Author and historian Urvashi Butalia tells of the life and words of one of India’s most-beloved writers.
RASIPURAM 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.
This story is from the February 2017 edition of BBC Knowledge.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the February 2017 edition of BBC Knowledge.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Are We Close To Making Our Home Away From Earth?
Our exploration of the cosmos is hampered by our bodies and minds, which struggle in space. So could we ever overcome our Biology and settle among the stars?
Snapshots
This blue and white harlequin shrimp was snapped
Tragedy On The Matterhorn
The conquest of the last great Alpine peak in 1865 should have been a triumph, but instead ended in the deaths of four climbers. Peter H Hansen examines its impact on attitudes to mountaineers
Lake Of Giants
In the Peruvian Amazon, a family of giant otters fends off hundreds of caiman to dominate a lake. Only through teamwork and guile can they beat their reptilian rivals, says PHILIPPA FORRESTER.
The Transformation Of Indra
Indra is within us, writes mythology expert DEVDUTT PATTANAIK, as he traces the changing perceptions of the god, in the first of a series on Indian mythologies history Indian Mythology
Cockatoos Got Rhythm
Birds might generally be better known for their singing, but new research carried out by Prof Rob Heinsohn from the Australian National University (ANU) has proved they can also be a dab hand on the drums.
Computational Origami Takes A Big Leap Forward
An MIT professor of computer science and an assistant professor in civil engineering at the University of Tokyo have joined forces to come up with a better way of… making paper rabbits.
Questions at theFrontiersof..Probability
It’s not all about tossing countless coins and rolling dice, says Robert Matthews. Probability researchers are also working on ways to unravel the secrets of the universe
ARevealing History of Underwear
From riotously colourful corsets and ‘virile’ Y-fronts to punk-rock leggings, underwear has long possessed a rare ability to push creative boundaries and spark moral outrage. Edwina Ehrman, curator of a new Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition, introduces Spencer Mizen to seven of the most influential designs of the past 300 years
King Of The Mountains
Picture a primate that grazes like a cow, climbs cliffs like a mountain goat and forms groups as big as shoals of fish. Noah Snyder-Mackler introduces Ethiopia’s gelada.
