talent. It is
another fact that he himself was ignorant with that reality:
There was a lot of time all around him, an immense sea of leisure.
In this state, he made a new discovery about himself, that he could
make fascinating models out of clay and wood dust (20).

To satisfy his hobby or his new talent he can not buy material from
market as he is a poor man, but his back yard gives him a plentiful
supply of clay, and the carpenters shop next to his cousin’s
cigarette shop sawdust. He purchases paint for a few anns. In such
a way he paves a way for his new talent. He starts making very
small models of this and that. For him his master is like god that is
why on every pension day he gives a model for his master to the
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accountant. In our society, it is the normal cores of every office that

when all are working if that time any uncommon thing happen all
will stop their work and gather around at the unusual happening
place. At such time, most of the people do not care for time. Even
in office time if workers find something unusual. They start
gossiping and it disturbs the routine work. Though present society
is rapidly changing nobody has time for others, still there are
people who are very generous and full with feelings for their old

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officer. For them their employer is like God. They respect and love
their master. Singh is one of them. For example:
On every pension day an offering for his master and each time his
greatest reward was the accountant’s stock reply to his question.
“What did the sahib say?” “He said it was very good” (21).
el
Though at his office people admire Govind Singh after
seeing the model. But Govind is fearful to think that manager will
be angry for the disturbance of the routine office work. He receives
his pension and goes to his home. After one week, one day in an
afternoon a postman comes to him with a registered letter. He
t
becomes upset to take the letter and does not want to open it
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because he thinks that his pension is stopped. He has received only

two letters in his lifetime and each letter put him in trouble. Govind
Singh thinks that only lawyers sent registered letter. Instead of
opening it. He says to everyone whom he meets, to tell him what is
inside the letter without opening it. Every person gives him the
same answer to open the envelop and see it. But he is horrified at
this suggestion. The ex compounder who lives in the next street
advises him to take the help of ex-ray institute. Govind Singh
reaches x-ray institute Race course Road. He asks the assistant if he
can know what is inside the letter. When the assistant takes the
letter in his hand and asks to open it, Govind Singh cries, “No, no”
There is a lot of terror in his eyes. At this behavior of Govind
Singh, the assistant puts his hand on his shoulder and says, “you
get well first and then come back. I tell you, you are not all right”
 124

(23). After that in the market place he meets with many people and
every body suggests him to open the envelop. After listening it
many time, he starts behaving like a mad man. He covers his
clothes and the letter with mud and street dusts. People think that
he has gone mad. Not only it Govind singh himself has started
believing that he has out of sense (simple people don’t have any
opinion whatever people think about them they believe in those
things only). On the way, Govind singh meets the accountant of the

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office. When the accountant sees the letter in his hand. He
recognizes it although it is mud- stained and crumbles. The
accountant asks Govind why he has not opened the letter. He tears
the envelope and takes out of it a letter and read aloud:
The general manager greatly appreciates the very artistic models
el
you have sent, and he is pleased to sanction a reward of hundred
rupees and hopes it will be encouragement for you to keep up this
interesting hobby (25-26).

The accountant translates to him word for word and the

enclosure, a cheque for one hundred rupee, he hands it to him. A
t
big crowd assembles to see this scene singh presses the letter to his
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eyes. He asks the accountant, “Tell me sir, am I mad or not”. This

sentimental scene is written by the mastering touch of Narayan. He
gets the real success to maintain the seriousness and simplicity of
the scene. He writes:
You look quite well, you arrest mad,” said accountant. Singh falls
at his feet and said with tears chocking his voice, “you are God, sir,
to say that I am not mad. I am so happy to hear it (26).

On the next pension day, he turns up neat and clean as ever at the
office accountant. As they handed him the envelope they asked,
“What toys are you making now?” At this Govind Singh replies,
“Nothing sir, Never again. It is no occupation for a sane man”(26).
After receiving his pension, he goes out of the office. With these
words, the story ends.
 125

Illiteracy is the major problem of our society. Due to it,

people are ignorant about various of things. They are not aware
with the benefits of modern inventions. Just like Govind singh who
fears with the letters. As for as the registered letter is concerned it
is the most horrifying thing for him. Though inside the letter there
is good news for him but due to his ignorance and illiteracy he lost
his peace of mind. This is another aspect of our developing country
where people are not aware with these common things.

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At first glance, such incidents seem an exaggerated picture
of our society. But at small places there are people who are entirely
indifferent with so many common facts of life. As for as modern
technology is concerned they are very far away from it. Their
environment and opportunities of their lives are responsible for
el
their ignorant conditions. Govind singh like people are present in
our society. Especially at villages, every third man is like them.
However, Malgudi represents south Indian small town and their
society but basically, Narayan has presented human emotions
t
spread in all over India. In his human presentation, he is very
practical for his characters. He does not write his stories to raise
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social issues or to reform social evils or preach other. The purpose

of his writing is only to entertain and to amuse other. He writes
only for writing sake. For Narayan life is not a battle to fight with.
He enjoys life as it is. In his stories, simple people’s simple lives
are presented. Earlier his stories used to publish in various
newspapers, as writing was the purpose to earn money. That is why
he has presented amusing facts of our society. In short, he is not a
preacher or a teacher but an entertainer. At this matter, he can be
compared with Chaucer who observes society and presents
comedies of life. In his stories there are almost every spice of
Malgudi Society is presented by Razada in R.K. Narayan: A
Critical Study of His Novels he rightly remarks:
 126
He (Narayan) loves humanity but does not take side. In his novels
we have no didacticism, no philosophy and no propaganda. He is
an artist pure and simple (157).

Not only Razada there are other critics also who has
observed Narayan’s realistic presentation of Malgudi society. The
same thing is observed by N. Mukherjee. In the same connection
he writes in Some Aspects of the Literacy Development of Narayan:
Narayan’s greatest charm lies in making Malgudi and its people

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and their values real for us – Narayan is neither a social pathologist
nor a social reformer. He accepts life in totality (87).

There is no high aim behind what he writes. He is pretty objective

while dealing with his various characters. He is objective but is a
great observer of things. His eyes are open for each and every
el
customs, rituals and whatever happens in our society. Once
Narayan has told about the source of his story writing. In R.K.
Narayan view of an Indian Novels he writes, “I get all influence
from life, from the surroundings, a little bus stop or a street-shop”
(13).
t
If we compare the writing of R.K Narayan with Anand or
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Raja Rao we find that unlike both of them Narayan approaches the
Indian scene with no serious aspects of study. He creates
memorable stories out of casual roadside event and characters.
There is a little similarity between Narayan and Isvaran. But he is
very different form Isvaran also. In the connection of this, C.V.
Venugopal in The Indian Short Stories in English: A Survey rightly
writes:
…for while Isvaran attempts to see in a casual events some deeper
meaning and significance, Narayan is satent generally in skimming
lightly on the surface of life (75).

Though depth and seriousness is not there in Narayan’s writings

but he accepts life as it is, presents those familiar scenes (Malgudi)
which amuse or delight him and his readers. He has always touched
 127

the light and happy aspects of his, surroundings but as for as the
darker and deeper aspects of our society are concerned he rarely
has bothered to touch. Earlier he was a journalistic so he has a
talent to create story from whatever he sees, wherever he goes and
who ever he meets. Because of it, his stories bristle with
innumerable familiar Indian faces. This feature of his stories mixed
with the fact that he handles his characters with a comic touch.
When we talk about the language of his stories, it is lively and

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engaging. Due to the combination of all these things, he has gained
the popularity rarely enjoyed by the other Indian short story writers
in English. If we talk about the main important characteristics of
his stories. The first and foremost is that he takes care of his
readers. He takes the reader right into the scene o f action with no
el
time lost. A Narayan story is very much in the direct tradition of
the ancient Indian method of story narration. Mostly his stories end
with happy results. For him life is a long tale of many happy
episodes. The happy endings of most of his tales are in keeping
with our tradition as in his concern for not letting his stories have
t
any loose end. In The Indian Short Stories In English: A Survey C.
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V. Venugopal rightly says:

He borrows from our ancient technique the idea of the narrator too.
In quite a few of his stories, the incidents are narrated by the
character whom he calls ‘The Talkative Man’, who is the modern
prototype of the Bodhisattva of the Jataka Tales, present in a dozen
diverse places in a dozen diverse form (76).

The next story of this collection is “The Roman Image”. It is

a typical story of Narayan’s collections. This story is about an
archeologist who wants to prove that a civilization did exist
somewhere in south Indian which was more ancient than
Mahanjodaro. With the help of an assistant, he picks up a stone
image out of river sarayu. After thoroughly examining the image,
he concludes that to be of Roman origin. With the help of his
image, he wants to prove a connection between history of Roman
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Empire and history of ancient India. The following lines will be the
best example of it:
This is easily the most important piece of work which has come
under my notice. This bit of glass you see is not an ordinary
archaeological stuff, but a very important link. This piece of glass
is really Florentine, which went out of vogue in A.D.S. How did
this come here? It is not found anywhere else in the world (38).

And he almost wins universal acclaim for this pioneering

research. His assistant pores over books for months in libraries,

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remains busy till midnight and is about to give finishing touch to
what might become a monumental contribution to the country’s
history. At the same time, the whole country is impatiently waiting
for its publication. Then the assistant in need of some vital
information visits the spot where they had unearthed the image and
el
in a casual conversation with a man of the locality, learns that the
image had nothing Roman about it. It was just an ordinary
Dwarapalika of a Mari temple situated nearby. As for its antiquity,
he was the very man who had commissioned it for the temple. The
t
horrified news is delivered to the doctor who orders him, “Drown
it. After all, you picked it up from the water that piece of nonsense
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(38). He also asked him to “Throw all that rubbish into the firm
before we are declared mad” (137). The archaeologist’s dream, “To
have a monopoly of the earliest known civilization and place it
where he chose” (37) is shattered.

The sudden denouement has of course all the aspects of a

conclusive impact not only on the work of the archaeologist, but on
the story itself and this aspect reminds us of O, Henry achieves this
effect by using an omniscient narrator who reserves very important
information and releases it at end of narrative thereby producing a
surprising and effective end. Narayan has also achieved this effect
by employing the first person narrator. Here in the story Narayan
has not written many things about the physical details of the
archeologist because in this story he presents himself as a shade
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more important than his matter. And it is also a familiar trick of his
to distance all his experience and anecdote in time to a remote
period in the past, so that it should be obvious the truth of what he
says cannot be verified at all. The charm of the story is in the skill
with which talkative man persuades his listeners to the point of
believing in the plausibility of the image being, a Roman image,
and the ease with which he proves it. In this connection Dr. Disha
Sharma in Short stories of R.K Narayan themes and techniques

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writes:
He (Narayan) is infact a master of art of manipulating and
controlling the listeners’ response to his tales. Some of which are
tall tales like the present one. His technique in general is to begin
with the familiar world of facts, then more on the place of the
improbable or fantastic or both and finally return to the world of
el
actuality he started from. This pattern may be noticed in all his
stories (105).

