Team Hindi
There often comes moments in one’s life that one just wants to sit back and indulge in nostalgia. It strikes someone quite suddenly and comes with a strange lowering of heart beat, relaxing of the stomach, and a daydreaming expression.
Growing up in the 80s or 90s, one has vivid memories of a fictional village which exists in bits and pieces in every town of India and wholly in our hearts. Malgudi may be a figment of RK Narayan’s imagination but his deep observational powers have made it more real to all the children and adults in India.
Our Bharat is very diverse in many ways but our towns and villages have a few common morals and values that we all follow, or used to it. This common thread is why readers and viewers of all over the country could relate to the beautiful and straightforward problems that happened in Malgudi. That is why R.K Narayan is still one of the most popular authors of India even today.
Simple and powerful characters populated Narayan’s Malgudi, the most notable being the young boy, Swami. In each of his stories, there is a moral for us to learn even if it happens in the ordinary everyday life. Poor people and those who do are not educated are not lost in gloominess of external circumstances but are happy and content within themselves. It is an apt reflection of the society that we live in, where we must overcome all the hardships that occur and still retain the little happy moments of our lives. The stories are lessons given in a very subtle way, almost as expected from a Grandfather. They are not limited to teaching children but also give lessons to adults.
Children are depicted to be free from prejudices and treat the people around them well, especially those who give their love to them. They easily form connections regardless of caste, creed and financial status. Adults are not always shown as flawless characters but rather as capable of making many mistakes. In this way R.K Narayan makes certain that children learn good values regardless of being taught otherwise by their surrounding adults.
It is surprising how much more valid R.K Narayan’s stories are in present times where we have forgotten most of the positive values inculcated in us from our culture and parents. Sometimes we need to go back to Nostalgia and Malgudi Days to be reminded again.
