Book Description

"I am inclined to call this the last chapter, but how can an autobiography have a final chapter? At best, it can only be a penultimate one; nor can it be given a rounded-off conclusion, as is possible in a work of fiction." So begins the last chapter of My Days, the only memoir from R. K. Narayan, hailed as "India's most notable novelist and short-story writer" by the New York Times Book Review.

In his usual winning, humorous style, R. K. Narayan shares his life story, beginning in his grandmother's garden in Madras with his ferocious pet peacock. As a young boy with no interest in school, he trains grasshoppers, scouts, and generally takes part in life's excitements. Against the advice of all, especially his commanding headmaster father, the dreaming Narayan takes to writing fiction, and one of his pieces is accepted by Punch magazine (his "first prestige publication"). Soon his life includes bumbling British diplomats, curious movie moguls, evasive Indian officials, eccentric journalists, and "the blind urge" to fall in love. R. K. Narayan's larger-than-life perception of the human comedy is at once acute and forgiving, and always true to it.

Customer Reviews (2)

Narayan's days
R.K. Narayan's memoir gives us a glimpse into the uncomplicated life of a simple man who became one of the 20th century's literary giants. On par with Graham Greene, Narayan shared in his literature the world of Malgudi, a busy place peopled with hilarious characters and a clear reflection of the politics of a small Indian city. Narayan's India is real, bereft of the imperial feel of Kipling's version of a few decades earlier. In Malgudi, everyone knows each other, and the circle of life revolves around a little print shop, fashioned after the shop Narayan would visit when creating his local arts paper as a young man.

MY DAYS is a fascinating look into Narayan's psyche, though it does drag at times. Narayan clearly writes better make-believe than real life, but this book is still a treat.

An excellent rendering of Narayan'slife and times
This is vintage Narayan at his best.Those of us who are his regular readers, will continue to marvel at his breezy, uncomplicated style ofnarration.My Days will make you smile, shed a tear and feel sorry when itends !A must for all book-lovers. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Swami and Bart
Here's a thought.Swami, R. K. Narayan's protagonist in Swami and Friends, is a forerunner of . . . take a deep breath . . . none other than Bart Simpson.Swaminathan, the plucky ten-year old, the classic irreverent underachiever, is always in one pot of hot water or another.He can be selfish, prevaricating, disrespectful to his elders, and dishonest in his dealings with his peers.Not your basic role model. But he still retains a boyish innocence, a fading purity in his search for what is fun.His father, while certainly not as laughably stupid as Homer Simpson, is no Father-Knows-Best figure of paternal perfection.He is over-involved with his work and does not always treat his children or wife with the respect and kindness they deserve.Swami's grandmother sleeps in a darkened hall, sometimes loved, and sometimes neglected, her advancing dotage often burdensome to the child.

Swami thinks like a 10 year old.Everything he wants is of utmost urgency.He cannot conceive of consequences or of delayed gratification.Peer relationships are far more important to him than long-term success in school.He is still concrete in his thinking and struggles with his studies.But within his delicate, formative being are competing forces battling for his very soul.There is a lot of personality we see here, already formed, and some of it is disturbing.He is easily swayed, lacks self-confidence, and can easily lose himself in the crowd. How will this young person fit into India as it struggles for independence and into the India that will follow?

The Simpsons is arguably one of the best satires of contemporary American life because it forces us to look closely at ourselves.When we laugh at the Simpsons, we laugh at ourselves. There is something awfully familiar about their imperfections.Swami and Friends is a lot like that. There is something funny and familiar in Swami and Friends, even for this 21st century American reader. Narayan gives us a very clear picture of southern India in 1930 and he is setting the stage for India's place in the post-colonial world.This vision is presented through the hopeful but not-so-innocent eyes of a child.

