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Description: Raju's first stop after his release from prison is the barber's shop.
Then he decides to take refuge in an abandoned temple, Raju used to be India's most corrupt tourist guide but now a peasant mistakes him for a holy man.
Gradually, he begins to play the part,
It is written on the brow of someRaju seems to be somewhat Zelig in nature, becoming anything at a pitch of a hat.
That they shall never be left in peace
His Holy Man routine becomes ever believable,
From life on the earth to the Karmic theories of purgatory from real life details to the world of Gods from sin to atonement.
. . this book, The Guide, by R K Narayan will take you to new dimensions of readership.
Perhaps one of the greatest novels Indian authors writing in English have produced, this book is a classic in the sense it's always there.
Today also, you can find the novel's relevance in the society,
Plot, theme, plot movement, language, . . everything about the novel is perfect and you get this masterpiece by Narayan, Still the most loved novel in India, if I may say so, it will always be there as a reminder that once Indian authors could also touch the heights of writing! A must read! The writing is quite spare and there is little description of the backdrop of the novel, apart from what is necessary.
The Guide is about Raju, who tells his story in the present and past, He has been in prison and has taken refuge in an empty temple by a river.
The locals begin to believe he is a holy man, Interspersed is the story of Raju's past, his childhood, his time as a tourist guide, Then his affair with a married woman and its consequences, Raju is a rogue who is often self serving, but has some likeable qualities, The end is left open has Raju really become a holy man as he fasts for rain.
There is a strong comedic element in the book, but it is also a fable.
Human issues are addressed rather than politics directly and critics have pointed out that there is little to relate the book to a time or political background.
Hence, I think the fable element,
It has been suggested that Narayan is easy to read and hard to understand, He is certainly easy to read, but the end of the novel is enigmatic The Guide is certainly thought provoking.
Raju used to work at a railway station in Malgudi until he realizes that he can be more than that.
He becomes a tourist guide and then falls in love with Rosie, Rosie happens to be married to someone else but eventually leaves her husband for Raju, Then one day Raju gets thrown in jail and he remains there for two years,
When Raju leaves the jail and stops to rest at a temple, he is mistaken for a Saadhu Kinds like a god's messenger.
His miracles become famous worldwide and then people all around him seek his advice and his blessings.
I laughed and laughed because it has actually happened so many times for real in India that it didn't seem like a fictional work.
This was so so enjoyable,
.This is the first of Narayan's novels that I've read, and I was bothered by it in the same way I'm always bothered by stories that sacrifice psychological verisimilitude for the sake of plot.
Raju, the main character, begins the book as an unethical, opportunistic, but essentially likable fellow as the story goes on he transforms first into a moneygrubbing, misogynistic, selfserving asshole, and then into some semblance of a holy man.
I don't have a problem with characters undergoing changes, but none of these changes felt organic to Raju's development, and they foiled my attempts to connect with the book on an emotional level.
I will say, however, that the final image of Raju collapsing while he feels the river rising around his legs is poignant, enduring, and powerfully drawn.
Hmm. What do i say about a book that i just finished last night and which has been growing on me since then.
. . too early to say anything yeah, maybe, but if i delay, i won't be able to pen down this minireview of sorts,
R. K. Narayan writes in the simplest of English, a bildungsroman of sorts of a man named Raju.
Actually, weaves would be a better word instead of writes, because the book is actually a tapestary of Raju's life and that of other major and minor characters, Velan, Rosie, Marco whose temperament I found close to mine!, Gaffur, Rahu's mother and uncle interwoven with life in a small town and villages in southern India.
Actually India is as much a character in this story as the main protagonists, because i don't think it would have taken place anywhere else in world.
And yet, like truly great stories, it is universal in appeal, The rise and fall of a man, love and 'unlove', marriage and infidelity, a woman's place in a patriarchal society, a conman and his final redemption maybe there are so many lenses that this story could be viewed from, understood and appreciated.
And then there is humor, sparkling and earthen and as Indian it can get, though it kind of toned down towards the latter part of the story.
I'd seen the classic Indian movie based on this novel a few times already and i've always loved the story, especially the lyrics by Shailendra and music direction of S.
D. Burman but i found the novel more mature than it, The open way infidelity is introduced and the ambiguous ending, wouldn't have been possible in the India ofs ands.
All in all, a must read for its timeless tale of a man's fight with himself, what he was, what he could have been, and what he became.
The Guide is set up as a frame story, beginning with our protagonist, Raju, turning up at an abandoned temple after being released from prison.
Basically, he's squatting, but a local person named Velan comes to ask Raju to help him solve a problem with his willful daughter.
