Every one of us would have grown watching ’’Malgudi Days’’ which was the top serial in the Doordarshan. Apart from that, it is one of the greatest works by a great writer. Let us see...
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%<b>Malgudi Days</b>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%<b>The Author</b>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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<i>RKN(Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Narayan(aswamy))</i> is perhaps the best writer India has produced (with due respect to the author of our national anthem, of course!). He was one who definitely deserved a Nobel Prize for Literature. V S Naipaul getting one and he being dumped is definitely a Passover as his books are not marketed well-enough. Anyways, that’s another story. He is also brother of another genius namely <i> “RK Laxman” </i> who is a cartoonist par excellence.
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%<b>Biography of the Author</b>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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RKN was born in Madras (Madre-de-Sois now called as Chennai (from chennapattanam)) and educated there and at Maharajah’s College in Mysore.
His first novel was Swami and Friends in 1935 and its successor was The Bachelor of Arts, both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi. He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for “The Guide”. He also got AC Benson Medal by Royal Society of Literature and is a Honorary Member of American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters(AAIAL).
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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%<b>Coming to the Review</b>%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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I remember growing up watching Malgudi Days on Doordarshan. The sound “Thana –na-than-na-naa-naaa” still rhymes in my ears like a euphony. I finally ended up reading the book. Every one of us will correlate us with Swami. Whilst in US, RKN(For the respect he deserves) was asked where Malgudi was. To which the reply was ’’Malgudi is everywhere. I find Malgudi right here in New York. The doorkeeper at one of the restaurants reminds me of persons I have come across elsewhere’’ . In this masterpiece, RKN portrays an astrologer, a snake-charmer, a postman, a vendor of pies and chappatis - all kinds of people, drawn in full colour and endearing domestic detail.
Malgudi days is an experience. It is a life so relating and lively. There are quite a few wonderful short stories in this book out of the 32.
• An Astrologer’s Day
• The Missing Mail
• The Doctor’s Word
• Gateman’s Gift
• The Blind Dog
• Fellow-Feeling
• The Tiger’s Claw
• Iswaran
• Such Perfection
• Father’s Help
• The Snake-Song
• Engine Trouble
• Forty-five a Month
• Out of Business
• Attila
• The Axe
• Lawley Road
• Trail of the Green Blazer
• The Martyr’s Corner
• Wife’s Holiday
• A Shadow
• A Willing Slave
• Leela’s Friend
• Mother and Son
• Naga
• Selvi
• Second Opinion
• Cat Within
• The Edge
• God and the Cobbler
• Hungry Child
• Emden
I liked “Naga” “An Astrologer’s Day”, “Emden”, “Lawley Road” amongst others. When I saw the serial, “Swami and his friends” was televised under the auspices of “Malgudi Days” thereby coming synonymous with the serial, although it was the first work by the great RKN. I will not delve into any details about the short-stories, as you have to read it to cherish it. Through these characters and their moral predicaments, RKN dissolves a barrier of strangeness, revealing the universal in the particular.
He tells ordinary stories extraordinarily well thus making him an extraordinary writer and this book an equally extraordinary one. His central character’s theme was “life freed from distracting illusions and hysterics”. He takes you to Malgudi just like the great PG Wodehouse takes you to “Blandings” with his tales. Through this extraordinary work, Malgudi will live on forever. Far from the clamour and turbulence of metropolitan India, Malgudi is a place where change is incremental and leisurely. It connects with a rural hinter-land, and jungle and forest are never far away. It teems with life, abounds with color. To wander any street, peer through a window or push open a door is to encounter a character
For the sheer content and the ingenuity of the story telling, the great humane nature of the characters, The thrill in reading ordinary characters weaving an extraordinary feeling, A pleasant reading, read this after a hard day’s work. You’ll enjoy it.
I am ready for the comments!!
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Have a great day!!
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Inquizitor