The Way I Look At R.K.Narayan

Even before I knew of R.K.Narayan, I knew of Malgudi. Malgudi was made popular by a television serial named "Malgudi Days" in Doordarshan. I used to watch the episodes when I was in school and found them interesting.
My first introduction of the author came from an article in the Hindu by its editor N.Ram, "Reluctant Centenarian". I liked the article and wanted toread Narayan's novels. The first novel of R.K.Narayn that I read was "Financial Expert". It narrates the story of a villager named Margayya, who underdramatic circumstances, becomes a rich man and at the end, loses all his wealth under equally intriguing circumstances. To be honest I didn't like the story. But I was enchanted by his language, which was simple, and gentle, underlying humour. I loved the way he depicted the lower middle class lives of people in asmall town like Malgudi. The author seemed to empathise with them, being satirical at the same time. His expression was simply out of the world.
After that, I read two novels back to back, "The bachelor of Arts" and "Waiting for the Mahatma" and with each novel my respect and love for Narayan only grew exponentially. And then I read what most people believe is his best work, "Swami and Friends". I was mesmerised by the way he brought the innocenceand bliss of childhood to life through his characters. Every page took me back to my own childhood days and I rolled with laughter reading the silly thingsthe children did. Reading the novel, I really thought Narayam must have been a child at heart to have depicted a child's thoughts and actions in such a beautifulway.
Next, I read "The Guide". It is widely accalaimed as one of Narayan's best books. The plot was wonderful and it really was ahead of its time. No one would have expected Narayan to choose a story involving an extra marital relationship for his novel. It was a bold attempt which really paid off. The book was a great success and inspired Dev Anand to make a movie based on it. "Guide" was a phenomenal success at the box office and is one of the best romantic movies of the era. When I learnt that "Guide" was based on Narayan's novel, I immediately bought the CD and watched the movie. No wonder he was unhappy with the film. I will bring out the differences between the two versions in my next blog.
So far I have read five of Narayan's about 15 novels and am currently reading "The Dark Room". I like him very much for the way he is so down to earth in his writing style and for his humour. He has made such an indelible impression on me that I can't help considering him my own family member and considering me a member of the families in his novels. I felt very sad when I read that some people like Shashi Tharoor criticise his style as pedestrian. But I console myself saying that there are more pedestrians in India than any other class. In that way, Narayan is close to the heart of many readers than anybody would ever imagine.