suhasa010 's review for:

Malgudi Days by R.K. Narayan

4.0

---

Malgudi Days was a big part of Indian childhood of "90s kids". There was no one who grew up not watching at least a few episodes of Malgudi Days on the good ol' DD and marveled at the South Indian actors (Kannada mainly) speaking fluent English and Hindi like it was nothing. The stories remained etched in our hearts due to memorable acting by veterans in the industry. Many of the stories including the one with snake charmer/snake song, "engine" and astrologer remained with me even after two decades and brought a smile on my face when I was finally reading those stories in the book.

R.K. Narayan has so beautifully captured the landscape and people of Malgudi in his novels over the course of five decades that it transcends language or nationality. You just feel the raw nature of the rural day-to-day lives of ordinary people ranging from cobblers, snake charmers to astrologers and landlords. Told usually from a third person perspective, these stories display the mundaneness of the "malgudians" and how they go about their lives. Dramatic things do happen, but it stays true to the low-key nature of Malgudi.

Why are these stories from 1940s, 50s still relevant?
RKN through his simple writing brought up many issues which plagued the society back then and few continue to do even now.
In "Selvi", he writes about a famous singer who is bogged down by her husband who takes all her decisions for her and tells her what to do at every point.
"The Blind Dog", where animal cruelty takes the center stage which even now people consider "normal".
"Forty Five A Month", where a father prioritizes work over childcare.
"Iswaran", a boy pressured and bullied about his academic performance.

Some of my favourites:
"Engine Trouble" - Big a** engine, small a** town, what could go wrong!
"The Snake Song" - When the snake makes you dance...
"Cat Within" - Cat makes the town go crazy!
"The Edge" - Snip, snip
"Lawley Road" - Renaming places for politics, sounds familiar?
"Attila" - Cute little puppy!
"An Astrologer's Day" - A narrow escape!

P.S: Look-up "Malgudi railway station, Shivamogga" btw