Malgudi Days (short story collection)

Malgudi Days
Author R. K. Narayan
Illustrator R. K. Laxman
Country India
Language English
Genre Short story collections
Publisher Indian Thought Publications
Publication date
 1943
Media type Print
Pages 150
ISBN 81-85986-17-7
OCLC 7813056
Preceded by The Dark Room
Followed by The English Teacher

Malgudi Days is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan published in 1943 by Indian Thought Publications.

The book was republished outside India in 1982 by Penguin Classics.[1] The book includes 32 stories, all set in the fictional town of Malgudi,[2] located in South India. Each of the stories portrays a facet of life in Malgudi.[3] The New York Times described the virtue of the book as "everyone in the book seems to have a capacity for responding to the quality of his particular hour. It's an art we need to study and revive."[4]

In 1986, a few of the stories in the book were included in the Malgudi Days television series and directed by actor and director, Shankar Nag.

In 2004, the project was revived with film-maker Kavitha Lankesh replacing the late Shankar Nag as director. The new series was telecast from April 26, 2006 on Doordarshan.[5]

In 2014, Google commemorated Narayan's 108th birthday by featuring a Google Doodle showing him behind a copy of Malgudi Days.[6]

Chapters

From an Astrologer's Day "An Astrologer's Day": A short story about an astrologer who knows nothing about stars or astrology. He never wanted to be an astrologer but his poverty made him so.With more of matter of study, practice and shrewd guesswork he retorted such verdicts that astonished and pleased people . One day he meets his rival whom he thought that he had killed long ago. They were now Face to Face. With the help of his disguise of an astrologer he fooled [7] his rival and has a hair-breadth escape.

  • "The Missing Mail": A story about Thannappa, a good hearted postman who shared a good relationship with all the people whom he used to handle them their letter especially with Ramanujam, a senior clerk in the Revenue Department Office .He doesn't deliver a letter to Ramanujam about the death of his uncle in order to prevent it from serving as an obstacle in the marriage ceremony of Ramanujam's daughter that was finally going to be happening after many ups and downs.
  • "The Doctor's Word": A story about Dr Raman, a doctor who believes good words can't save lives . He is very staunch about that. Suddenly his best friend falls terribly ill and the situation goes out of his hand . Now he is betwixt very badly.He finally tells good words to save his friend's life even though he knew there was no ray of hope for his survival and at the end doctor's friend survives miraculously that still remains a great mystery even for the doctor himself.
  • "Gateman's Gift": A story about Govind Singh who throughout his life served as a gatekeeper and security guard, after retiring indulged himself in the hobby of making miniature of sawdust and clay.
  • "The Blind Dog": A story about a blind beggar who catches a dog to guide him through the streets.And even after torturing the dog so much the dog returns to him after running away.
  • "Fellow Feeling": A story about Rajam Iyer, a Tamil Brahmin who is travelling in a train compartment and gets in a fight with a fellow passenger.
  • "The Tiger's Claw": A story about The Talkative Man, a recurring character in several short stories, and his fight with a tiger.
  • "Iswaran": A story about a boy named "Iswaran" who failed his Intermediate Exams ten times, and when he passes it, in happiness, he gets drowned in the river Sarayu.
  • "Such Perfection": A story about a sculptor who becomes worshipful of his most recent statue.
  • "Father's Help": A story about Swami, a character from his first novel "Swami and Friends". In this story Swami falsely accuses his teacher Samuel. He is taught to behave properly and to speak the truth by his father.
  • "The Snake Song": A story about a musician narrating his experience why he had stopped playing the harmonium
  • "Engine Trouble": A story about a poor man, who wins a road engine in a lottery, who gets into a big trouble as he is unable to make it to good use.
  • "Forty-Five A Month": A story about Daughter (Shanta) and her father (Venkat Rao), how the relationship between them and how he turned to realize that family feelings and joined together.
  • Out of Business
  • "Attila": A story about a friendly dog who is given a fierce name in an attempt to scare off burglars, without much success.
  • "The Axe"
  • "Lawley Road"

A Story about how a misidentification of a statue can change a street name, Kabir Street to Lawley Road. During early times of independence, Chairman of malgudi municipality wanted to do grants. There was a statue of Sir Frederick Lawley in the Lawley Extension. he wanted to remove it as he thought that he was a cruel and ruthless tyrant. He suppressed the people. The statue was about twenty feet high. It stood firmly on a solid pedestal of molten lead. Tenders to remove it were invited which would cost fifty thousand which municipally could afford. So they decided to offer the statue to a talkative man, a correspondent for an upcountry newspaper for free but he has to remove it himself. the man agreed to it and removed it and take it to his home. But later it was founded that there was a Frederick Lawley who was unkind but this Lawley was a kind person who helped people. when the public knew this, they picketed his house in Kabir Street. The Chairman forced the talkative man to return it as it was a time of elections but he wanted him to pay him for his hard work of removing it. The municipally cannot afford it so it bought the talkative man's house and the statue and made his house a public park and changed the street name to Lawley Road. With this, he also protected his seat

  • "Trail of the Green Blazer"
  • "The Martyr's Corner"
  • "Wife's Holiday"
  • "A Shadow"
  • "A Willing Slave"
  • "Leela's Friend"

Leela's friend is a short story about a five-year-old girl Leela & Sidda the servant of her house. Sidda has a special power to communicate with children. At last Sidda would be arrested with the wrong theft of Leela's gold chain. But Leela's mother would find it in a cooking pot.

  • "Mother and Son"

New SThe Doctor's Word": A story about Dr Raman, a doctor who believes good words can't save lives . He is very staunch about that. Suddenly his best friend falls terribly ill and the situation goes out of his hand . Now he is betwixt very badly.He finally tells good words to save his friend's life even though he knew there was no ray of hope for his survival and at the end doctor's friend survives miraculously that still remains a tories

  • "Naga"
  • "Selvi"
  • "Second Opinion"
  • "Cat Within"
  • "The Edge"
  • "God and the Cobbler"
  • "Hungry Child
  • "Emden".

References

  1. ↑ Beade, Pedro (September 1, 1985). "Ambiguities on parade In R.K.Narayan's stories, people can be animals and vice versa". Providence Journal. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  2. ↑ Magill, Frank (1987). Critical survey of short fiction. Salem Press. pp. 224–226. ISBN 978-0-89356-218-2. OCLC 16225069.
  3. ↑ "Malgudi Days (review)". Retrieved 2010-06-21.
  4. ↑ Broyard, Anatole (February 20, 1982). "Books of The Times – The Art of Teeming; Malgudi Days". NY Times. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  5. ↑ name="Malgudi Days article from a major Indian newspaper">"Malgudi Days on DD1". The Hindu. May 12, 2006. Retrieved 2009-08-28.
  6. ↑ Flood, Alison (10 October 2014). "RK Narayan celebrated in a Google doodle – but only in India". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Malgudi Days by R.K.Narayan


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