The Magical World of Malgudi

Malgudi- The very mention of the name conjures up an image of the ficticious little city (or should we say an overgrown village)created by one of India's finest and much loved authors-RK Narayan. The charm of his stories lie in the simple manner in which they are written and also in the subjects of his stories ( people like you and me who find themselves in situations which are not unfamiliar to the lay person).In today's age of pretentious writers who put in effort to deliberately sound very intellectual(even if they are not, and most of the time they are not!) RK Narayan's writing comes across like a breath of fresh air.Malgudi's characters (be it the sweetmeat seller, or Swamy and his friends,or the dominating head of the family who drags his reluctant son to the family temple for the ritual of hair shaving,or the English teacher who loses his young wife and many others)are people whom one can identify oneself with or with the people around oneself.As one reads Malgudi Days or any of his other stories,one is unconciously transported to that location and for a moment the current world in which one lives, ceases to exist-one can actually feel oneself walking along the bank of the Sarayu river,or sitting at the popular hangout (most of the time near the statue of the British general)and discussing affairs of the world,or joining Swamy and his friends as they jump from one adventure to the other-a world where life is very laidback,a world free from modern days' complex lifestyle .Indeed one starts to yearn for such a world in which life moves at its own pace,a world ,which gives importance to human relationships rather than, to material comforts.Though such a magical world does not exist anymore , we can still escape to that make believe world every now and then -thanks to authors like RK Narayan