The Best Of A Lifetime S Work Novels, Short Stories, Essays, Travel Pieces And Short Non-Fiction Of One Of The World S Finest Writers Comes Together In Malgudi Landscapes. Skilfully Edited And Introduced By S. Krishnan, This Selection Brings Malgudi, The Enchanting Little South Indian Town That R.K. Narayan Created, To Glorious And Colourful Life.

Unforgettable Stories For Children From The Masterly Pen Of R.K. Narayan After The Stupendous Success Of Malgudi Schooldays, R.K. Narayan S Chronicle Of The Escapades Of Swami And His Friends, Comes Malgudi Adventures, Which Contains More Delightful Stories Of Children S Adventures In The Magical South Indian Small Town Of Malgudi. There Are The Memorable Stories Of Babu, Who, In Trying To Set Up The Lights For His Sisters Navaratri Display, Manages To Plunge The Entire Household Into Darkness; Of A Snake Charmer Boy Who Grows Up With A Monkey Named Rama As His Companion; And Of Raju, Who Decides To Become A Guide When A Train Station Is Built At Malgudi. Also Included Are The Fascinating Stories Of Balu, Who Dumps His Father S Accounts Ledger In The Gutter; Of A Little Boy Who Finds Himself Lost On The Streets Of Malgudi Late One Night; Of Chandran, Who Falls Head Over Heels In Love On The Banks Of The Sarayu One Evening; And Of The Hilarious Sequence Of Events That Unfolds When Raja The Tiger Decides To Seek Refuge In The Local School.

Memories Of Malgudi Brings Together Five Unforgettable Novels From The Narayan Corpus. The Dark Room, The First Novel In This Collection, Is The Story Of The Marital Discord Between Savitri, A Traditional Hindu Wife, And Ramani, Her Husband. The English Teacher Is About Another Young Couple: Krishna And His Wife, Susila. Their World Is Full Of Love And Laughter, But When Susila Passes Away, Krishna Must Deal With The Tragic Blow And Find A Reason To Go On Living. In The World Of Nagaraj, Narayan S Final Novel, Nagaraj S Life Of Small Comforts Is Rudely Interrupted By The Arrival Of His Nephew Tim, And He Struggles To Fend Off The Turbulence Which Threatens To Disrupt His World Forever. Sriram, The Hero Of Waiting For The Mahatma, Is In Love With The Enchanting Bharati, But Her Primary Loyalty Is To Gandhiji And His Ideals. Sriram Becomes A Follower Of The Mahatma Himself, But Finds Himself Adapting The Great Man S Ideas To Suit His Own Petty Ends. And In The Guide, Narayan S Award-Winning Novel, Raju The Guide Takes A Roller-Coaster Ride Through Life He Falls In Love With The Beautiful Dancer Rosie, Seduces Her Away From Her Husband, Transforms Her Into A Celebrity But Then Falls Out With Her. Finally, Through A Series Of Ironical Events, He Becomes A Well-Respected Holy Man. The Last In Penguin India S Series Of Collectors Editions Of R.K. Narayan S Novels, Memories Of Malgudi Showcases The Best Of The Master Storyteller S Oeuvre.

This Is R.K. Narayan S Classic Chronicle Of The Adventures Of A Boy Named Swami, And His Friends Rajam And Mani, In A Sleepy And Picturesque South Indian Town Called Malgudi. Swami S Days Are Full Of Action-When He Is Not Creating A Ruckus In The Classroom Or Preparing In His Inimitable Way For Exams, He S Trying To Acquire A Hoop From The Coachman S Son To Run Down The Malgudi Streets, Playing Tricks On His Grandmother, Or Stoning The School Windows, Inspired By A Swadeshi Demonstration. But The Greatest Feat Of Swami And His Friends Lies In Putting Together A Cricket Team For The Mcc (The Malgudi Cricket Club) And Challenging The Neighbouring Young Men S Union To A Match. Just Before The Match, However, Things Go Horribly, Horribly Wrong, And Swami Has No Option But To Run Away From Home, Wanting Never To Return To Malgudi Again . . . Malgudi Schooldays Is A Brilliantly Evocative And Delightfully Funny Account Of The Growing-Up Years From One Of The Greatest English Language Writers Of Our Time. Includes A Slightly Abridged Version Of The Novel Swami And Friends Along With Two Other Swami Stories, Available Together For The First Time Features Fifteen Black-And-White Illustrations By R.K. Laxman Attractive Design The First In A Series Of Indian Literature Classics On The Puffin List