Boyhood in South Asia is both exotic and familiar
Imagine "The Wonder Years" set in southern India.This first novel by R.K. Narayan details the adventures of a rather obstinate boy named Swaminithan.His "chums" include the usual mix: the bully, the brain, the leader, etc..., and the developing relationships between them accounts for a substantial chunk of the plot.After making friends with the new kid in town, Swami gets involved in a fraudulent financial scheme, quits school (repeatedly), and eventually runs away from home to escape his teacher's torments and his father's displeasure.Although his parents surely love their son very much, they, like most other adults, are rather shadowy figures in this book.The day to day challenges of school (both academic and social) are by far the most important facets of this boy's life.

In short, there's a great deal about this book that will be familiar to Western readers despite the exotic setting.Highlights include the time Swami gets caught up in a day of political protest that winds up trashing the school, and the time Swami runs away from home and has to face the terrible tiger.Less enjoyable is the section that deals with cricket, a sport that has absolutely no fascination for this reader and very little for the most of the world outside of India.Still, Narayan's style is just about impeccable; warm, soothing, and gently comic, with a fine understanding of human nature, and an easy acceptance of human weakness.It's not Narayan's best book (the plot could be tighter) but it's a very good starting point for someone who's just discovering this fine writer.

Swami and Friends is fantastic
Swami and Friends is the story of idyllic childhood, when life for some lucky kids consists entirely of avoiding the homework and playing all the time in the street with friends. Swami is one such lucky boy, studying in standard 1 A, at Albert Mission High School. We are soon introduced to his class mates and they are a reasonable lot. Shanker's specialty is to top every exam, the `Pea' and Somu occupy the middle positions but Mani is Swami's best friend who sits on the last bench and takes more than one year to clear some classes. Together Swami and Mani lord over the class and just barely manage to scrape past the exams. They live for summer vacations.

But this peaceful setting is disturbed occasionally by the stern headmaster of the school and sometimes by the religious study teacher, Ebenezar. Though real chaos happens when a new boy, Rajam, comes to study in Swami's class. Rajam's father is the police commissioner of the town. In 1930, that would mean working for the British Government. After some scuffles that threaten to involve wooden clubs on Mani's part and an air gun on Rajam's, peace descends on 1 A again and Swami, Mani and Rajam become fast friends. We see them getting involved in forming a cricket club and harassing cart drivers.

But all good things come to an end, and Swami manages to get thrown out from his school. He participates or rather gets caught in Anti-British protests. Next day, when his headmaster tries to cane him, he runs away swearing he will never come back. His father is forced to change the school. Still, his friendship with Mani and Rajam totters along, till Swami manages to run away from the second school too. He feels that now there is nothing left but to run away from home also. Eventually Swami returns home, only to find one of those childhood's great calamities, lying in wait for him. The book ends on a bitter-sweet note.

Simply delightful
Call it a trip down the memory lane or a story of a little boy, this is one book to delight all and sundry. Graham Greene calls it 'A book in ten thousand'. It is that and much more.

R K Narayan is without any doubt one of the most famous Indian writers. His books echo the simple lives and daily trials of the people of 'Malgudi'. This in fact is Narayan's first foray into the world of literatue.

The book is about a little boy Swamy who hates school, loves to play all the time (what else but cricket?), snuggles beside his grandma every night and has his own gang of friends. Swami's family life mirrors the typical Hindu brahminical household. There is no central plot in the book and it is more episodic. One fictitious incident of the Indian freedom struggle is superbly shown through the eyes of a child.

More than anything, the book is a reflection of our own childhood days when longed for the classes to end, the teachers we loved and hated, the school bully with whom it was great to strike up a friendship, the special kid whom we had to impress and the peon who, we were sure, knew all the questions of the examination.