The talkative man starts “The Roman Image” with a perfect

factual description of himself and his master and of the
neighborhood of Malgudi which is their area of action. He builds
t
up carefully the image of the learned doctor as an eminent though
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some what eccentric archaeologist whose dissuasive ambition has

been to discover something more ancient than Mohanjodaro and
such other places for example:
He was a superb, timeless being, who lived a thousand years
behind the times, and who wanted neither food nor riches if only
he was allowed to gaze on undisturbed at an old coin or chip of a
burial urn (31).

Thus, the narrator bounds his listeners from the beginning to accept
from the archaeologist momentous discoveries. The learned man
himself is presented as full of Roman thoughts long before he
happens upon the statue that it seems only natural that he should
regard it as a Roman image which would, “Give an entirely new
turn to Indian history.”(33). The discovery of the image is also
described with such excitement and seeming naivety that its comic
 130

implication and the sheer absurdity of the fantastic claims made for
it are not suspect such is the hold the narrator has on them, that the
movement of the yarn has been all along from the sublime to the
ridiculous.

The story does not end with the discovery of the identity of
the image. But it has a dramatic ending of the uselessness of the
discovery. The talkative man concludes the story by saying that
having made a fool of himself he flung the image into the sea. Here

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in the story Narayan is initially not very serious about the
profession of an archaeologist. He has not given any importance to
the old and ancient things. In fact, the story is a satire on the
research which is futile, a waste of time, money and energy. The
narrator creates an atmosphere of curiosity with an ascending
el
degree of emotional attachment to the events. The final
achievement of the story is long in length. There are only three
characters in the entire story. The archaeologist, the talkative man
and the villager. The focus is on the temple image. Indirectly
t
Narayan wants to say that all such professions are wastage of time
money and energy.
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In his stories, Narayan gives a special treatment to his

stories. In other words, one of the important features of a Narayan
story is that he takes his readers, without any preparation, right into
the midst of the life that he is presenting. The same point is proved
by C.V. Vemgopal in The Indian Short Stories In English. He
writes:
Unlike in a story by Raja Rao or Anand, the reader finds himself
here, almost with a bang. Experiencing a familiar situation. This
wits his curiosity to no small extent, especially as Narayan is a past
master in the use of suspense too, and finds the author almost a
veritable Ancient Mariner holding his attention till the end (87).

Here is a typically effective Narayan beginning in the story

“The Blind Dog”:
 131
It was not a very impressive or high class dog; it was one of those
common place dogs one sees everywhere colour of white and dust
tail mutilated at a young age by God knows whom, born in the
street, and bred on the leavings and garbage of the marketplace
(27).

Narayan’s stories are packed with Malgudi and Malgudi is

spread from first word to the last one. In the same reference, H. H.
William in Sweet Mangoes and Salt Vinegar writes:
Narayan is primarily concerned with telling stories and presenting

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Indian characters against the cyclorama of Malgudi, which is for
him only secondly a symbol of India (62).

Narayan shows shades of people through all aspects of life because

he has a priceless experience and knowingness with a variety of
human beings. He has pictured the social and cultural changes that
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have been happening in Malgudi. Though he is telling about
Malgudi but it is also true that what is applicable to Malgudi is
applicable to the whole India. Narayan’s readers are not merely
push into a situation which seem to be extremely known, but more
t
than this he wants to create a thrust among them to know more
about the situations and characters. Once he is successful in this
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attempt he binds them in his imaginary word of charm.

India is a vast country. Many types of people live in this

county. People of various occupations various caste and creed and
various social status live in our country. Several times our
government tries to stop begging but it is present in abundance in
our society. Sometime it is a profession itself but sometime it is
once hard reality of life and the only way to live life. There are few
people who are forced for begging especially those people who are
physically challenged. “The Blind Dog” is next story about a dog
and a blind beggar. The story moves round both of them. The blind
bagger is forced to beg because of his physical defect. In this world
there are many types of people. All are not good by heart and of
teasing nature. On every Thursday, the blind man also uses to meet
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with such a man who has no sympathy for this blind man but he
teases him and sometimes tries to take his earned money also.
Every Thursday afternoon it is a crisis in the blind man’s life. The
evil person use to stop near him and takes money from his bowl.
On every Thursday, the blind man use to afraid like this, “Oh. God,
is the Thursday? Dog comes here where you are” (28).

When the evil man appears, he uses to say, “Blind man! Still
pretending you have no eyes. If you are really blind you should not

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know this either” (28). Not only human beings help other human
beings but also animals are of great use sometimes they can take
the place of a good friend. The stay dog which use to sleep nearby
the blind beggar started protecting him from the comment and
stealing of the Thursday thief. Not only it but in a little time, after
el
observing him the dog understands that a passerby must give a coin
and whoever goes away, without dropping a coin he is chased by
the dog. He tugs the cloth of the people by his teeth and pulls them
back to the blind man at the gate and lets them go only after
t
something is dropped in his bowl. All the shopkeepers surprise at
the dog’s affection for the blind man. The blind man doesn’t have a
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home and no one is there to take care of him. There is only an old
woman who use to help him to come in the market site at morning
and she herself use to come to take him to her home at evening
time. One evening at the usual time when the blind man waits for
the woman and is worried because the evening grows into night.
Then a neighbor comes to him and says, “Sami don’t wait for the
old woman. She will not come again. She died this afternoon” (28)
The blind man loses the only home he had, and the only person
who cared for him in this whole world. The nearby shopkeepers are
also full with sympathy for the blind man and they have suggested
him to make the stay dog his permanent friend. The ribbon vendor
gives him a ribbon free of cost to tie the dog.
 133

It is also a bitter reality of our country that we treat animals

as our servants only. In our country, the law makers only make law
but they never care about the implementation of those rules. We
become very cruel to animals or can show cruelty at any extent but
there is no one to stop us. We never bother about the need and
likings of the animals. The blind beggar also does the same thing.
When the dog becomes a part and parcel of his life, he forgets
about the comfort of the dog. These quoted lines can be the best

ar
illustration of it:
Life for the dog took a new turn now. He came to take the place of
the old woman. He lost his freedom completely. His world comes
to be circumscribed by the limits of the white cord which the
ribbon vendor had spared (29).
el
Now the dog has taken the place of the old woman in the life of
blind beggar. He loses his freedom thoroughly. His world is limited
to the limits of the ribbon only. He is forced to forget his old life.
When he sees other dogs, friends or foes by force of instinct he
springs up, tugging the cord, and this constantly earn him a pick
t
from his master. At this the old man rebukes the dog. Within few
Es

days, the dog learns to control his instinct and impulse. He stops to
take notice of other dogs even if they come up and grumble at his
side. Earlier he uses to stay at a place for begging but now the blind
man is on his legs, led by the dog with his stick is one hand and the
dog lead in the other. He goes early in the morning and finds that
he can threefold his income by moving about instead of staying in
one place, now he is completely indifferent towards the needs of
the dog. If the dog is tempted to see other street dogs, he is given a
bad ditch by the greedy bagger. Earlier the slogan of the blind
man’s life was ‘simple living and high thinking’ now the rules have
reversed. It is ‘high living and simple thinking’. He has increased
his desires. These uncontrolled desires have changed his need.
Mushrooming of wants has compelled him to run after money like
a lunatic. He has forgotten that money is a means to happiness and
 134

not an end in itself. He forgets everything about the comforts of the

dog.

A dog is certainly an active creature who punctuates his

hectic rounds with well defined period of rest. The dog has lost all
his rest. He rests only when the blind man sits down somewhere.
At night the old man sleeps with string around his finger. The blind
beggar starts to treat the dog badly.

ar
Our country is a developing country. Especially in small
towns people knows one another. In small town like Malgudi, the
condition is completely different from big cities where people even
don’t recognize their neighbors. In the story, “The Blind Dog” all
the market shopkeepers even knows about the beggar and his
el
suffered dog. In their free time, they talk about the cruel nature of
the bagger and show pity for the poor dog. It can also be said that
most of the time people are busy in numbering other’s
shortcomings. Narayan writes:
t
The ribbon- seller, the novel vender and the perfumer observed it
one evening when business was slack, and hold a conference
Es

among them. It rends my heart to see that poor dog slaving. Can’t
we do something (30).

They are not only talking but also they have decided to do
something for the poor dog. They have decided to cut of the string
of the dog with the scissors and give freedom to the dog because
they are not only gossiping but their hearts are actually perturbed
for the dog. They are deeply concerned for the dog:
The perfumer stepped up, applied the scissors and snipped the
cord. The dog bounced off and picked up the bone. The blind man
stopped dead where he stood with the other half of the string
dangling in his hand (30).

In such a way the market place of small towns are always

busy to think about others. The shopkeepers also represent a part of
our society. In fact, the shopkeepers who are busy from early
 135

morning to late evenings don’t have time for their entertainment so

in this way they keep themselves busy and pass their time when
they have no customers. In such time they use to gossip about
common topics in which all are interested. In such manner with the
help of the shopkeeper the dog become very happy to free his eyes
sparkling with joy. The shopkeepers stand at the market gate
enjoys the scene immensely. The blind man struggles to find his
way, waving his stick; he feels as if he is hanging in mid air. He

ar
mourns, “Oh, where is my dog! Where is my dog? Wait someone
give him back to me” (31)? Later on the blind man is not seen for
twenty days and nor is the dog seen anywhere. The ribbon vendor
and his friends comments among themselves:
The dog must be looking over the whole, earth, free and happy.
el
The beggar is perhaps gone forever. Then they see the beggar
again coming up the pavement led by the dog (31).

The ribbon seller runs up and asks where he has all these days. The
blind man tells that he is imprisoned in his corner all these days.
He tells them that last night at midnight when he slept in bed, the
t
dog came and licked his face. He felt like murdering him, but
Es

forgave the dog. The shopkeepers stand listening him. The story
ends with these words:
Death alone can help that dog, cried the ribbon-vendor looking
after it with a sign. What can we do with a creature who returns to
his doom with such a free heart” (31)?