A Master Of Observation, Subtlety And Gentle Wit, R.K. Narayan Has Few Rivals When It Comes To Bringing Alive People And Places. Most Of His Timeless Novels Are Set In The Fictional Town Of Malgudi, Located Somewhere In South India, A Town As Real To His Readers As Any They Will Find On The Map. This Volume Contains Three Quintessential Malgudi Novels-Swami And Friends, The Bachelor Of Arts And The Vendor Of Sweets. Swami And Friends, Published In 1935, Was The First Novel Narayan Wrote. Described By Graham Greene As A Novel In Ten Thousand , It Recounts The Adventures Of Ten-Year-Old Swaminathan And His Friends Rajam And Mani. The Bachelor Of Arts, The Second Novel In The Collection, Is A Brilliantly Realized Account Of The Workings Of A Young Man S Mind. It Is The Story Of Chandran, In His Final Year At College, Who Falls Hopelessly In Love And Is Forced To Exile Himself From The Familiar Surroundings Of Malgudi Until He Is Able To Arrive At A Satisfactory Resolution To His Problems. The Vendor Of Sweets Showcases A Classic Cross-Generational Battle, Between Jagan, A Widower Of Firm Ghandian Principles, And His Modern Son Mali, Who Returns To Malgudi With A Half-American Wife And A Grand Plan For Selling Story-Writing Machines. The Third In The Series Of Penguin India S Collectors Editions Of The Malgudi Novels, The Magic Of Malgudi, With An Introduction By S. Krishnan, Will Delight First-Time Readers As Well As Devoted Narayan Fans.

In A Writing Career Spanning Seven Decades, R.K. Narayan Enthralled And Entertained Generations Of Readers With His Deftly Etched Characters, His Uniquely Stylized Language And His Wry Sense Of Humour. A Storyteller Par Excellence, Narayan S Greatest Achievement Perhaps Lies In Creating And Peopling The Imagined Landscapes Of A Town Called Malgudi, Located Somewhere In South India, Which Has Come Alive In Story After Story In Such A Way That It Has Now Become A Part Of Modern Indian Folklore. This Collection Brings Between Two Covers Some Of The Most Memorable Fiction That Has Emerged From R.K. Narayan S Pen. It Contains The Man-Eater Of Malgudi, Which Tells The Story Of Nataraj, Owner Of A Small Printing Press, And His Houseguest Vasu, A Taxidermist, Who Moves Into Nataraj S Attic With A Menagerie Of Dead Animals. There Is Also Talkative Man, A Novella That Starts Off With The Arrival On The Delhi Train Of A Stranger In A Blue Suit Who Takes Up Residence In The Station Waiting Room And Refuses To Budge. Also Included Here Are Some Of The Most Popular And Striking Short Stories Narayan Has Written: From The Celebrated A Horse And Two Goats And Salt And Sawdust To Gems Like An Astrologer S Day , The Shelter And Under The Banyan Tree . Encapsulating The Very Best Of R.K. Narayan S Remarkable Output, This Is A Fitting Tribute To One Of The Greatest Modern Writers In The English Language.

The Man-eater of Malgudi revolves around Nataraj, a mild-mannered owner of a small printing press, who leads a contented life with his circle of friends: a poet, a journalist, and Sastri, his assistant. One day, Vasu, a pugnacious taxidermist, moves into Nataraj's house, and soon begins to encroach on his life, scaring away his friends and customers. Nataraj is intimidated by Vasu, but when the taxidermist covets the beloved temple elephant to add to his collection of stuffed hyenas, tigers and pythons, Nataraj rises to the occasion.

English language was transplanted in India by the British rulers who ruled country more than 150 years. People believed that English is a language of Britishers and hence it must go with them. But to learn English language does not mean that people would evolve a slave mentality. In the present scenario, English language with its great literary heritage is no longer a language of particular country or a race. It has become global lingua franca. It is a medium of an international mutual contact among the natives of all over the world. It has thrown open a vast panorama of world-wide scientific, literary, cultural and political world of knowledge.

In the novels of R. K. Narayan (1906-2001), the forefather of modern Indian fiction, human-scale hopes and epiphanies express the promise of a nation as it awakens to its place in the world. The three novels brought together in this volume, all written after India’s independence, are masterpieces of social comedy, rich in local color and abounding in affectionate humor and generosity of spirit. Mr. Sampath–The Printer of Malgudi is the story of a businessman who adapts to the collapse of his weekly newspaper by shifting to screenplays, only to have the glamour of it all go to his head. In The Financial Expert, a man of many hopes but few resources spends his time under a banyan tree dispensing financial advice to those willing to pay for his knowledge. In Waiting for the Mahatma, a young drifter meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen–an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi–and commits himself to Gandhi’s Quit India campaign, a decision that will test the integrity of his ideals against the strength of his passions. As charming as they are compassionate, these novels provide an indelible portrait of India in the twentieth century.

During the twentieth century, at the height of the independence movement and after, Indian literary writing in English was entrusted with the task of consolidating the image of a unified, seemingly caste-free, modernising India for consumption both at home and abroad. This led to a critical insistence on the proximity of the national and the literary, which in turn, led to the canonisation of certain writers and themes and the dismissal of others. Examining English anthologies of 'Indian literature', as well as the establishment of the Sahitya Akademi (the national academy of letters) and the work of R. K. Narayan and Mulk Raj Anand among others, Rosemary Marangoly George exposes the painstaking efforts that went into the elaboration of a 'national literature' in English for independent India even while deliberating the fundamental limitations of using a nation-centric critical framework for reading literary works.