Nov 29, 2013 03:41 AM
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R. K. Narayan is one of the few authors I try to read every year, religiously. It’s been always a different experience to read RKN, no matter what work of his I lay my hands on. The simplicity of his style and essence of his writings is always there. Somehow I like the India penned by him more than the India that we are living in. that may be because of the fact that India portrayed in his works is the place we have lived our childhood in and his characters remind us of the simpleton we were once. So, to dive once more into that lost India, this year I picked up RKN’s most renowned work – ‘Guide.’ Did it succeed in providing me with the glimpse of that charming world, that I so much cherish? Yes it did, not only that, it also provided me with the wisdom – which is the essence of this book as one follows the conversion of an individual from an ordinary man to a real Saint - which, infact, makes it the best work of RKN.
‘Guide’ is the story of Raju; I would say two stories, narrated in parallel, one that covers Raju’s life before jail and the one that covers it after it. Before Jail – Raju is a famous Guide of Malgudi. Travelers and tourists arrive in Malgudi with only one name to rely on. Raju’s the best in business, until an explorer of caves, namely Marco Polo arrives in Malgudi, accompanied by his dancer wife, Rosie. Marco, a workaholic, have no other interest whatsoever other than to explore and dig new caves and write about them. So when prospects of great work of literature appears with discovery of new caves in Malgudi by Marco, he gets so lost in his work that he hardly cares about the well being of Rosie. Rosie, on the other hand, finds good company in Raju, who appreciates and adores her dancing skills, and urges her to make a profession out of her talents. While Marco forbids her from dancing; Raju inspires and admires her and loves her; and that’s how their secret love story begins.
As Marco learns of their affair he leaves town leaving Rosie behind. Raju helps Rosie in fulfilling her dreams of becoming a famous dancer of national stature, whom everyone admires and loves. But as the money and fame arrives so does the pressure and pride. They hardly get time for each other. Raju gets so lost in money and fame that he hardly realizes where it’s all leading to. Raju abandons the responsibilities and safeties of his old Malgudi life to become impresario, frenzied, arrogant and increasingly dishonest man behind her enormous successful stories of dance performances. And then, Raju gets arrested for the case of forgery and looses it all, fame, money, friends and Rosie.
After jail – it’s his destiny that brings a big turn in his life and leads him to a small village where he takes shelter in an abandoned temple, where a chance meeting with a villager, named Velan, turns him into Swami. With time, more and more people start following him. But Raju is no saint and he knows it but he keeps playing the role just to get the food and necessities from the followers, till the time he decides to move on. But destiny brings in another turn as he gets trapped into the labyrinth of his own words. Great drought comes with no rain for months and months; animals start to die of hunger and so does the humans. In such dire circumstances, a misunderstanding of words leads villagers to believe that Swami has taken a fast to end the drought. When all attempts of Raju fails in getting out of the maze of his own words. He decides to play the part of fasting as well, with honesty and sincerity. Will God listen to his prayers and shower the barren lands with rain, saving Raju’s life? That’s a small thing I will leave for you to find t he book.
I haven’t left much uncovered in the plot. Going by the fact that most of us have already read it or have seen it in the classic Hindi Movie ‘Guide’ starring Dev Anand and Waheeda Rehman, I allowed myself to succumb the desire of covering the plot in details. Please pardon me if I have spoiled the interest of anyone by doing so.
As stated earlier, story moves in two different narratives. One before the jail is covered from the perspective of Raju – most of which is the fashion of Raju telling his tale to Velan. While after the jail narrative is covered from 3rd person’s point of view. Both these narratives run in parallel, chapter after chapter. One good thing is that both the stories are equally interesting and a reader doesn’t mind the little hiccups in transiting from one plot to other. Language is simple, as always is the case with RKN’s works; and narrative and flow - though runs in multitude - is gripping and interesting and keeps a tight rein on the reader.
Raju’s early childhood days brings in the sweet memories of typical RKN writings, like Swami of ‘Swami and Friends.’ Arrival of rail and modernization of Malgudi as Raju grows up is also very well covered, one can easily relate to those chapters. This part is something that one misses in the movie. Most of characters are sketched in very real colors, with their good and bad, and throughout the length of the book they stick to their basic nature. This is one aspect on which movie differs quite a bit compared to the book. In Movie was Raju’s character is altered to make it overly positive and that of Marco Polo is made overly negative(I pitied Marco for that, as in book, Marco’s is quite a likable character for his love for his art.). Similarly, Rosie’s character in movie has more varying shades to that of book. Story in book flows in quite a simple fashion with no dramatic turn; but in movie, its more dramatic esp. in the climax, as we got to see the battle of mind and soul, as Raju attains salvation becoming a real saint before he dies. Do I mind these differences? No, I liked both ways the story is covered, in fact I would say, I loved the climax provided in the movie.
RKN’s ‘Guide’ is regarded as the greatest of his works and is named as a comedy of self-deception. Pellucid and mysterious at once; and there is this ease with which it seems to have been written, which infact masks difficulty that RKN might have faced penning it. It was the first novel in English to have won the annual prize of Sahitya Akademi, India’s prestigious award. I loved reading ‘Guide’ it has all the constituents that makes a book classic; simple but exceptional characters, an interesting and absorbing story; and exceptional way of its telling, that only RKN could have done so neatly and so simply.
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PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA.