The story presents simple, selfless canine affection for

human beings which is not very common in the stories of Indian
English authors. Here the main protagonist is dog. The most
striking fact about the story is forceful description of the selfish
nature of man. Human being mainly thinks about their own
comforts first and foremost. For the self-satisfaction they can go at
any extent. At first, the picture of the pathetic beggar strikes our
sympathy but later on readers start disliking him. We show
sympathy for his helplessness but his cruelty towards the dog and
 136

his greedy nature takes away our sympathy for his blindness and
helplessness. The blind beggar represents an ugly side of human
nature. Most of the time the down cast society people arouse our
sympathy but here in the story it is the dog who wins over a human
being because of his true love for his owner. Inspite of cruelty all
the realty what he gets from his owner he comes back to him. At
this point, the animal has proved itself better than that of the human
beings. Narayan’s typical writing style and his comic vision is also

ar
present in this story.

“Attila” is another dog story from the collection. It is a very

amusing story of a shy dog. Though his family members named
him “Attila” which means ‘scourge of Europe’ but he is absolutely
opposite to his name. He never shows any fierce expression to the
el
visitors of the house. The main reason for buying him was a series
of house breakings and thefts in the neighborhood, and house
holders decide to put more trust in a dog than in the police. They
searched and found this dog. They purchased it at the cost of
t
seventy five rupees. The puppy was only a couple of months old.
His complexion is black and white. Every one like salesman, bill-
Es

collectors, postmen, friends and relatives all are warmly welcomed

by Attila. Attila is pampered by a small smile of the visitors
because of it the purpose of purchasing the dog is not served. All
the family members are disturbed by the nature of Attila only the
youngest son is the protector of him. The mother use to complain:
He eats like an elephant. You can employ two watchmen for the
price of the rice and meat he consumes. Somebody comes every
morning and steals all the flowers in the garden and Attila won’t
do anything about it (86).

Mostly in Indian families children especially boys are the

true defender of pet dogs. At this case also when the mother is
blaming the dog. The youngest family member the son replies, “He
has better business to do than catch flower thieves” (87).
 137

But the mother is not satisfied by the arguments of the boy. She is
so angry that one day she suggests:
Please lock him up in a room at night, otherwise he may call in a
burglar and show him round. Left alone a burglar might after all be
less successful. It would not be so bad if he at least barked (87).

In our country or in fact in the whole world women are

considered at the second position is society and in their family.
Narayan is following what is practised in Indian society and in

ar
Indian families. Almost all of his stories he is not giving
individuality to the lady characters. C.V. Venugopal in The Indian
Short Stories In English: A Survey rightly writes:
Women in Narayan are not sufficiently individualized to be
memorable. Often, they do not even have a name. They are simply
el
referred to as the mistress of the house, or as Kanan’s wife or as
Ramanujam’s wife or as Shanta’s mother, or only, mother, they
however, play their part in completing the domestic scene, the
seasoned maidservant on the other hand is normally delineated
with sufficient vividness to be remembered (83).
t
All these qualities are present in the character of, the mother
(Attila). She is neither known by her name nor by her children’s
Es

name but she is introduced as mother only. In general, Narayan’s

women are all types although on occasion he can delineate even
forcefully. At the point that lady does not like the dog, she is
absolutely correct at her place. The pet dog of the family is of no
use. To keep it is very expensive as well as of no use also. But due
to that noiseless dog unknowingly one night the most notorious
gang of buglers were caught red handed. As a result, the younger
member of the family got another chance to praise him, “Whatever
one might say of Attila one has to admit that he is very cunning
detective. He is too deep for words” (89).

Though it is merely a co-incident that the dog becomes the

cause of that important achievement, actually he has not done
anything. Co-incidents are also a part of human life and Narayan
 138

has not neglected this fact. To have pets is the demand of our
environment Malgudi Milieu is also not different from Indian
environment. Our pets are part and parcel of our family and our
lives. Especially the children are greatly fond of pets. Narayan is
famous for presenting realistic situations. In the two stories
“Attila” and “The Blind dog” master’s love for their pets and in
return the dogs are also showing their love and faithfulness and
concern for them is shown. But as it has been mentioned earlier

ar
that the dog is the most faithful animal. If once you have shown
mercy on him he will give, you love in return. There is no doubt in
it.

It is certain that Narayan started his career by writing

popular periodicals and journals, due to that he has gained a good
el
power of observation to create laughable foibles of mankind which
are present everywhere in our country. His pictures are largely
urban. In his History book, C.V. Venugopal has rightly said:
The reader naturally finds himself in familiar surroundings a park
t
or a shop a fair or a crowd near a theatre, in a school or at an office
in a kitchen garden of a middle class home or within the home
Es

itself. And with familiar people a gateman or a postman, a student

or a teacher, a coolie or a clerk, a juggler or a sharpen, an artist or a
printer, a doctor or an astrologer (Venogopal, The Indian Short
Stories In English: A Survey, 85).

The chief feature of Narayan’s stories is that though he

started his writing during the days when our country was facing
intense political activities but in his stories he has not given such
themes. That was the time when every Indian was full with
sympathy with those who struggled and sacrificed everything due
to the freedom struggle. But here he is different from all of his
other contemporary writers. Almost all the other Indian English
authors have written something about this episode in their works.
But he has no reference of all these things in his stories. He has not
presented any evidence to show whether he was impressed by our
political leaders, by the ides of freedom and social fragrance which
 139

were shared by most of our writers of the pre-Independence days.

At this reference C.D. Narasimhaih is right to say:
…Indeed, the world- makers and world forsakes never ceased to
amuse him such was his detachment from everything that was
going on around him that it only helped to sharpen his wit and
quicken his compassion for everyone, everything, but mainly for
what fell within his province. In addition, his province was the
south Indian middle class (135).

As Narayan has avoided politics in the same manner he has

ar
mostly avoided religion also. “Fellow Feeling” is the only story by
Narayan in which caste is allowed to operate freely, uninhibited at
the verbal level. “Fellow feeling” is another story of the same
collection. In this story, a typical scene in a crowded train
compartment is trued into a hilarious situation. In this story,
el
Narayan has used casticism. “Fellow Feeling”, the title of the story
is a contrast itself. This story is about a train journey of two
opposite caste people. One belongs to a high Brahmin class and the
other one represents low cast of society. Both of them meet in
t
Madras-Bangalore express. Mostly in train journey in III class
compartment the cause of dispute is seat or the sitting place. This
Es

thing is applied here also. The trouble between Rajan Iyer, a

Brahmin and a low cast newcomer starts with the matter of seat. It
is a very common matter in third class compartment in train
journey. Though the situation is very common but Narayan’s
observation about this situation is very minute. He has shown
sometime small matters use to take big shape. All of a sudden, the
newcomer has given this struggle a shape of casticism and starts
commenting on Rajan Iyer in these words, “You are a Brahmin, I
see, learn sir that your days are over. Don’t think you can bully us
as you have been bullying us all these years” (33).

India is a place of variety and diversity. Here many casts and

religions people are living. Most of the time people talk about
national integrity and unity. This is possible only when there will
 140

be harmony between all the casts and religion. But to achieve this
stage is not as easy as it seems. If there is any trouble and problem,
casticism is related to that. Just take the example of the present
story. The bone of contention was a seat in a railway compartment
but indirectly by the low cast, person casticism matter is raised.
Not only it but he keeps on commenting on one and another matter
of Brahmins. Though the matter was between Rajan Iyer and him
but he has made it a matter between lower cast and upper cast. His

ar
comments on the Brahmins are very pathetic. They are putting a
question mark on the mentality of our society where no one is only
an Indian but all belong to a set caste. All the Indians are confined
in the narrow walls of casticism. It is supposed in our society that
different casts people cannot be friends. There use to be a hidden
el
unofficial enmity. The following comments made by the low cast
Indian on the Brahmins is really shameful and specially when it is
said only for a seat of a railway compartment. The lines from the
story are:
t
The price of meat used to be five annas per pound. I remember the
day quite well. It is nearly twelve annas now why? Because the
Es

Brahmin is prepared to pay so much, if only he can have it in

secret (34).

These lines show two aspects of society first the perpetual

enemity between different casts and the hypocrisy of upper casts.
In our country two opposite casts people cannot tolerate one
another and as for as hypocrisy of upper cast is concerned there is
no limit of it also. Brahmins suppose themselves greater than all of
the others but they also do not behave according to their words and
position. In the story the low cast man teases him in various ways
for his pretence. Narayan is extremely realistic in this story. He is
presenting a harsh reality of Indians. As for as the high class people
are concerned they are not showing their real nature to everyone.
On the one hand, they want to enjoy each and every type of non-
veg items but on the other hand, they wish to preach others against
 141

it. It is the worst thing and the biggest hypocrisy to ask others not
to do one particular thing while one is doing it himself.

All these emotions are very beautifully and realistically

presented in Narayan’s stories. It is not that Narayan is giving a
hyperbolic expression of the problem instead of glorifying the
event or any one of the characters he presents the situation as it is.
And in this way, he presents a real picture of Malgudi Milieu or
Indian social set up. Sometime these types of disputes do not

ar
become so fierce but sometime it cause great harm to one’s life or
livelihood. For the progress of a country, each and every shade of
casticism is dangerous and condemnable. In this story “Fellow
Feeling” this could not become very dangerous because the journey
was very short and there were presence of many other people.
el
Otherwise, anything could possible in such conditions. The fact
that Rajan Iyer, the Brahmin triumphs at the end over the
muscularly built non-brahmin may not be irrelevant for a
discussion of Narayan’s attitude to cast, though even here it is
t
ambivalent when Rajan Iyer boasts that he has driven the bully
away, Narayan tells us that a few of the passengers look skeptically
Es

at him. The story shows how sometime violence becomes

necessary to deal with undesirable people.

