Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Narayanswamy is one of the most famous and widely read Indian novelists. His stories were grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humor and energy of ordinary life. Narayan was born on October 10, 1906 at Chennapatna, near Mysore in Southern India. As his father's job required frequent moves, Narayan spent part of his childhood under the care of his maternal grandmother, Parvati. During this time his best friends and playmates were a peacock and a mischievous monkey. When his father was appointed headmaster of the Maharaja's High School in Mysore, R.K. Narayan moved back in with his parents. He obtained his bachelor's degree from the University of Mysore. It took Narayan four years to obtain his Bachelor's degree, a year longer than usual. When he was twelve years old, Narayan participated in a pro-independence march. He started by writing short stories which appeared in The Hindu'; and he also worked as a Mysore Correspondent of Justice, a newspaper from Madras. Narayan’s first published work was the review of a book titled “Development of Maritime Laws of 17th-Century England”. In the autumn of 1930, on a sudden spurt of inspiration, writing of his first novel “Swami and Friends” started. With this book, Narayan created Malgudi, a town that creatively reproduced the social sphere of the country; while it ignored the limits imposed by colonial rule, it also grew with the various socio-political changes of British and post-independence India. While vacationing at his sister's house in Coimbatore, in 1933, Narayan met and fell in love with Rajam, a 15-year-old girl and married her. Graham Greene recommended Swami and Friends to his publisher, and it was finally published in 1935. Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Narayanswamy stood shortened to R.K.Narayan, on Graham Greene’s advice. Narayan's next novel The Bachelor of Arts (1937), was inspired in part by his experiences at college, his third novel, The Dark Room (1938) was about domestic disharmony. In 1940 Narayan tried his hand at a journal, Indian Thought. With the help of his uncle, a car salesman, Narayan managed to get more than a thousand subscribers in Madras city alone. However, the venture did not last long and it ceased publication within a year. After The English Teacher, Narayan's writings took a more imaginative and creative external style compared to the semi-autobiographical tone of the earlier novels.
Narayan was commissioned by the government of Karnataka to write a book to promote tourism in the state. The work was published as part of a larger government publication in the late 1970s. Living alone in Mysore, Narayan developed an interest in agriculture. He bought an acre of agricultural land and tried his hand at farming. He was also prone to walking to the market every afternoon to interact with the people. In a typical afternoon stroll, he would stop every few steps to greet and converse with shopkeepers and others, gathering material for his books. In 1980, Narayan was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, for his contributions to literature. During his entire six-year term, he was focused on one issue—the plight of school children, especially the heavy load of school books and the negative effect of the system on a child's creativity, which was something that he first highlighted in his debut novel, Swami and Friends. During his final years, Narayan, ever fond of conversation, would spend almost every evening with N. Ram, the publisher of The Hindu, drinking coffee and talking about various topics until well past midnight. Despite his fondness of meeting and talking to people, he stopped giving interviews. The apathy towards interviews was the result of an interview with Time, after which Narayan had to spend a few days in the hospital, as he was dragged around the city to take photographs that were never used in the article. In May 2001, Narayan was hospitalised. A few hours before he was to be put on a ventilator, he was planning on writing his next novel, a story about a grandfather. However, Narayan did not get better and never started the novel. Until his last days, R. K. Narayan, remained a voracious reader and an avid critic of the changes that used to take place around his apartment in Chennai. On May 13, 2001, at the age of 94, he passed away.
Narayan was commissioned by the government of Karnataka to write a book to promote tourism in the state. The work was published as part of a larger government publication in the late 1970s. Living alone in Mysore, Narayan developed an interest in agriculture. He bought an acre of agricultural land and tried his hand at farming. He was also prone to walking to the market every afternoon to interact with the people. In a typical afternoon stroll, he would stop every few steps to greet and converse with shopkeepers and others, gathering material for his books. In 1980, Narayan was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, for his contributions to literature. During his entire six-year term, he was focused on one issue—the plight of school children, especially the heavy load of school books and the negative effect of the system on a child's creativity, which was something that he first highlighted in his debut novel, Swami and Friends. During his final years, Narayan, ever fond of conversation, would spend almost every evening with N. Ram, the publisher of The Hindu, drinking coffee and talking about various topics until well past midnight. Despite his fondness of meeting and talking to people, he stopped giving interviews. The apathy towards interviews was the result of an interview with Time, after which Narayan had to spend a few days in the hospital, as he was dragged around the city to take photographs that were never used in the article. In May 2001, Narayan was hospitalised. A few hours before he was to be put on a ventilator, he was planning on writing his next novel, a story about a grandfather. However, Narayan did not get better and never started the novel. Until his last days, R. K. Narayan, remained a voracious reader and an avid critic of the changes that used to take place around his apartment in Chennai. On May 13, 2001, at the age of 94, he passed away.
Malgudi
Malgudi is a fictional, semi-urban town in southern India, conjured by Narayan. He created the town in September 1930. As he mentioned in a later interview to his biographers Susan and N. Ram, in his mind, he first saw a railway station, and slowly the name Malgudi came to him. He allowed it to form shape with events in the various stories, becoming a reference point for the future. Dr James M. Fennelly, a scholar of Narayan's works, created a map of Malgudi based on the fictional descriptors of the town from the many books and stories.
Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan published in 1943 by Indian Thought Publications.
The book was republished outside India in 1982. The book includes 19 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located in South India. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi. The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular hour. It's an art we need to study and revive."
In 1986, a few of the stories in the book were included in the Malgudi Days television series and, directed by actor and director, Shankar Nag.
In 2004, the project was revived with film-maker Kavitha Lankesh replacing the late Shankar Nag as director.
Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan published in 1943 by Indian Thought Publications.
The book was republished outside India in 1982. The book includes 19 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located in South India. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi. The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular hour. It's an art we need to study and revive."
In 1986, a few of the stories in the book were included in the Malgudi Days television series and, directed by actor and director, Shankar Nag.
In 2004, the project was revived with film-maker Kavitha Lankesh replacing the late Shankar Nag as director.
Awards and Honours
Narayan won numerous awards during the course of his literary career. These include:
- Sahitya Akademi Award for The Guide , 1958
- Padma Bhushan, 1964
- Filmfare Award for the best story, The Guide, 1967
- AC Benson Medal, 1980
- Elected an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 1982
- Member of Rajya Sabha, 1989
- Padma Vibhushan, 2001
- Honorary doctorates by the University of Leeds (1967), the University of Mysore (1976) and Delhi University (1973)
- Nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times.
Notable Works
A few of the celebrated works of R.K. Narayan include:
- Swami and friends,
- The Bachelor of Arts, 1937
- Malgudi Days, 1942
- The English Teacher, 1945
- Waiting for The Mahatma, 1955
- The Guide, 1958
- The Vendor of Sweets, 1967
- The Ramayana, 1973
- The Mahabharata, 1978
References: Wikipedia; calitreview.com; iloveindia.com
Photos Courtesy: Google Images
Photos Courtesy: Google Images