Raju keeps feeding Velan statements of profound nonsense, but when Velan's daughter comes around, word spreads about Raju's holy nature.
When a drought hits, Raju offers one of his statements, which is interpreted around the country side as his promise to fast for eleven days to ask the gods to send relief.
In a desperate attempt to show that he's a fraud, Raju spends one night explaining his life to Velan.
That's when we get the backstory of Raju growing up as the son of a shopkeeper who is more interested in conversation than selling or family, Raju's love of trains, his own shopkeeping days, and finally his involvement with a dancer named Rosie, which brings about his rise and downfall, landing him in prison.
Velan hears it all, but the story makes him believe in Raju even more, Raju is left then with the choice of simply leaving in the night or going through with the fast.
I admit that I found the frame story about Raju's stint as a fauxswami far more fascinating than the story of his life until he became involved with Rosie.
His mother calls her the serpentwoman, but Narayan's description of Rosie's serpent dance is one of the most intense and visual descriptions I have ever read.
I could see the dance lifting off the page and carrying on around me, There is a movie version of The Guide, but I don't think I want to see it just because no visual interpretation of this dance could match the beauty of the one in my head.
Another striking aspect of the book is its presentation of Hindu culture and belief in the growth of the soul.
This is a complex process in Hinduism, but Narayan's skill makes it digestible for Western readers without much of a background in Hindu belief.
For readers who know that religion, how Narayan builds Raju's character from its selfish depths to the point where he can become a vessel of Brahman symbolized by the empty aluminum vessel where he hides food is truly profound.
While some of the backstory got a bit tedious while I was reading it, once I got to the end, I realized that all of it was necessary for what Narayan was doing: showing the slow pace of self change in which tragedy and joy run parallel, and I was even more impressed.
The Guide is simply an amazing achievement, ರಜ ಎಬ ರಲವ ಗಡ, ಒಮಮ ಒದ ಜಡಗ ಗಡ ಆಗತತನ. . ಗಡ ಪರತತತವಜಞ, ಹಡತ ನರತಕ. . ರಜ ನರತಕಯನನ ಪರತಸತತನ, ಗಡನ ನತಯ ದವಷದದ ರಸದದ ನರತಕಯ ರಜವನನ ಪರತಸತತಳ. . ರಜ ಕಷಟ ಪಟಟ ನರತಕಯನನ ಪಷಸ ದಡಡ ನತಯಗರತಯನನಗ ಮಡತತನ ಆದರ ಗಳಯ ಮತತ ಸಬಧವದವನನ ಕಳದಕಳಳತತನ. . ಖಟ ತಪಪಗ ಜಲನನ ಸರತತನ ಜಲನದ ಮರಳ ಎಲಲರನನ ಕಳದಕಡ ಗತತಯ ಗತತಲಲದಯ ಸತನಗತತನ ಇದ ಕಥ . ಈ ರತಯ ವಸತ ಹದರವ ಕದಬರ ಬಹಳ ಬದರವದರದ ಇದ ಹಳ ಕಥ ಎದ ಓದವ ತಪತ ಕಡವದಲಲ
ಸಮನಯ ಬರವಣಗ, ಮದಲಪಟವತ ಕಟತತಲ ಸಗತತದ . ನತರ ಕಚ ವಗ ಪಡದಕಡರ ಇಷಟವಗವದಲಲ ಅತಯ ಸಪಪ ಎನನಸತತದ . "The Guide" by R. K. Narayan is an excellent example that how beautiful and intriguing simplicity can be, Mr. Narayan wrote the novel with sheer simplicity
of language and expression,
Even with simplicity which is the power of the novel the story is deep and touches the inner recesses of human nature.
The story is about how a being makes himself and destroys himself , but in midst of this creation and destruction the changes which takes place in a person are more important.
I think through Raju , Mr, Narayan has painted the very basic of human psyche i, e. how far can a human go to what he wants and what changes occurred in him while getting what he wants.
And somewhere these changes later define one's fate,
The female protagonist character Rosie is in my opinion a representation of the human "want" for which human doesn't care that whatever he is doing is whether right or wrong.
On the other hand the character of Rosie is a satire on the so called modernity of the society.
Like when you hear the name Rosie the first image comes in mind is that she is a modern girl aware of creating her identity.
But in the novel Rosie is a common woman desperate to create her identity but bound by notions and hypocrisy of the society.
And in Raju she finds that chance to create her identity, In short it can be said that Raju and Rosie are each other's want and the story is about what they do for what they want.
Other than simplicity and clarity of expression the characters were perfectly built and aptly used.
I don't think that any other author can pen down the human psyche with so much simplicity.
Perfectstars.
Indeed A Classic.
A Must Read. .