Society is made of by many families and such various types

of families are part and parcel of Malgudi Milieu too. Narayan
believes that no man is perfect in all aspect in this world. All are
depended on one another. ‘I’ cannot stand in this world ‘we’ is
required for this purpose. Narayan is the man of family and society.
In “Critical Studies In Indian English Literature” K.V.S. Murti
rightly says, “Narayan presents everything from the viewpoint of
the individual and society.” (125) Narayan’s characters are deeply
emerged in their society and culture. There is always a struggle to
achieve some ting and to defeat one’s own fate. They have their
own aspiration and hope for betterment. For this they work hard or
 142

try to give a proper shape to their future. Sometime to achieve it

they have to go beyond the social norms of their society. If there is
a dispute between an individual and society, it is the society who
always wins & shows that the existence of human being is only
because of society human beings are for society Narayan’s stories
shows that characters cannot do anything all alone but they are
bound by their circumstance. Narayan believes that there is nothing
good and bad, all human have the same goodness and bad qualities

ar
it depends on our circumstances that which aspect will come out
strongly in one particular situation. A. Hariprasanna also believes
in it when he writes The World of Malgudi: A Study of R.K.
Narayan:
The protagonist usually sets out on a quest for something or the
el
other sometimes it is money, at other times, it is self-Identity or
love and marriage, yet other times it is a meaningful relationship
with his family members and many more. Which seen to comment
that man in the crowded world is all alone, and he is what
circumstances make of him (88).
t
Circumstances play a prominent role to shape up one’s characters
and decision. Many people decide something else in their life and
Es

later on things come in absolutely different manner.

The same idea is presented in the next story of the collection

“The watchman”. It is a story of a watchman and a girl who comes
to the tank to commit suicide. But the watchman prevents her from
it. The author begins the story with these words:
There was still a faint splash of red on the western horizon. The
watchman stood on the tank and took a final survey. All the people
who had come for evening walks had returned to their homes (39).

The watchman is satisfied of his final survey when he is about to

go, he sees about a hundred yards away a shadowy figure in the
water. He goes to examine. He observes that she is a girl who
wants to commit suicide in his area. He irritates with it and
remarks. “I don’t tike this why is everyone coming to the same
 143

tank? If you want to be dead, throw yourself under an engine” (39).

She is a teenage girl who wants to commit suicide. She has a step
mother but she loves her and takes proper care of her. She wants to
commit suicide just because of her marriage. At this time, she is
not ready for marriage and interested in her studies but she takes
this decision because of lack of financial support. She tells to the
watchman, the cause of suicide in the following words:
That’s what I do not want to do. I want to study and become a

ar
doctor and earn my livelihood. I don’t want to marry. I often catch
my mother talking far into the night to her eldest son, worrying
about my future, about my marriage (40).

The watchman takes her in confidence and tells that its not
such a big reason to end once life. He suggests her to marry. Seeing
el
the girl’s suffering he remembers his own sorrows in life, how he
has lost his full family, in an epidemic of cholera. He has to leave
his home due to the deception of his father’s kinsmen. Narayan
writes, “Everyone has his own miseries, if people try to kill
themselves for each one of them, I don’t know how often they
t
would have to drown” (41). He remembers incidents and sorrows
Es

of his past and says that she is young and doesn’t know what
sorrow is. He tells he girl that he prayed to all the gods in the world
for a son. His wife gave him eight children. But only one daughter
lives now. And none of them saw the eleventh year. Then he leaves
the girl by saying, “No one can blame me” (42). Next day he gets
the suicide note of that girl at this, he blames himself for leaving
her alone. He says to himself, “I am responsible for at least one
suicide in this tank” (42). After some years on one evening when
he stands on the bank and takes a final survey before going home,
he sees that girl with her full family. Though the girl is changed by
years. Inspite of ornaments and dress, he recognizes the face he had
seen by the lantern light. He is excited and has numerous questions
to ask. At this point the story ends.
 144

The story is very short in length. There are only two

characters in the story. Narayan has not given any name to both of
them. The watchman is the protagonist of the story and the name of
the story is after him. Such delicates points are present in Malgudi
world. Narayan has not presented high morals and big episodes as
the theme of his stories but his Malgudi milieu is limited to the
lives of simple middle class people. For such common people
simple and innocent things matter a lot. The high political

ar
problems, environment tensions and big issues are concerned they
are of no use for them. Their happiness and their sorrows all are
limited. Their decisions are also not very hard and fast, very easily
they can switch on from one decision to another one.

Just like the girl of the story who has changed her decision
el
of suicide when the watchman gives her logical thinking and the
examples of his life. Through this story Narayan is giving us a
message that we should try to bear the problems of our lives and no
problems are such which cannot be solved. We should have the
t
capacity to divert the circumstance because human beings are the
supreme race and the most intelligent creature of this world.
Es

Through this story, Narayan wants to prove that it is the middle

class world which has the most powerful ability to fight with
worldly problems. As their whole life use to spend in it only.

Narayan loves people. Many places he himself has quoted it.

Because of his love for meeting new people, he has depicted
variety of people who are drawn from the middle and lower classes
of south Indian life. But he avoids in too extreme. Never he has
presented extreme richness and extreme poverty. The
characteristics of his characters are quoted in the following lines
By C.V. Venugopal in The Indian Short Story in English: A
Survey. He writes:
His characters are mostly confined to children of the school going
age and the middle aged. Young dreamy lovers are scrupulously
 145
kept out, as are the old, the emaciated and the weak. The sick bed
is rarely seen, and the death- bed almost never. All his people are
hale and hearty, wheatear they are clerks or coolies. No need to
emphasize them that his world is people with men and women with
a zest for life which is almost contagious (82).

“The Performing child” is the next story of the collection.

This story is about a child kutti who dances and sings very well.
Two cinema people have seen her dance and are greatly impressed
by that. They want to approach her for their film and ready to pay

ar
sufficient amount of money to her parents. The parents are very
happy and excited with this news. For them it’s a golden
opportunity to come over from their poverty. Their plans are
unlimited. The father is planning for many things. The writer
writes:
el
No mortgages no debts money for everything. See here, my girl
may even throw up this dirty work and do something else. After
this picture, the baby will be in demand everywhere. I will buy a
house for her in the extension (98).
t
But as for as the child is concerned she is free from all these
things. She is not ready to sing and dance according to someone’s
Es

wish. At the decided day when the cinema people are accepted to
come she hides some where and everybody is busy to see her but
kutti is not seen anywhere. They have searched each and very
corner of their home and neighbor’s house also but they cannot
find her so at last they disappoint. They think that someone has
kidnapped the child. Her father goes out to talk with his friends in
the police station. At last when the mother opens a basked cap she
sees that in a very bad condition Kutti is there half fainted. When
she comes in her senses she enquires about the cinema men,
whether they have gone or not. She says if they come to her home
again she will go back to the basket. The story ends with her
mother’s assurance that they will not trouble her hereafter.
 146

This story is also short in length. There are only five

characters in the story Kutti, her mother, father and two cinema
men; Except Kutti R.K Narayan has not given the name of any
other character. Kutti is the main character of the story. She is
idealist character of Narayan. She shows the innocent character of
the children. Child psychology is different from the grown ups.
They are free form all the greed and lust of money. It is the grown
ups who force them to do such thing which their child psychology

ar
never permit them. Kutti knows to sing and dance well that is why
the cinema people have selected her but she wants to dance and
sing according to her own wish. She is not ready to sell her talent.
This is the basic difference between grown ups and the small kids.
With this story, Narayan wants to give us message that we should
el
not kill the childhood of the children. The mature one should not
try to give them unnecessary responsibilities at their tender age.
The whole life they have to carry the burden of responsibilities
only. They should be allowed to enjoy their childhood just as
children only.
t
Narayan is very comfortable dealing with child characters.
Es

He has written many stories based on children. Especially the boy

characters are depicted in his child stories. Naughty boys who want
to play and enjoy their lives are the best theme of his stories. All of
his school boys are not good in studies. They feel like bunking the
school and do not hesitate to tell lie to their sweet mothers.
“Father’s help” is the next story of the collection. It is basically a
child story. Swami a school going boy is the hero of the lesson.
Like all the other child characters of Narayan’s stories, he also
doesn’t want to go to school for that he is ready with lots of
available excuses. The conversation between swami and his mother
is full with ironic humorous tone. In our Indian society mothers are
supposed to have soft corner for their children and the children are
also very smart to befool their mothers. The following conversation
between mother and son (Swami) is the best example of this. Here
 147

Narayan is very realistically presenting a very common scene of

Indian family. Early morning when it is the time to be ready for
school he is busy in discussion with his mother for not going to
school. The scene is beautifully written by the writer. He writes:
“I have a headache.” “Why don’t you go to school in a jutka…?
Have you many important lessons today?” “Important! Bah! That
geography teacher has been teaching the same lesson for over a
year now (56)!

ar
The story is absolutely Indian is its nature. In other words,
the theme of the story has a universal appeal. As for as Indian
prospect is concerned its absolutely appropriate. Almost all the
children in their schooling have bunk their school because of the
lame excuse of headache, stomach etc. These two problems are
el
supposed to be the safest to tell as no evidence in needed to proof
the mentioned problem. As for as mother-father position in the
family is concerned, children pay more respect and heed to father’s
word. For them mothers are like friends and they can easily deceive
them by their sigh and false cries, but as for as father is concerned
t
they cannot use same tricks with their fathers. Fathers want logical
Es

reply and argument. This thing also happen here in the story.
Swami have satisfied his mother that he has headache because he
did not want to go to school but he cannot satisfy his father.

In our country teaching is supposed to be a very noble

profession. In fact, teachers are worshiped. In ancient time teachers
used to be very-very strict, still they were respected and loved by
the students. They used to give hard punishment to the students in
spite of it their students had such respect for them as they never
raised questions on their teachers. But as for as modern students are
concerned they have many grudges against their teachers. They
never see themselves and their ways, they are ignorant about their
carelessness for their studies but they only know to blame their
teachers. Swami also does the same thing with his teacher. He tells
his father that he is afraid to go school late because he is afraid of
 148

his teacher Samuel who is very strict for late comers. His father
listens him that is why he wants to turn the situation in his favour.
He wants to prove his point that is why he says a lot of things
against his teacher. He says the following things to excite his father
against his teacher Narayan writes:
He is very violent especially with boys who came late. Some days
ago, a boy was made to stay on his knees for a whole period in a
corner of the class because he came late (57).

ar
In our society now a days children are getting very smart
they know to make profit of every situation. They can blame easily
their teachers if they are getting little things by it. In the same way,
Swami condemns his teacher, as he doesn’t want to go school. That
is why he presents a horrible picture of late comers. He thinks by
el
getting all these things his father will sympathies him and allow
him to stay at home. But the things take another turn and his father
has taken it as a challenge. Now he is determined to send him the
school and teach a lesson to his teacher. For example:
t
Swami hoped that with this his father would be made to see that he
Es

couldn’t go to his class late, but father’s behavior took on

unexpected turn. He became excited (58).

