R
ASIPURAM Krishanswami Iyer
Narayanswami is not a name that is
particularly well known in the literary
world. Yet it belongs to one of India’s best
known writers, more commonly known as
R.K. Narayan, the creator of Malgudi,
a fictional South Indian town that has
endeared itself to thousands of readers across
the world. In Malgudi, the stories are simple:
children play, they go to school, marriages
are arranged, there’s a boy called Swami,
there are man-eating tigers and much more.
But the simplicity, a mark of all major
writers, is deceptive, for Malgudi is a mirror
of life, its little stories filled with wisdom,
compassion and humour.
Narayan is best known for the creation
of Malgudi, which featured in many
of his writings, and although his oeuvre
of novels, short stories, essays and more
was quite formidable, somehow
Malgudi and its characters were
so precious to young and old alike that
the stories continue to be read and reread.
The son of a school headmaster in
Chennai (then Madras), Narayan studied
for some years at his father’s school.
Because his father had to travel for his job,
it was Narayan’s grandmother who looked
after him. At her home, he made friends
with a peacock and a monkey! From
his grandmother, the young Narayan
learned Sanskrit and music, as also
arithmetic and mythology.
As a young man, he loved to read,Author and historian
Urvashi Butalia
tells of the life
and words of one
of India’s most-
beloved writers
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AUTHORS!THE TIMES OF INDIA GROUP. © BCCL. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED86 92 February 2017February 2017