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Editorial Review Product Description
His greatest passion is the M CC - the Malgudi Cricket Club - which he founds together with his friends: his greatest day is when the examinations are over and school breaks up - a time for revelry and cheerful ritousness. But the innocent and impulsive Swami lands in trouble when he is carried away by the more serious unrest of India in 1930. Somehow he gets himself expelled from two schools in succession, and when things have gone quite out of hand he is forced to run away from home ...This is far more than a simple narrative of Swami's adventures - charming and entertaining as they are. By the delicate sympathetically observed, the author establishes for us the child's world as the child himself sees it: and beyond, the adult community he will one day belong to - in Swami's case, the town of Malgudi, which provides the setting of almost all Narayan's later novels. ... Read more Customer Reviews (14) 
A Simple Child's Life Told Simply
What Jack London did for animals, Narayan does for children: he makes them come alive as both characters (i.e., real people of a young age, with their loveable warts and all) and children. I marvelled throughout at how Narayan can bring forth so much detail about people and places as well as feeling for same in such a short book using so few words. Yet he succeeds magnificently. This is real writing to effect, where one key word, some short dialog, or a simple phrase pack so much meaning and ability to communicate.
Written in 1930 and published a few years later, Narayan's first book shows both his genius as a writer using the then King's English and his masterful ability to create a fictional place that seems more real than so many real places. I truly felt as if I was beginning to understand what life was like, at least for this middle-class native child, in India in the 1920s and 1930s.
This is a book to be enjoyed for the sheer pleasure of reading great, simple writing. Hardly a wasted word or phrase. This was the second Narayan book I'd read, having started with the early 1970s The Sign Painter. Both are great in their own ways, both are absolute pleasures to read, and both highlight a master of the modern English novel, one where real characters and vivid setting make plot almost an afterthough. You read on just to enjoy reading on, letting the characters and place take you where they will!
If you like this, read VS Naipaul's classic early novels about his native Trinidad. Both he and Narayan show how non-Englishmen can write some of the best English anywhere in the world.
Best Novel
Swami and Friends was the first novel written by RK Narayan. I completed reading this novel yesterday. It is part of a collection of 3 novels called A Malgudi Omnibus, others being Bachelor of Arts and The English Teacher. I just started reading Bachelor of Arts. In this review, I will not give summary of the story as it will spoil the thrill when one reads the novel.
As is the case with all Narayan works, this novel is also set in an imaginary town in South India called Malgudi. Swaminathan is a young boy less than 10 years old. This novel narrates his experiences with his parents, grandmother, friends, residents of Malgudi, and even his new-born brother when he is in second class. However, Swami and his friends are the prime focus of this novel.
Swami is a quite different child than the present day children. He lives in a village and he is extremely innocent which sometimes makes him look mischievous as well. His fate lands him in trouble in whatever he does. He has his own perception of the world and tries to be the conqueror in spite of his own shortcomings like fear, innocence, etc. Circumstances make him a mis-fit to any school in Malgudi.
On the other hand, his friend Rajam is a city-born child who acts beyond his age quite similar to the present day children. He is very ambitious and courageous with least respect for the elders. His father is a policeman which is also a reason for his courage. Apart from being very good in studies, he is very adamant to achieve things which are beyond his reach and is not bothered by the consequences of his present actions.
There is another friend of Swami called Mani who is a village version of courageous child. Even though he is courageous, his innocence mostly overtakes that. He is very close to Swami and offers him lot of advice even when not asked. He also carries a club which he feels will protect him in adverse situations.
The incidences which involve these three close friends form the crux of the novel. Swami has a strict father, a kind grandmother, and a mother who loses interest in him once she gives birth to a new baby. The novel is pretty slow to start with and provides every small detail which form the base for the fun later. I will just provide some of the instances which I thoroughly enjoyed from this novel.
Ultimate fun awaits the reader in chapter 12. Swami and Mani listen to a freedom fighter's talk. The freedom fighter blasts the English rulers very much. He tells that if all the people of India go and spit on England, that is more than enough to submerge the whole England. I personally think it is quite true, unless one disproves it by actually making millions spit on England. Swami also thinks it is true and asks Mani if they can attempt that. Mani replies saying Europeans are very bad guys and they will shoot them. This chapter progresses in such a manner and engages reader with non-stop fun.
Swami's encounters with the Board school headmaster is also equally enjoyable. The attitude of that headmaster took me back to my school days when some of my teachers used to carry canes to beat students and treat the students as their slaves. Swami becomes a super-hero when he grabs and throws the cane away when the headmaster attempts to beat him. After that, his conscience makes him feel sad and leads to other troubles.
Malgudi Cricket Club (M.C.C.) which is started by Swami and his friends took me back to my school days when we also tried to start a cricket team called Danger Boys. The letter they write to Binns sports shop in Madras and the other happenings are great to read.
On the whole, Swami and Friends is an amazing novel and I do not think I would be reading a better novel ever. The novel took me to my school days and I could relate many of the Swami's experiences to my own. This novel is an unadulterated and absolutely thorough portrayal of a child's life. It is rather unfortunate that most of the present day children have their so called intelligence suppressing innocence associated with their age.
Having said that, I am sure that one can find many children like Swami in Indian villages even today. This novel is a must read for any one who want to roll back their years and enjoy the innocent moments of their life.
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.
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