After that his father has written a letter to the principal complaining
about the teacher Samuel and send Swami with a letter. Now
swami who is a typical Indian school going boy is very disturbed
with everything. He represents all the school going boys of our
country. They can blame their teacher. But mostly they don’t want
to harm them. Their conscious always come at that point. Likewise
Swami is also conscious stricken. His heart is not ready to
complain against his teacher because he knows that he is not as bad
as he has described to his father. The following lines are the voice
of his soul:
He could not decide how much of what he had said was imagined
and how much of it was real. He stopped for a moment on the
 149
roadside to make up his mind about Samuel; he was not such a bad
man after all (58).

It is the fact that ‘Mob doesn’t have a character’. They are molded
by circulating rumors. At present time mass media, print media is
also doing the same thing. They are trying to cash the rumors. No
one bothers to know the source of the rumors but ordinary men
start believing them blindly. Common people’s thinking is not
based upon any logical background. The worst thing is people not

ar
only believe in the rumors but also they calculate a person’s
characters because of the rumors only. The same thing is applicable
here also. The father does not try to find out the reality behind the
saying of his son but he believes in him. In fact all believe that the
teacher Samuel is a very hard and cruel teacher, never in his life
el
Samuel has become so cruel but people believe on the following
rumors:
Years and years ago he was reputed to have skinned the knuckles
of a boy in first standard and made him smear the blood on his
face. No one had actually seen it (58).
t
In every country children learn many things from their
Es

homes and schools. But in our country mostly the proper

environment of studies is not available at home, so here schools are
very important for children, it is supposed to be second home of a
child. Especially for those children whose parents do not pay any
attention towards their studies, school is a very important place. It
is a part and parcel of their lives but the alarming fact is that most
of them are not serious about their studies. Most of them are not
serious about their home work and when teacher inquires they are
not hesitating to speak lie. They are always ready with several
excuses. The following classroom scene of Malgudi environment is
representing common scene of every school where teacher asks for
home work and child is ready with so many excuses:
 150
Swaminathan where is your home work?” “I have not done any
homework sir,” he said blindly. There was a pause. “Why”
headache? Asked Samuel. “Yes sir.” “All right sit down (60).

The other problem of Indian classroom is meaningless

disturbance by the foolish students. Such type of situation irritates
the teacher and he loses his temper and all his precious energy and
power use to waste in useless arguments. Asking question is one of
the most useful device of teaching learning process but the very

ar
device become harmful in the following situation where a student
(Swami) is unnecessarily busy in asking meaningless questions to
his teacher and he is wasting his and his teacher’s time:

Swami is not ready to stop at this point too. He wants to

enrich the conversation so that teacher cannot teach. Such types of
el
foolish characters are present in almost every school. Narayan is
presenting the picture of common middle class Indian people’s life.
Town schools or where middle class people’s wards study faces
these shorts of situations very commonly. In this short fiction
t
Narayan presents middle class Indians and their various ways
where children are also not very obedient. In fact they use to
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disobey, their teachers. Swami is also doing the same thing in the
following scene. To quote Narayan:
What is the date of Vasco De Gama’s arrival in India?
Swaminathan shout up and screeched, “1648 December 20.” “You
needn’t shout,” said the teacher. He asked, “Has your headache
made you mad? “I have no headache now sir.” replied the thunder
brightly. “Sit down, you idiot. If you get up again I will cane you
(61).

This useless disturbance to the teacher is the planning of swami.

He wants to irritate his teacher because of that he can justify all his
false complaints against him. He succeeds in his efforts to such an
extent as to get caned eight times. He thus justifies his father’s
letter of complaint to his head master. The first twist comes when
swami learns that the headmaster is on leave and the assistant head
 151

master is none other than Samuel. The ironic twist on which the
story ends is when swami returns home with the letter still with
him. His father refuses to believe that the headmaster is on leave,
calls Swami a coward, tears up the letter and turns his anger on
swami. His father believed him when he bluffed and made up tales
about Samuel. But ironically when he tells the truth, his father gets
annoyed and the story ends with the father’s statement, “Don’t
come to me for help even if Samuel throttles you. You deserve

ar
your Samuel” (62).

The story echoes R. K Narayan’s first novel Swami and

Friends. The character of swami is taken from his novel. By this
story Narayan has spread light as many of the things of our society.
These types of scenes are very common in Indian schools. There
el
are modern teachers as well as students. No one has sufficient
patient. Both of than are in hurry to achieve their profits. Teachers
want to teach without knowing the psychology of the children
likewise students have lost confidence and faith in their teacher.
t
This scenario is very dangerous for the development of a country.
Teachers should be respected and students should be loved and
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cared by the teachers.

The smallest unit of a society is family. Family is part and

parcel of a nation. A nation is incomplete or can not possible to run
without a family. When we talk about a family though each and
every member is important but the greatest importance is to be
given to the children, the tiny tots of the family. With the passage
of time many things changes but if we compare pre independence
and post independence condition, love for children is same. Not
only from pre independence but from the beginning of civilization
love for children was there is every society. Care and love for our
small kids is very genuine but sometime it is in excess, which is
not good in any condition. Many times children use their parents
love for their own wrong benefits. This theme is universal. In the
 152

next story of this collection “Crime & Punishment” Narayan is

dealing with this universal theme but the surroundings of the story
is individual and common. South Indian setting which is
commonly known as Malgudi. Malgudi environment is not only
there in his stories but in all his works. In this connection M. K.
Naik in A History of English Literature writes:
Narayan’s fiction is imposed with a strong sense of place. His
setting, Malgudi develops from novel to novel but always

ar
possesses a genius focus which gives reality to his men and
women. Narayan is no poet and cannot give us what Henry James
called the aroma of the meadows and lanes in Hardy, but he
certainly makes real to us the ankle deep dust in Anderson lame
and the raucous noises in the market. Like Arnold Bennett,
Narayan relies more on keen observation and steady (165-166).
el
When a child is very much aware about the weaknesses of
his parents sometime he tries to take benefits of their soft feelings
Narayan’s “Crime and Punishment” is the story of such a boy, who
is over pampered by his parents. It is the story of a poor teacher,
ambitious parents and a naughty child with a below average ability.
t
His parents are extremely ideal as for as bringing up of their child
Es

is concerned. Mostly they use to lecture his tuition teacher

likewise:
You must never set up any sort of contrariness or repression in the
child’s mind, you will damage him for life. It on doubt requires a
lot of discipline on our part, but it is worth it (171).

The child is very naughty and the tuition teacher does not agree
with the views of parents but he is forced to say nothing because of
the thirty rupees which they pay him to teach or to tolerate their
child. Both the husband wife has received good formal education.
They have theories but they are not practical. All this is not hidden
from the eyes of the child. He is also very cunning. He tries to
blackmail his teacher if he beats him or scolds him as he knows
that he is the weakness of his parents. Once the child gives a wrong
answer and he repeats the same wrong answer many times as a
 153

result the teacher slaps him. After that the boy starts blackmailing
the teacher. He asks the teacher to become a station master. The
teacher refuses at this the child says that he will show his cheek to
his mother. Because of this the teacher has to do many things for
the child’s wish. He does not want to leave his job.

For R. K. Narayan child and teacher relationship is a favorite

subject. Not only in his short stories but also in many of his novels
we have come across it. On the one hand this is a humorous

ar
presentation of teacher and student relationship but on the other
hand Narayan is raising many social issues. Such as the teacher
does not agree with the philosophy of the parents those are always
protecting their below average extremely naughty child still he is
working their for the sake of the money what he gets from there.
el
Malgudi milieu is packed with such type of parents who never see
any shortcoming in their children and always ready to pamper
them. This story is a humorous comment on them. Indirectly
through this story Narayan wants to prove that a child can progress
t
only when he/she will respect his/her teacher and development of a
child is the development of society. On the other hand this story is
Es

representing a comment on the timid teachers. In middle class

society it is observed that people are more concentrating on money
and not paying respect for values. For example in the story the
teacher should take a strict action against the child and must tell
clearly to the parents about him but he is not thinking about this
instead of that he is trying to save his money. This shows the down
fall of our society. No one is thinking about the true progress and
values but all are bothering about them selves in this selfish world.

“The Tigers Claw” is another story of the collection. It is

basically a talkative man’s story. This the very interesting story
from the point views of plot and character. The talkative man is as
an agent of a soil fertilizer company so twenty five days in the
mouth, he has to be on the road, visiting secluded places and
 154

corners of the country to popularize the material of his company. In

one such journey he comes at a village koppal. It is a small south
Indian village with about forty houses and two streets surrounded
by the jungle on all side. Its centre of civilization is its railway
station. To have a railway station is an important thing. First the
narrator gives a small description of the station master that he is a
man wearing green turban and is always ready with red and green
flags wrapped under his arums. After this he tells us about the

ar
station. The writer writes:
It was not a building but an old railway carriage, which having
served its term of life was deprived of its wheels and planted
beside the railway lines. It had one or two windows through which
the station master issued tickets, and spoke to those occasional
passengers who turned up in this wilderness (40).
el
Once he comes at this station for the official work. First he visits
the station masters home, but it is too small to pass a whole night
there with his family. His next train is at five on the next morning.
At this condition narrator wishes to sleep at the station master’s
t
office at the station. A heavy table, a chair and a soul fills a lot of
space in there. Somehow he makes place to sleep at night a catlike
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figure enters in the room. Actually it is a real wild tiger. With the
help of the heavy furniture and a knife he can manage to safe his
life from the wild beast and with his luck and bravery he can force
the tiger to run away from the railway station. The humorous thing
is that when next day he describes the whole episode to the people
of that village no one believes on him. The whole story is
remarkably presented in Narayan’s style. It flashes on various
things of Malgudi society. The Henry like finish of the story is
inevitable.

India is the country of small villages. People of Indian

villages as well as towns have to face many problems. They face
lack of proper facilities such as electricity water and proper
hygiene. Not only are these things in few of the villages there the
 155

problems of wild animal’s attack on human beings. Most of the

times news papers are filled with such type of news. The people
who are living in such areas are full with terror. Every day and
night they struggle for their safety. As the title of the story
indicates, “The Tiger Claw” is such type of story. It is the story of
a area (A Malgudi area) which is tiger stricken. People have been
living in the danger of man-eater for years. The writer writes, “The
tiger had held a neigh of terror for nearly five years, in the villages

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those mempi forests” (39).