There are books more profound than this running into hundreds of pages. But we realize that sometimes simple words and plain language of an effective writer can make a bigger impact if it is somethingwe can relate to. This is a story that can be read pretty quickly but one that you will stay with you for a while.

a slice of life during the pre-independence days
I bought this book based on my memory of the wonderful Indian series "Swami". while the stories from the series are not part of the book, I found the book to be absolutely fascinating. R.K.Narayan is surely one of the giants of Indian fiction! ... Read more

Product Description
Just reprinted, classic selection of stories, with some illus. on myths, legends, great read, good reviews. short gloss. at the end ... Read more

Book Description
A master of observation, subtlety and gentle wit, R.K. Narayan has few rivals when it comes to bringing alive people and places. Most of his timeless novels are set in the fictional town of Malgudi, located somewhere in South India, a town as real to his readers as any they will find on a map. This volume contains three quintessential Malgudi novels - Swami and Friends, The Bachelor of Arts and The Vendor of Sweets. ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (10)

trauma of departure of a loved one
This book is autobiographical. It depicts painful struggle of the author to come to terms with passing away of his young, beloved wife- dreams, nightmares, spirits, planchet et al.

In fact after reading the book you ask- How did the author survive to tell the tale?

On another level this book is almost therapeutic if you read it after you lose some one very dear to you. I read it again after I lost my own mother and experienced its healing touch.

His best work...
This one's my favourite Narayan - along with the Maneater of Malgudi, this occupies a very special place in my book-shelf. The English Teacher - a.k.a. Grateful to Life and Death - is a sad story, sadder than most of Narayan's Malgudi novels. But the tragedy is softened by the wry humour that runs through the novel.

'The feeling,' Narayan writes on the first page, 'again and again came upon me that as I was nearing thirty I should cease to live like a cow (perhaps, a cow, with justice, might feel hurt at the comparison), eating, working in a manner of speaking, walking, talking, etc, - all done to perfection, I was sure, but always leaving a sense of something missing.' You can see what I'm talking about.

The story, as Narayan narrates in his autobiography 'My Days', is intensely personal.
'The English Teacher is autobiographical in content, very little of it being fiction. The "English Teacher" of the novel ... is a fictional character in the fictional city of Malgudi, but he goes through the same experience I had gone through...'

'That book,' he writes, 'falls in two parts - one is domestic life and the other half is "spiritual."'

The second half comes as a bit of a surprise, but Narayan tackles the difficult subjects of death, deprivation and desolation masterfully. Narayan takes you through the story gently. There are no shocks, nothing disturbing. This is a sad tale, gently told.

The book ends on a note of hope - 'it was a moment of rare, immutable joy - a moment for which one feels grateful to Life and Death.' The reviewer who spoke of how Narayan manages to 'communicate ... the extra-ordinary ordinariness of human happiness', I think hit the nail right on the head.

Narayan's best
Through his unobtrusive insights, Narayan paints a beautiful picture of a small fictional South Indian town - Malgudi (which is in reality, a mixture of images derived from his hometown in the Kumbakonam District of Tamilnadu and Mysore in Karnataka. Narayan's description of the life of South Indians- their simple houses, grandmothers, earnest young men, garrulous retired men, street dogs, cricket playing youngsters- all make for a compelling picture, funny and poignant simultaneously.

I cannot recollect the number of times I have read this book - The old Indian TV serial "Malgudi Days" immortalized Narayan's imagination on Indian television. Of course, Malgudi days dealt primarily with Narayan's celebrated "Swami and his friends", but the small town also serves as the backdrop for this semi-autobiographic novel of Narayan.

The English teacher- Krishnan leads a blissful life with his wife and daughter. Life takes a cruel turn when his wife dies of typhoid. The rest of the book deals with Krishnan's struggle, seances through which he communicates with his wife's soul and finally- the magnificent ending of the book, when the author finally realizes the true meaning of life and he experiences "a moment of pure immutable joy; a moment for which one feels grateful to life and death"

The book is based on Narayan's real life; In his own words, very little of the book is fiction...There are loving references to Susheela- her height (in reality, Narayan's wife was taller than him!), the description of her midnight-blue silk saree, the fragrance of jasmine that enveloped everything associated with her....One can only begin to sense the magnitude of Narayan's loss. Through this book, Narayan has accorded the Indian way of life and his love the greatest possible respect and honor.

touching
amazingly tender. Narayan is a master story-teller.

