Swami and Friends - Narayan and Friends - and the poverty of myself

I've taken up reading R.K. Narayan recently , but only as  I need some respite, using reading purely for relaxation, at the present.  Previously my "resort" for relaxation has been Graham Greene largely, and I was contemplating his omnibus volume of four novels, but for the weight of it, which is somewhat contrary to the purpose.  I started with Swami and friends given that it was his first book . Previously, meaning at least five years ago, I've read about 90% of "Malgudi Days", and some stories from "Under the Banyan tree" at random. For some reason I didn't quite gel with it - maybe it was the abstract short story - maybe I will give another attempt on a future day ( on that day when there are many books to be re-read and possibly just a few more days of life left in me ). I found Swami and friends, a beautiful work, so natural in it's fabric, so uncomplicated and I have to see that  my two elder sons, who are almost as old as Swami was, when Narayan imagined him, read it sometime soon.

Let's talk about the book first. It is a story about a boy growing up in his native village -  making friends, losing them, facing many a challenge which,  to a boy of ten is insurmountable, and taking drastic decisions in the face of these challenges. Basically here we have a boy, a very Asian boy - for the Thamil Swaminathan could easily have been a Siripala or a Gunadasa from our suburbs back in the 1920s-1930s - and Narayan has captured him such that, millions of boys and men can relate to him. The men will reminisce their boyhood through Swami, and the present boys will find a friend in Swami. There are lessons in life, but so well crafted in that they look  anything but lessons. Rajam leaves Malgudi for good, and Swami cannot imagine a life without his friend, little knowing that this is his first lesson in life about meetings and taking leave, throughout his life. Here, he doesn't want to believe that Rajam will never write to him again - neither does his other friend want to drill it down to him.

The planned cricket match was the sole reason for all his actions in the last part of the book. He has understood how much his friends  depend upon him, and he doesn't hesitate to keep away from home for days, so that he can avoid all obstacles until the day of the match. His decision ends almost in tragedy. But he was living as per his belief,  as to what is of most importance at that stage of his life. When we look upon out past, who can challenge the belief that "what is most important" is an ever changing mirage, and given the circumstances, Swami did what he thought as the only option he had weighing the importance of the cricket match on the other side of the scale ? It is this ability to see life though the eyes of a ten year old,  with all baggage that Narayan may have added in between ten, and whatever age he wrote it at, disposed of without a sliver, or a speck, which makes this book a small wonder.

Let's now turn to Narayan's friends - I found two - one he definitely knew, the other he mayn't have. Having read Greene's introduction in the "Bachelor of Arts" (which I read  in parallel and has completed since ), it made me first interested  in  Narayan's catalogue, and looked it up to see how many there is to read. Greene has generous, but probably just words to say about Narayan.
"Without him (Narayan) I could have never known what it is like to be an Indian... No one could find a second home in Kipling's India or Forster's India"
The second friend that Narayan mayn't have known is our own Tissa Abeysekara. His words on Narayan are more elaborate:
"Narayan does not play tricks with the English language, nor stand it on its head like Desani does; he writes with grace and lucidity, and the language seems perfectly at home in the quintessentially Indian milieu of Malgudi. If Desani's writings was exhibitionistic and almost cruel in its lampooning of the colonial masters, Narayan is almost functional, never drawing attention to itself. I seriously wonder, whether there is a single instance of a writer writing with such ease and restrain in a language to which he was not born.... There is a total lack of linguistic guile here, but the writing comes out of the heart and dust of the Southern plains of India. To me this is the elusive magic of Narayan" ( Fifty-fifty of the species" - paper read at the SAARC writers conference, Lahore - taken from "Roots, reflections and Reminisces ".)

It is through Narayan's friends that now I like to look inwards. Okay, now I am truly convinced that I should seriously consider reading all of  Narayan's work I can find. If Greene got me looking up his catalogue, Tissa has got me convinced that it will be an injustice to myself to deny the pleasure of his work.  At present I am on the lookout for "The Dark Room", his third work, and it appears to be a bit difficult to find. But I can honestly say that I didn't have this conviction while I was well on my way, reading Swami and friends.   I started reading The bachelor of Arts, where I stumbled upon Greene's introduction -that got me interested in the author Narayan at length.  The other of my literary heroes, Abeysekara has said quite  a lot of him, and now I see Narayan in a light that I didn't see him in before. He sealed the conviction. Why ? How ? Why didn't I recognize Narayan's brilliance until Tissa poked it into my eye ? How could I miss it ? Isn't this proof, that I am still quite  immature as a judge in literature, and needs to be led as blind man to safety ( i.e. haven for safe literature ) ?

I have now another question - my elder two kids, aged 9 and 8, are being given bridged version of classics for their school literature. They've read The jungle Book, Heidi, Huck Finn and the eldest is about to start on Oliver Twist. All bridged - just the bare metal story, with all the beauty that the original authors brought into it stripped off.  I managed to get the elder kid to read the full book of The Jungle Books, but have failed with Heidi. Where Huck Finn is concerned, I got them to listen to the audio book, for the language may not be easily identifiable for kids of that age, being brought up in a different culture. Is there any school in Sri Lanka which recommends Swami and Friends for kids, as part of their Literature course ? I know they don't in where they study now. Why ?  Do we only ape what the white man has told us, and don't look beyond it. The kids can easily read the ful book of "Swami and Friends". and forget about any bridged versions.  Then again, do I have the right to ask this question, when I had to wait till the late Tissa Abeysekara had to poke me in the eye to get my conviction right, that Narayan should be appreciated for what  he was (i.e. There is a total lack of linguistic guile here) ? Talk about the blind ( i.e.  the powers that be in deciding what should be read for literature in schools ), leading the blind (i.e. Myself ) . Possibly it takes someone like Tissa, who confessed quite proudly that his education was an non-formal one. I am more than convinced that it  was this non-formality that made him what he was.

Bottom line - I've discovered a writer with an inimitable style, whom I will possibly read at length. But I've come out in relative poor light, as a mere prejudiced being. For I had to wait till I've completed all of Forster's books of fiction, and then some years to appreciate Narayan, and that after being pointed out. I stand exposed!