The largest number of people in our country is of middle

class. This class is busy in struggle through out of his life. The
main character of this story is also belonging to this middle class.
He is a middle class service man. In India if one is in government
el
job he has to face transfers and if one is working as an agent he has
to travel place after places in search of parties and to satisfy the
need of the company too. Most of the time companies want to
advertise their products in far away areas. For company it is good
t
and profitable but those who are working for this cause is very
tiresome. Because no one wants to goes and join such
Es

uncomfortable areas. The same case is with the narrator also. He

cannot understand the purpose of going in such secluded areas. He
says:
You remember I’ve often spoken to you about my work as agent of
a soil fertilizer company. It was the most miserable period of my
life. Twenty five days in the month (39).

Earlier time there was not various means of transport.

Railways are the centre of civilization. Those areas where railway
stoppages have have chance for development. In our country there
are many areas, villages where railways are in under developed
condition where very few trains use to stop but they are for better
then other because of this important achievement. The same thing
is present in R.K Narayan’s Malgudi Milieu. Narayan celebrates
typical Indian scenes and common facts of our country. If we want
 156

to know the real India or we want to see the glimpse of India, his
short fiction helps a lot. The following lines from the story tell us
about India; about Indian villages which has underdeveloped
railways. Narayan writes:
They would not have known of its existence but for the fact it was
on the railways. Yes, actually on the railways, some obscure,
branch line passed through this village, though most trains did not
stop there. Its centre of civilization was its railways station (40).

ar
Now days in India big cities are having computerized railway
station. A lot of facilities are there but in small places the railway
station are almost deserted. No facilities are available there. At
such places only work is going on for the sake of doing work. Only
station master is there, less number of trains as well as passengers
el
is the main feature of such stations. As for as the building of
railways is concerned, it is also very old one.

Like other Indian secluded villages in the story the village is

having very little halts. If one train is on the evening the next will
t
be on the morning only. The narrator tells, “Though a couple of
train was now passing, the only stopping train would be at 5:30 on
Es

the following morning” (40). At present time pollution is the main

cause of concern of big cities. The main source of pollution is
increasing number of traffic. In big cities roads are busy in day and
night. People are equally in hustle and bustle during night time
also. Every time there are the various types of sound in city
atmosphere. But in small villages or towns nights are full of peace.
People are not so busy at nights. The atmosphere is also very calm
and cool. During night time a peculiar kind of humming of various
insists is heard. As the atmosphere is less polluted, there pleasant
and peaceful voices may also be heard. Narayan has beautifully
presented the calm and cool atmosphere of village nights. In
following lines Narayan is describing the same. He writes, “All
kinds of humming and rustling sounds came through the still night
 157

and telegraph poles and night insects hummed and bamboo bushes
creaked” (41).

The psychology of human being is completely different from

the psychology of animals of course humans are more intelligent
and can tame animals according to their own wish. Human being’s
intelligent nature and their commanding attitude is very clear in
circus. But the case of wild animals is entirely different. In India
where wild animals use to attack, people try to save their lives by

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using fire or with every possible object. Because animals are more
afraid of those thing than human beings. In front of wild animals
human beings are helpless. That time to save life become next to
impossible. But at that time human made huge things like heavy
tables and chairs can be a great help. The following lines can be a
el
good example of the same situations, where the writer writes:
Some how wild animals are less afraid of human beings than they
are of pieces of furniture like chairs and tables. I have seen circus
men managing a whole menagerie with nothing more than a chair
(41).
t
In our country most of the time in government offices the furniture
Es

is of old style. Its use to be very heavy. Most of the time it’s very
difficult to shift it from one place to another place. Many times it is
problematic but in the story when the agent is attacked by a wild
animal. Only at then he realizes the importance of railway heavy
furniture. He says, “…but fortunately our railways have a lot of
foresight and choose the heaviest timber for their furniture. That
saved me” (42).

Our society is male dominated society. In fact in some

respect the whole world is male dominated only. Though in our
country now a days women are handling inner as well as outer
world equally. They are earning also but they are depending on
men. They can earn but they don’t have right to spend their
earning. The main responsibility of the family is on the shoulder of
 158

the man. Even today in seventy percentage families only man is the
earning mass. The whole family use to depend on him because the
education level in the female mass is very less comparatively the
male mass. In the present story or one should say almost in all the
stories of Narayan women are associated with the four walls of
their houses only. Here in the story “The Tiger Claw” the fertilizer
agent is the only person in his family who is earning and when his
end is approaching because of the attack of the tiger he thinks for

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his family and his children those are completely depended on him.
Only he is not dying in fact his full family will die with him. At
last he thinks, “Those claws mounted on gold, are hanging around
the necks of my three daughters. You can come and see them if you
like sometime” (43). In Narayan’s stories the traditional India is
el
depicted. In his stories old customs as well as ideas are celebrated.
It gives a general idea of characters and atmosphere, particular or
individual analysis of the characters as well as situation is lacking
in his short fiction.
t
The next story of this collection is “Iswaran”. It is a
remarkable story of Narayan’s collection because it is the only
Es

story with a poignantly sad ending. It is a story of a boy, Iswaran

who could not pass intermediate examination in spite of his several
attempts. Due to his several failures he is a torture unhappy soul.
When he first time failed his parents sympathized with him, the
second time he also get their sympathies but after this they became
more critical and unmerciful and after repeated failures they lost all
interest in his examination. Now his parents often tell him to give
up his study and to do something useful. He always requests his
parents to give him one last chance. When the story starts again
one more time Iswaran is waiting for his intermediate result. All
the boys have made up groups and they all are wondering and
waiting for their result. (At such time Narayan has not mentioned
anything about the girl students) Not only the boys but also their
 159

parents are worried for Iswaran because his result is famous in

advance.

That night he doesn’t want to spend in waiting for his result

with other boys but he goes to cinema. For that he changes his
dress, combs his hair with deliberate care because he knows
everybody looks on him as a kind of an outcast for failing so often.
He knows very well that behind him the entire family and the town
are laughing. All his happy-go-lucky nature is only a mask, “Under

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it is a creature hopelessly reared by failure desperately longing and
praying for success” (40). On the day of result though he is not
showing any disturbance but inward he is very nervous. He goes to
see a show of a movie there he feels very bad because there was
not any school student. All are waiting for their result. He goes to
el
see the second show of the movie also that time the movie seems
very boring as he knows each and every thing about it. This time
many group of the school boys are there. He has seen those who
are celebrating their success in exams by watching the movie. He
t
thinks that they will look at him with the feeling that he has no
right to seek the pleasure of a picture. He comes out of the threat.
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He feels extreme disgust for himself after seeing those successful

boys. He thinks he is not fit to live. The idea of suicide comes in
his mind. He wants to go to a world where there are young men
free from examinations. He thinks the river will end all his
miseries. He writes a suicide message for his father. He put that
letter in his coat and removes his coat and keeps it at the river
bank. He is about to jump into the river suddenly he thinks that he
should see his result first. There he finds that he has passed
intermediate examination with second division. At this his
happiness knows no bound. He thinks that next year he will sit in
B.A class. He feels dizzy. Years of strain and suspense are
suddenly relaxed, and he can hardly bear the force of this release.
The madness of the moment overpowers him and imagining
himself, “The sole occupant of the world and its overloads” (50).
 160

He rides his imaginary horse to the Sarayu and into it. Next
morning his body is found and that suicide note is also discovered,
where he has written:
My dear father: by the time you see this letter. I shall be at the
bottom of Sarayu. I don’t want to live, don’t worry about me. You
have other sons who are not such dunces as I am (49).

At this point the story ends. The story is a powerful

expression of the psychology of failure of a boy. The end of the

ar
story is very ironical Narayan has shown a very pathetic fate of the
boy. Indirectly he is commenting on the pressure of society and the
school examination. The examinations are for the students but
society treats as if students are here for the examination only.
Through this story Narayan is showing a dark aspect of our middle
el
class society, where human emotions and feelings are nothing but a
written paper of a pass mark sheet is everything. There is hardly
any humanity in it. It is not only the reality of the whole country.
Because we are living in such place, in such world where things are
loved and human beings and their emotions are used. Though sad
t
ending is not Narayan’s cup of tea but he could create such heart
Es

rending story because it is his own story also. Once Narayan told
Ved Mehta in An Interview, “That was almost my first tale… It is
very truthful autobiographical, you know it concerns a student, I,
who fails a lot of examination” (49).

This story reflects many things about Malgudi Milieu or

Indian middle class life. Teenagers cover a large percentage of
Indian population. For teenagers their X and XII result is very
important. Though for parents their ward’s every result is
important but class 10th as well as 12th result have something
extraordinary in itself. All wait for the result. The parents, relatives,
friends even society people also wait for these result. It’s a matter
of discussion of a long period. It is supposed that parents honour is
at the stake. Today’s world is the world of computers and internet,
results are also easily available but in small towns even today
 161

newspaper is the only mean to know the result. Malgudi is also

such a town where people are waiting for result of intermediate.
The story tells:
When the whole of the student world in Malgudi was convulsed
with excitement on a certain evening in June when the intermediate
examination results were expected (45).

There are various types of students everyone deserve

different position in the result according to their studies. After

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result declaration happiness and sadness are the two aspects which
cannot be avoided. Those who pass they start celebration but those
who fail have their reasons and they are handled likely. As to fail in
board examination is a matter of shame and of course bad also for
their future. In Malgudi world there are a variety of students. Few
el
of them fail only by chance, though they are equally good in
studies. But few of them are history makers, who create history by
their failures. They don’t have any grief and shame with their
failures. Accordingly the reaction of parents also depends on the
number of once failures. If someone fails only one time parents
t
react with sympathy, if twice their reaction shows some lightness
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but when child makes it a habit they loose all interest on him.
Iswaran is also a history Maker. He cannot pass intermediate
examination after several attempts. The reaction of his parents is
described realistically in the following lines:
The first time he failed, his parents sympathized with him, the
second time also he managed to get their sympathies, but
subsequently they grow more critical and unsparing and after
repeated failures they lost all interest in his examination (45).

On the evening when the result is about to disclose that night all
the students wait for their result. Almost the whole town waits for
it. The boys collect at a place tension is there on their faces. It’s a
very common scene in almost each and every town of India has
witnessed this type of scene. The following lines witnessed such
 162

common scene. To shows the excitement and tension of the

students on the particular day of result declaration. Narayan writes:
And now the whole town was ahoy with the expectation of the
result in the evening Boys moved about the street in groups, and on
the sands of Sarayu, they sat in clusters, nervously smiling and
biting their fingernails (44).