There's no better way to be taught English
Writers such as R.K. Narayan, P.G. Wodehouse, write without aspiring for greatness. Like a flower which grows without thinking, their words flow naturally filling page after page with the innate simplicity of life. There are no bones, attached strings or dark clouds with silver linings looming on the horizon. How simple is life!

An extremely funny book that at the same time evokes empathy and makes the heart flow with the milk of human kindness. Certainly not his best writing (Guide, Swami & Friends, The Vendor of Sweets), but definitely recommended.

He is indeed in the top 5 list of all time. Not merely as an Indian author, but very universal, making us realize how similar we all are. I would certainly include his books in the package we send out to the first extra-terrestrial species we spot.It would give them an excellent idea of humanity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Talkative Man
This is my first Narayan book, and I very much enjoyed it.It's a quick, enjoyable read that manages, over a short space (116 pages), to create some vivid and memorable characters. The story also resonates on some deeper level as a study of love, marriage and the forces that drive some men to obsessively and serially pursue and seduce women.

The story is narrated by Talkative Man, a local journalist in Narayan's fictional town of Malgudi.He meets a purported doctor from Timbuktoo who has supposedly come to the town on a mission for the United Nations.The doctor takes up residence first at the town's train station and then with Talkative Man.He has no real job and no visible means of support, but is a dapper dresser and elegant man with whom all the locals are taken.As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that he is a womanizing predator who seduces young women and then abandons them without warning.The climax comes when Talkative Man attempts to prevent the doctor from seducing a young Malgudi woman whom Talkative Man has known since birth.I don't want to give away more of the plot than that because the twists in it are so much fun.

Want light, pleasant, and relaxing?Visit Malgudi
A well-dressed but enigmatic stranger claiming to be from Timbuctoo takes advantage of a small-town journalist in this short novel set in the fictional town of Malgudi, India, that R. K. Narayan has brought to life in an entire series of books.The journalist (and well-known busybody) is our narrator for the story of Dr. Rann, who is ostensibly preparing a report for the U.N. on ýfuturologyý, although he seems to do little enough work.Dr. Rann drifts into this quiet little backwater of a town and quickly makes himself at home, helping himself to what few amenities are available. Our journalist begins to feel somewhat taken advantage of, until the good doctorýs wife shows up.But not to worry, things work out well enough in the end, (with some clever manipulation), and if any parties are less than thrilled with the outcome, at least no one is seriously worse off than they were before.

The brevity of this novel (116 pages) is such that Narayan addresses it himself in a postscript, but to say that this book is too short would be a mistake.It struck this reviewer that by cropping the early and middle sections still further, one could have made a very creditable novella with this material without losing much.As it is the middle section does seem to drag a bit.The best feature of this book is Narayanýs delicate touch with characterization, sketching familiar types with just a few lines: the old librarian and his wife, their granddaughter Girija, the distraught station master, the old porter, Varma (who owns The Boardless Hotel), the Deputy Minister, and even the President of the Lotus Club.The locale almost stands as a character itself, constantly intervening with its all-too-familiar small town inquisitiveness and morality, but still adding an exotic touch to the story.While not a real thigh-slapper, Narayanýs upbeat tale is written in a pleasant, easy-to-read style that is as accessible to teens as adults.Thereýs nothing really special going on here, but if youýd like a quiet, relaxing vacation in South Asia but just canýt get away, Malgudi may be just the place for you.

His best book
Having read all his books, this one is the one that stays with me longest.The prose is as excellent as ever and the story is extremely interesting. ... Read more

Product Description
***Please ask any question or suggestion before you place the orders, if you are not sure what you need and what Amazon sporting.*** ... Read more

Book Description
Contributions by R.K. Narayan. Text by Raghubir Singh. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This was a disappointment compared to Ganges, Rajastan .
These pictures, though some are interesting, don't have the beauty and density of those found in other of his woriks.One will not come away with any sense of the landscape or cityscapes of Tamil Nadu.There are too manyshots of individuals, but not enough sense of place, and on the whole, notthe painterly quality he usually brings to his work. ... Read more