If there is one author whose work survives the changing times it is R.K. Narayan.
Long before the term global village found acceptance, Narayan had a global audience for his fictional village of Malgudi – a place filled with rich, rounded characters, written to life by an author with a knack for social realism.
Writers, researchers and readers alike have long wondered about Malgudi’s geographical neutrality – discontent with Narayan’s insistence on fictionality. Rumours and legends abound as to its origin, often assumed to be a combination of places – Coimbatore and Mysore, Malleshwaram and Basavangudi, or Lalgudi with the L swapped out.
However, Malgudi does have a vague bearing – south of the Vindhyas. On hearing that the film adaptation of ‘The Guide’ was to be shot in Jaipur, Narayan remarked:
My story takes place in South India… It is South-Indian in costume, tone and content. Although the whole country is one, there are diversities and one has to be faithful in delineating them.
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