At the same time when students of the whole town are anxious
about their results the history creator students whose result is

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already disclosed they are not at all in any tension. They are fully
relaxed as their results are already known because with the passage
of time they accept it as their fate. The hero of the present story has
entirely different emotions. The writer writes, “The parents were
agitated except Iswaran’s who when they heard their neighbors
el
discussing their son’s possible future results, remarked with a sign”
(45).

In this story Narayan is indirectly criticizing over emphasis

on the studies. If the child is good in studies and fulfills his parents
t
dream, he is allowed for almost everything. He can buy expensive
clothes; can be smart; go for picnic or in short he can enjoy his life
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but if the boy is having regular failures each and small thing
becomes too much or a luxury for him. In our country family
boundaries are very important for us. In our country parents do
everything for their children. In fact their full life is for them only.
But when the children can not study, can’t satisfy, they also
become very indifferent be strict for them. The following quotation
frame the same story is very apt to quote here, “He felt that they
remarked among themselves that washing combing his hair and
putting on a well ironed coat were luxuries too far above his state”
(46).

The students those who can’t qualify the exam are not only
asked questions by their family members. But the society also has
curiosity for such type of students. Though most of the time the
 163

reason are not healthy. They want to know this information some
time for their love and concern but some time for gossip purpose
only. They know and then share their information for fun only.
Some time it seems that the life of poor students become miserable
due to the social set of our society. Here your talents are judged by
your academic career only. Other talents are hardly important.
According to Narayan this is the main drawback of our society that
only studies are important. Especially in middle class society this

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thing is too much. They think that with education only they can
enrich their powers, money and reputation but they hardly think
about the mental level of their children. At present time also
children are tortured by their parents, teachers for good percentages
and good performance in exam. This is the reality of our society
el
and in Narayan’s stories we get a true picture of our society.
Though his characters are fictional but the situations are real. What
is present in our society is there in his short fiction. In the
following scene Iswaran is asked by a society man about his result
and he tells him a lie so that he will shut up. In other words
t
students are forced to do wrong thing because of the pressure on
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them.

R.K Narayan’s stories at large depict Indian ness in his short

fiction. Whatever is there in the life of middle class Indian is a part
of Narayan’s writing. Educational milieu of our society gives lots
of importance to examinations. If the students can prove
themselves successful in examination. (Especially in board exams)
only then they are not criticized. This pressure is too heavy to
carry. In that situation even the parents are not with their children.
They also want more and more percentage and want to get
everything. In fact they want to fulfill their all dreams with the help
of their children. When the children cannot bear their load of
responsibilities they end their lives. Newspapers headings are the
burning proof of this reality. Whenever the results of board exams
disclose so many students commit suicide because they don’t have
 164

courage to face the pressure and expectations of society. The

following determination which Iswaran decides shows the hard
reality of our society:
I am not fit to live. This idea developed in his mind a glorious
solution to all difficulties. Die and go to a world where there were
young men free from examination who sported in lotus pools in
paradise (48).

All of a sudden his suffered mind has decided to do something to

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escape the worldly problems of life:
This solution suddenly brought him a feeling of relief. If I can’t
pass an examination even with a tenth attempt, what is the use of
my living and disgracing the world (49).

At the end Iswaran has decided to kill himself as he finds there is

el
nothing in his life because he cannot pass the examination. It is
really a harsh reality of present materialist world.

For a story writer to express a story is not a very easy task.

Not only Narayan writes stories but also he maintains a perfect
t
balance of the following in his short stories. The aesthetic
satisfaction is the basic theme of the stories, the descriptive quality,
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his skillfulness in balancing moral and light mood of the stories are
remarkable in R.K. Narayan’s short stories. In his stories Narayan
has never talked about politics and any type of rules and regulation,
Human beings and human feelings are there in his stories. Those
who appreciate human emotions cannot stop to love and like his
simple but emotional stories. By this it should not be
misunderstood that his stories are packed with excessive emotions.
But there is a perfect balance of it. Narayan’s capability to convert
simple day today episodes of middle class life in comical manner is
remarkable. When we talk about the man and milieu concept of
Narayan’s short stories the most frequent themes are formally
giving up the rights or possession, means of renunciation,
generation gap, struggle between tradition and modern ideas,
conflict between east and west and education system specially with
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the reference of the male generation. There are few of the main
running themes of his popular stories. While writing his stories he
is not philosophical but he deals his characters like human being
having a combination of good qualities and man like weaknesses.
This is the basic reason that his stories got popularity throughout
the world in spite of his narrow background of Malgudi. He writes
stories on Malgudi background but it have universal appeal. On the
first look his stories seems to be related with one another but by

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minor observation each and every story has individuality itself.

Of course the reflection of Narayan’ social background i.e.,

south India comes in his stories but autobiographical touch is really
present in his stories. His main concern is to develop his characters
only. The most striking character of his stories is its plot.
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Characters are also developed side by side the plot only. Human
relationship is very important for him. According to him we are
different from animals because we believe in relationship. In an
interview, Narayan told to Lakshmi Halmstrom in The Novels of
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R.K. Narayan:
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I value human relationship very much, very intensely. It makes

ones existence worth while human relationship in any and every
form, whether at home or outsides” (124).

In a short story writing is concerned a writer cannot aloof

himself from his characters. Though this technique appears to be
very traditional or old fashioned but a fictional work will remain
incomplete without it. A story develops with his characters only,
the struggles, conflicts and happy association whatever they share
and experience come is the story. Attachment with once characters
is one of the primary requirements of a good fictional work.
Characters and their conflicts are part and parcel of the
development of stories. If a writer will be far away from human
feelings and emotions, he cannot present a realistic and lifelike
story. All the struggle anxieties and pleasantries are part and parcel
of Indian soil. From our prospects, one story is incomplete without
 166

all these things. When we are dealing with the importance of

conflicts and characters David Madden & Virgil Scott’s Studies in
the Short Story New York Halt Rinehart and Winston will be the
best example to quote. They write:
The elements of conflict and character are as important as that of
theme, and the writer who fails to handle these elements skillfully
will have written a poor story regardless of his profound or
significant meaning (13).

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Because of all these things, if Narayan is interested in his
characters it should be taken as one of his achievement. Many
times, he uses to resemble with his characters it happens because of
his over involvement with his fictional characters. His protagonists
are from the middle class milieu that is the basic cause of his
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success. As for as the middle class environment is concerned, it is
the largest group of a country, as a result this subject provides
immense space and variety for the short stories. Though ‘Malgudi’
is entirely a fictional land but it seems very realistic. The cause
behind it is though it’s a very short local but the individual
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personalities of the Malgudi Milieu and their relationship present a
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realistic scene of the house next door. The most remarkable thing
about Malgudi is that there all are following the one God. In his
stories, he never entertains religious riots. In his short fiction, he
catches the pulse of the people; this is the reason that he was
successful of creating an illusion of reality in his fiction. Graham
Green in The World of Malgudi, a study of R.K. Narayan Novels
comments:
The life of Malgudi never ruffled by politics proceeds in exactly
the same way as it has done for centuries, and the juxtaposition of
the age-old convention and the modern character provides much of
the comedy (48).

The world is basically divided into two classes. The first one
is the rich and the second one is the poor. Basically, Malgudi
stories are the stories of middle class people but in few of the
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stories, lower class is also presented. But in most of the stories,

Narayan have happy endings. But there are few sorties where he
has shown the ironies of life. “The Evening Gift” is one of such
stories. It is another story of the collection. This story is about a
man Sankar and his drunkard master. Here is a typically effective
Narayan beginning:
He had a most curious occupation in life. Having failed in every,
he had to accept it with gratitude and enthusiasm he received a

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thirty rupees a month for it (96).

Sankar the main character of the story belongs to a very poor

family. He is the eldest son of a God forsaken family. He comes in
a city to earn some so that his family will get a support. He earns
one or two rupees by filling money orders forms and postcards for
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illiterate people, whom he meets on the post office veranda. But his
chief work is very peculiar. He is employed by a confirmed
drunkard who employs him to check his drinking after nine in the
evening and take him home to safety. For this, the rich man has
given him permission, “Don’t hesitate to use force on me if
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necessary.”(96) Though permission is there to use force but every
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night he handles situations very smoothly. At morning when the

wealthy man comes in his senses inquires him about last night. The
following conversation between them can explain his nature of job
properly. The writer writes:
What time did we reach home last night?” “Nine fifteen sir.” “Did
you have much trouble?” “No- sir.” “Nine fifteen, very good, very
good.” “I’m glad on no account should you let me stay on beg and
nine, even if.” “I am in company.” “Yes sir.” “You may go now,
and be sure to back in the evening in time (96-97).

Sankar who has the burden of paying off a substantial family debt
takes up this job. One night he is dismissed from service by his
master while in his drunken state-with an advance salary for four
months. Sankar is quite delighted to be off; after all, keeping an
incorrigible drunkard company is no pleasant task. He accepts the
 168

money, decides to get back to his village and the next morning is
seen doing some shopping for the child at home. But then even as
he is about to leave the place, he is arrested by the police on the
charge of robbing his master taking advantage of his weakness. He
tells the police and his master everything about the previous night
but no one believes on him. He starves for two days and wonders
about the street without a place to live. Finally, he goes to his
village and back to all the ancient never-ending trouble of his

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family life.

