Discuss R.K. Narayan as a regional novelist.

Ans.

A regional novel pertains to a particular region with influence on characters. The regional artist emphasises the unique features of the region in particular. Malgudi, the imaginative town is Narayan’s own creation. Outside the town river Sarayu flows. Far from the town there are Mempi hills with a solitary tourist bungalow. Malgudi is a small developing town with activity and business.

According to P.P Mehta, ‘Malgudi does not exist on any map. It lives in the imagination more distinctly than any other region described by and Indian writer. Sir Walter Scott has immortalized the Border countries; Wordsworth has sung the songs of the Lake District; Hardy’s Wessex is a district more real than the present districts of England. Arnold Bennett’s Pottery Towns have own individuality. In the same way, Narayan’s Malgudi is a reality charged with all that is intimate and poignant in human life.”

Malgudi, a Real Hero-Generally Narayan’s characters are flat. In the words of Uma Parmeshawaram, “Malgudi is the only character that grows, changes, reacts to time and circumstances, has a spirit, a soul.” R.K. Narayan has created an imaginary town as Malgudi, from his first novel ‘Swami and Friends’. The town is particularly described for its printing shop, schools, temples, hotels and its neighbouring Mempi hills. Description of Malgudi is found in the ten novels of R.K. Narayan and several short. This Malgudi is a real and justified hero. It is Malgudi that undergoes no change. Things change; men and women are called upon to die; but the Sarayu, the hills, the groves etc. remain.

Malgudi’s Origin

R.K. Narayan writes, “I remember waking up with the name Malgudi on Vijaydashmi, the day on which the initiation of learning is celebrated. The goddess of learning gave me the name. Malgudi was an earth-shaking discovery for me, because I had no mind for facts and things like that, which would be necessary in writing about Malgudi or any real place. I first pictured not my town but just the railway station. which was a small plat form with a banyan tree, a station master, and two trains a day, one coming and one going. On Vijaydashmi. I sat down and wrote the first sentence about my town. The train just arrived at Malgudi station.

Malgudi’s Development

In ‘Swami and Friends’ river Sarayu flows by the side of Malgudi. Malgudi is quite familiar to the readers of R.K. Narayan. In ‘The Guide’ it is situated on the bank of river Saryu. There are various streets and lanes. The road leading to the river is Sarayu Street. There are two high schools in Malgudi. Albert Mission School and the Board High School. In ‘The Guide’ Malgudi expands in a railway station and a taxi-stand. We come to know the approximate distance between Malgudi and Madras. There are dense bamboo jungles on the Mempi hills. There is a forest rest house on the peak of the Memple hills, known as Mempi peak house. The rest house has a glass-walled verandah through which the tourists can observe wild animals.