Malgudi Day Summary

A fragrance of south Indian culture breathed through Malgudi Days through his narration of the town Malgudi or his famous Talkative Man or pyol, jutka etc. There is a message of moderation in his short stories which could be sustained only through selfless and dispassionate life. He succeeds in adapting to the traditional myths of India and representing them through his subtle narration that totally wins in holding the reader’s attention. P.S. Sundaram calls Narayan’s work as “religious fables”. (Dewari 108) Hindu myths had gripped the mind of Narayan which is why it is seen flourishing in themes of most of his fiction. Also the western audience is not unknown to the traditional myths and superstition of Indian society therefore it is never rendered into shock through mild representation such as in Narayan’s work and therefore has been always accommodating. William Walsh once said “the religious sense of Indian myth is a part of Narayan’s reality, of his particular view of human life and his individual way of placing and ordering human feeling and experience.” (Walsh 166-167) We notice in Such Perfection how beautifully Narayan projects the superstition held by villagers on Soma’s Nataraja. The

Narayan’s characters are universal and with whom one can identify spontaneously. He had an eagle eye for the insight of the human nature which he chalks out with delicacy. The reader is overwhelmed by the humanism of the postman in The Missing Mail where he deliberately gives the mail carrying the message of Ramanujam’s uncle’s demise after the marriage as the sympathetic postman felt it might obstruct Ramanujam’s daughter’s wedding. His impassioned feelings for other’s grief and taking a little time out of his work to hear everyone’s problem fills the reader with affinity. his confession to Ramanujam fills us with awe . He says “you can complain if you like sir. They will dismiss me. It is a serious offence.”