The impact of Malgudi world is extremely clear on this story. Our

society is like this, no one listens the poor people. Everybody
believes on the rich and the powerful ones. The story deals with the
ironies of life. It is also a reflection on the behavior of drunkard. It
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is the irony of fate that though Sankar loses his job so that he might
help his family, he fails to do so and his sacrifice becomes useless.
His master represents a typical drunkard, like all drunkards he
cannot remember the things that happened to him when he was
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drunk.
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“A Snake in The Grass” is the next story of the collection. It

is a snake story. This story shows the common nature of the Indian
middle class world. Snake is a poisonous creature and many time it
use to be seen in the house especially in rainy season. The presence
of a snake creates hustle and bustle in the family. How the
complete family disturbs due to a snake is described in the story.
At such time generally people starts blaming one another. At the
same time a snake is related with our religious belief also. No
Indian feel like killing a snake. Narayan is a true observer of Indian
middle class society. Here in the story Narayan has presented a pen
picture of this aspect of our middle class society. The story starts
with a warm afternoon when the dwellers of the bunglow are at
their short sleep a cyclist rings the bell at the gate and declares that
a big cobra has got into their compound. In the family, there is a
 169

mother and her four sons. All of them assemble at the gate in great
commotion. The old servant Dasa is sleeping in the store. They
move him out of his sleep and tell him of the arrival of the cobra.
They warn him to start the search of the cobra otherwise be ready
to be dismissed from his job. At the same time, they say that his
neglect of the garden and the lawn is responsible for all these
fearful things coming in. Dasa replies that he has been asking for
grass cutter for months. In monotony, they order him to manage

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with the available things and not to make demand. Suddenly a
beggar comes and says that they are lucky. It is God Subramanya
who has came to visit them. She forbids killing the snake. Mother
agrees with her and says, “You are right. I forgot all about the
promised Abhishekam. This is a reminder” (94).
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Later on, a snake charmer is called and how he catches the
snake and in between a trick of the Dasa is humorously described.
The trick is he appears before them carrying a water pot which
mouth is sealed with a slap of stone. He puts the pot down and
t
says, “I have caught it is this. I saw him peeping out of” ...I saw
him before he could see me” (95) But the servant is telling lie.
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Inside the pot, the cobra is not there. It is seen again. It crawls
under the gate and vanishes along a drain when they come out of
the shock they ask, it mean there are two snakes. But the college
boy is thinking differently, he suspects on the previous
achievement of Dasa and says in low tone, “I wish I had taken the
risk and knocked the water pot from Dasa’s hands. We might have
known what it contained” (95). Here is the end of the story. Just
like the most of the stories of Narayan, this story is also based on a
single episode that is why it is very short in length. The beginning
of the story is remarkable. There are many characters in the story
like mother and her four sons, their servant Dasa, a cyclist, the old
women, beggar and snake charmer. R.K. Narayan has given the
name to only their servant Dasa. There is no description of any
other character. The focus is on the nature of society and on the
 170

snake. This story is showing a common scene of Malgudi Milieu

where people are religious minded and they are not feeling like
killing snake as they associate it with God and his reminder and
one another thing which is very common in Narayan Malgudi
world is promises made to God. Every now and then when we are
in need of something we, promise God for few certain rituals in
return of his favors.

“The Snake Song” is another snake story of the collection. In

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this story, the narrator takes his listeners into the world of classical
Karnataka music. Music is the soul of our country. It is also an
indication that we are civilized one. In our country, almost every
region is famous for its own music. Music and artist of our country
have got name and fame in far away countries also. They have
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proved their art in abroad as well as in their own country. This
story approves on the popular mythical notions about the
mysterious powers of music over the snake. The background of the
story is as usual south Indian atmosphere. The story is a story of a
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music learner. He talks firstly about south Indian music & secondly
about the different taste of music like old and new. In our country,
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there are two groups of music learner or music admires one group
like old melodies, calm beat of music and second group believes
strongly for new generation, fast music and one another group is
formed now days those who wants to listen old music in new
texture. In the following lines, the narrator is also saying about the
various differences in taste of music and as he is a Malgudi dweller
so here, he talks about South Indian music. Narayan writes:
We suppose you are one of those great men who believe that south
Indian music died one hundred years ago. Or were you at any time
honouring with all our ancient musicians and composers the only
reason many persons like you have for thinking that all modern
singing is children and in one (62)?

The musician is learning music under a master musician in a

remote village. The real interest of the story hangs on two strange
 171

encounters of his who is practicing playing flute at night, as a

certain night. First with an unseen sadhu who curses him that his
music is at end for refusing him both food and music, soon after
the sadhu’s departure a black cobra which is apparently drawn to
the place by compelling power of his music. The latter is the more
startling and mysterious and makes the climax of the story.

Almost all the aspects of Indian middle class society are

present in the story. Indirectly through this story, Narayan is

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justifying the old traditional myths of Indian society. In ancient
time, Gurus were supposed to be next to God. Even the Gurus were
not so professional. They did not ask for high fees and were
satisfied with the limited name and fame whatever they achieved.
But there is a contrast between modern teacher and ancient one. At
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present time, all are in great hurry to get name, fame and money.
Always they are in search for short cuts to success. But here in the
story Narayan has presented the picture of a true Guru. Who is
extremely talented but at the same time he is calm quite and fully
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satisfied with his position. Only such people deserve to be called
true gurus. In this stat R.K. presents an ideal picture of a guru. He
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writes:
A master musician lived there, when he played on the flute, it was
said, the cattle of the village followed him about. He was perhaps
the greatest artist of the century but quite content to live in
obscurity, hardly known to anyone outside the village, giving
concern only in the village temple and absolutely satisfied with the
small income he derived from his ancestral lands (63).

As far as great teachers are concerned they not only teach

with their words but also their whole life style and body language
is inspiring for the students. It’s not the time duration in which a
teacher teaches is important but his teaching his ability to shift all
his knowledge to his disciples, is important. Our country is famous
for such teachers. The following lines tell something about a
devoted teacher who is a talented artist and his student learns flute
 172

playing with him. Not only his words but his full personality
teaches. To describe his personality Narayan writes:
His personality and presence had a value all their own so that even
if he taught only for an hour it was worth a year’s tuition under
anyone else. The very atmosphere around him educated one (64).

In our Indian culture to love respect and speak kind words to

a guest or visitor is recommended. Infect we consider guest as God
himself. If a bagger knocks once door he is given something, it is

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in our culture. In our religious preaching, this (to help needy and
poor) is there. This is an ideal which is supposed to be followed by
everyone. But sometime when we are busy, we don’t like
disturbance by any one. One day the narrator is practicing with his
flute and a sadhu knocks the door. He is asking something to eat or
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he wants the permission to listen his music but the narrator speaks
very harsh words to the sadhu and because of it, the sadhu curses
him. To curse is also a part of our religious culture. All the famous
sadhus of past are famous either for their boon or for their curse.
Narayan has presented this idea very beautifully and realistically.
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The sadhu is disturbed a lot by the harsh words of the narrator that
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is why he says the following thing:

Ah! Bad words, you needn’t push me out. I am going, but
remember, this is your last day of music. Tomorrow you may
exchange your flute for a handful of died dates (64).

After this, the devoted artist lost his concentration and now he
wants to undone everything. He turns to God and requests them. It
is old saying that at the time of happiness, hardly anybody
remembers the God but when one is surrounded by troubles, God is
remembered whole heartedly. The narrator of the story is also not
an exception. Earlier he was so rude and arrogant but now he
becomes very humble and generous due to his fear. He is badly
disturbed by the parting words of the sadhu. In this connection the
writer writes:
 173
But my mind was troubled. His parting words….what did he mean
by them? I hung up the lantern and sat down. I looked at the
pictures of gods on the wall and prayed to be protected from the
threat of the unseen mendicant. And then I was lost in music once
again (65).

This episode has changed him and all of a sudden, he

becomes very religious also. At this moment, he notices a majestic
snake has come. At this site, he is too afraid to think anything else
except the Gods. He is repenting on his past behavior for the sadhu.

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Here in the following lines Narayan has presented the religious
aspects of Malgudi Milieu.
I saw the serpent in all its majesty, the very venom in its pouch had
a touch of glory now I saw its divinity as it crowned Shiva’s head:
Parvathi wore it as a wristlet: Subramanya played with it and it was
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Vishnu’s couch… And now what should I see between the door
and one but a black cobra (65).

Earlier he refused the old sadhu to listen his music. Later on due to
the curse of the sadhu, his music is listened and enjoyed by a
dangerous and venomous serpent. No request and order is going to
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help him to stop and the slight effort to stop playing music can
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invite a great trouble for the artist as the snake is enjoying the
music. The same music which was denied to the generous and poor
sadhu but in front of a cobra he is helpless. It is the poetic justice
which is present in our country. Every pore of Malgudi soil knows
that here wrong doers are always punished. Sometime it takes time
but it is sure to happen. The following quotation of the artist is an
example of it:
The snake, which was now less than three yards from me, lifted a
quarter of its body, with a gentle flourish reared its body, with a
gentle flourish reared its head, fixed its round eyes on me and
listened to the music without making the slightest movement (66).

The player has been playing the music for a very long period now
he wants to stop as he is very tired but his divinely guest is not
ready to allow him to stop. He is enjoying and wants to continue
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his pleasure and the artist is not fortunate enough to take the risk.
His pathetic condition is present in the following lines:
I attempted to change the song once or twice, but I saw the snake
stir menacingly. I vainly tried to get up and dash out, but the snake
nearly stood up on its tail and promised to finish me (66).

Next day when he explains the whole incident to his master he also
advices him not to think about his music any more as he is also
afraid with the curse of God. And he scolds him by saying the

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following things:
Don’t you know you ought not to play Punnaga Varali atnight?
That part, now you can never be sure you will not get the snake in
again if you play. And when he comes he won’t spare you unless
you sing his song over again. Are you prepared to do it (66)?
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Every culture and society has its own importance and values.
Politeness and love for all are the main important characteristics of
our Indian society if anyone fails to show them somehow he is
definitely punished and there is not any other way left but to ask
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forgiveness from the victim, or in other way, we can say justice is
supposed to be done here on the earth only. In our mythology, it is
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supposed that heaven and hell are part and parcel of our good and
bad actions and here on the earth itself we get reward and
punishment according to our deeds. The artist’s teacher recognizes
that the punishment of his pupil’s action is that in his full lifetime
he cannot play flute but the artist weeps a lot at this then he
suggests him a way, “Perhaps all will be well again if you seek
your visitor of that night and beg his forgiveness. Can you find
him” (66)?

He also realizes his mistakes and now a reformed person

lives in him the rude and arrogant artist vanishes and humble one
takes his place. He says, “If by God’s grace I meet him, I will fall
at his feet, beg his forgiveness and take up my flute again” (66).
Narayan has not given the description weather he get success to
find his visitor. He only wants to approve the importance of a guest
 175

or a visitor in our Indian mythology. M. K. Naik in his book

Twentieth Century Indian English Fiction has rightly said:
While Narayan has practically written no story which can be called
dull, one might well ask at the same time whether he has written
any which can truly be called a major achievement to rank
with Maupassant’s “Ball of Fat”, Chekhov’s “The school
Mistress”, Maugham’s “Rain”, Hemingwag’s “The Short Happy
Life of Francis Macomber” or Katherne Mansfield’s “The Garden
Party” – to mention only a few memorable examples (93).

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Mukherjee, N. Some Aspects of The Literacy Development of R.K.
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