Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
CHAPTER: II
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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:
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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).
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).
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are the series of common persons for whom their family and
family matters are everything (61).
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
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clear introspection of its culture and the people who live in. Disha
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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.
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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
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English, 281).
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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
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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
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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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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
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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:
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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).
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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:
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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).
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Narayan shows shades of people through all aspects of life
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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).
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).
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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.
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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
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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).
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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,
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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).
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.
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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).
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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).
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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).
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).
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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
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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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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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)!
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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
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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
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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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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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rosary the Himalayan slopes around his throat (195).
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).
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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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
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happen with Ranga, the central character of “The Edge”. He
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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and starts, doing arrangements for the operation at this Ranga
suspects him:
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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
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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)!
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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,
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“what do you want to be in your next birth (221)? He replies that
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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.
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).
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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.
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a long journey. Narayan certainly could (97).
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.
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
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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).
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).
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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
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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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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
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mars also. Krishna’s father suggests that they may restart from the
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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.
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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.
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).
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.
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:
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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).
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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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:
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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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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
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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
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intended to be an astrologer when he began life” (2).
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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
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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,
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“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).
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
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story, when he talks to his wife.
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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
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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 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)!
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they think, “The girl would be seventeen in a few days. The
reminders from her grandfather were becoming fiercer” (9).
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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).
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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
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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
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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).
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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,
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“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
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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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this idea, “When a dozen persons question openly or slyly a man’s
sanity, he begins to entertain serious doubts about himself” (19).
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
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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:
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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
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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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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).
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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
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becomes upset to take the letter and does not want to open it
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(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
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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).
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.
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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
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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
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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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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).
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).
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
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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
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any loose end. In The Indian Short Stories In English: A Survey C.
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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).
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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
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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
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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.
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
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actuality he started from. This pattern may be noticed in all his
stories (105).
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
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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
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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
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Narayan wants to say that all such professions are wastage of time
money and energy.
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Indian characters against the cyclorama of Malgudi, which is for
him only secondly a symbol of India (62).
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
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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
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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.
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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).
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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
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from his master. At this the old man rebukes the dog. Within few
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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
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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
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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:
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The ribbon- seller, the novel vender and the perfumer observed it
one evening when business was slack, and hold a conference
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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).
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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.
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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
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dog came and licked his face. He felt like murdering him, but
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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)?
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
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present in this story.
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).
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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
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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).
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All these qualities are present in the character of, the mother
(Attila). She is neither known by her name nor by her children’s
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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
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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.
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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,
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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
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Madras-Bangalore express. Mostly in train journey in III class
compartment the cause of dispute is seat or the sitting place. This
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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
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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
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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:
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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ambivalent when Rajan Iyer boasts that he has driven the bully
away, Narayan tells us that a few of the passengers look skeptically
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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
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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).
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Circumstances play a prominent role to shape up one’s characters
and decision. Many people decide something else in their life and
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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
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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
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would have to drown” (41). He remembers incidents and sorrows
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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.
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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
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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
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capacity to divert the circumstance because human beings are the
supreme race and the most intelligent creature of this world.
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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:
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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).
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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Narayan is very comfortable dealing with child characters.
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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
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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
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they cannot use same tricks with their fathers. Fathers want logical
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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.
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).
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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
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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:
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Swami hoped that with this his father would be made to see that he
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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
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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
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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
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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).
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In every country children learn many things from their
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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:
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).
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
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your Samuel” (62).
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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).
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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.
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His parents are extremely ideal as for as bringing up of their child
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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).
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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
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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.
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those mempi forests” (39).
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).
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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
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is the main feature of such stations. As for as the building of
railways is concerned, it is also very old one.
and telegraph poles and night insects hummed and bamboo bushes
creaked” (41).
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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
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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).
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In our country most of the time in government offices the furniture
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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).
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
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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.
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The next story of this collection is “Iswaran”. It is a
remarkable story of Narayan’s collection because it is the only
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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
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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
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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 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).
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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
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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
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ending is not Narayan’s cup of tea but he could create such heart
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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).
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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
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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
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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
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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
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discussing their son’s possible future results, remarked with a sign”
(45).
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
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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
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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
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students are forced to do wrong thing because of the pressure on
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them.
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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).
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.
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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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thirty rupees a month for it (96).
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
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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.
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
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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
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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)?
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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).
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).
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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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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:
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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).
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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)?
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Delhi, Prestige Books, 1994 Print.
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Iyenger, K. R. Srinivasa. Indian Writing In English. New Delhi:
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Kohli, Suresh. Views of Indian Novelist: An Interview with R.K.
Narayan. Indian and Foreign Review. May 15, 1975. Print.
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Madden, David & Scott Virgil. Studies In the Short Story. New York:
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Mukherjee, N. Some Aspects of The Literacy Development of R.K.
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The Macmillan. 1977. Print.
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Walsh, Williams. Indian writing In English. New Delhi: Sterling. 1985.
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Williams, Haydn Moore. Studies In Modern Indian Fiction In English.
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Williams, H. M. Sweet Mangoes and Malt Vinegar: The Novels of R.K.
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