Revisiting Those Lanes

Ok so where was i the whole of last week? Think, i was in a waking dream, thousand miles away from my surroundings, probably lost in the dusty bylanes of that sleepy, picturesque, and fictitious place called MALGUDI- an eternal fascination for Narayan's readers. I certainly wasnt reading Narayan for the first time but it was strange that i felt like an inebriate, imbibing strong and heady wine. I have been so much into Narayan this past week........almost feels like an over-dose of Malgudi........but i still yearn for those lemon pickles, and the inevitable, tumbler of hot coffee and steaming tiffin that we encounter so many times in his works.


So why this sudden fascination for Narayan........for Swami and his friends.............in a world that probably belongs to the Harry Potters and people writing about war and sex........the only existing extremes that human beings find pleasure engaging in. It so happened that i stumbled upon Narayan's autobiography, MY DAYS, last week. What began as a quest to know more about Narayan's life, ended up in me devouring the other works that were readily available on my book-shelf. So in the past eight days i was lost in a corner of the house, and like a hungry anaconda devoured Malgudi School Days, The English Teacher, The Bachelor of Arts, and The Dark Room.


Of all these, i enjoyed his autobiography a lot............written in a simple, lucid style with gentle irony, and a wry sense of humour its a delightfully brilliant account of his growing up years at his grandmother's place in Madras with a bizarre caboodle of pets and i guess Swami in many ways is the mirror image of Narayan himself sans the pets ofcourse. Numbers and figures invited his disgust and always interested in literature, it was very early in life when Narayan decided that his trade would be...........writing. Infact i was so struck by his unswerving sanguineness that for a timeless time i sat gazing at his picture, desperate to strike a conversation with this literary genius. Maybe some people realise the purpose of their life " just too early ".

R. K. Narayan describes his conception of Malgudi " I bought an exercise book and wrote the first line of a novel; as i sat in a room nibbling my pen and wondering what to write, Malgudi with its little railway station swam into view, all ready-made, with a character called Swaminathan running down the platform peering into faces of passengers, and grimacing at a bearded face; this seemed to take me on the right track of writing, as day by day pages grew out of it linked to each other. ( In the final draft the only change was that the Malgudi station came at the end of the story.)"


It was interesting to know that Narayan had a roving eye and quite openly celebrates his feelings of love as he says, " sighing over a pretty face and form seen on a balcony, or from across the street, or in a crowd, longing for love..............................any girl who lifted her eyes and seemed to notice me became at once my sweetheart, till someone else took her place. " How the manuscript of his book, Swami and Friends, caught the attention of Graham Greene and his life long friendship with him, his falling in love and marriage with Rajam followed by her sad demise and his odyssey towards fame and world wide popularity makes it an excellent read. Hey anyone of you who knows what a 'pyol' in Tamil means, then please lemme know.


The book does offer certain valuable tips for budding writers........rules that were stringently followed and some that were avoided by the writer himself. He says, " i took care not to read too much or anything that might influence my writing at the moment." And then there was something about measuring one's literary output by counting the number of words written in a day, and all a writer has to do is to write, write and write, eventhough his works do not get published.


Narayan was largely responsible for exposing the Oriental magnificence, but many have criticized his style to be "pedestrian", "impoverished", "limited and conventional". Maybe Narayan today will not appeal to the spick and span generation, and probably Swami's real and lively world would slip into oblivion facing tough competition from Potter's magical and sub-human world. Harry may have won the battle, but Swami in the long run.............will win the war.


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