CHAPTER-II

THE CHILD'S EYE-VIEW OF LIFE

 ( 'hapt~r-11

Tht• ( 'hiltl's i':)t•-vit'IV of Lift·

A. Nar·ayau's Child Iii•~ Attitud~ Tow:mls Life

One of the most impmtant feature of Narayan is profound creative insights for an

increased understanding of children R K Narayan's child characters take their growth and

development in language llere the categorical distinctions between mother tongue and

English language do not opcr ate as restraining features of each other. What all that is

required is a matter of insights into the infimt fantasy in the role of the development of

personality This insight into fantasy is an absolute necessity In creating his Malgudi,

R.K.Narayan successfully demonstrate that he create~~ possible localised ethnic culture in

1'

which the infant fantasy ultimately works as the greatest creative purpose for the author. It

is in this context that the expression 'child's eye-view of life' becomes very important.

The cultural modalities of Malgudi as created by R K.Narayan, whether it deals

with the child characters or the grown-ups, invariably envisages a rare child like

potentiality and pre-occupation of childlike performances, decision makings and execution

of the decision, in one form or the other While a grown-up executes their decisions and

performances in accordance with a programmed blue-print of his actions, in the course of

his achievement d child always performs himself, quite instinctively, with a glaring defect

or short-coming. This out and out defective manner of performing himself in a child, is his

unique way of seeking the conccr ns and compasston of the world of people around him

The Malgudi cultur c. "ith its O\Vn chrldlihc and child 'isioned characters has a dual

aspect \\hilc rt crrcharillll)..d\ unites'" 11itlt all tho"'""" rrrhahtt fllal)!udt, 11 al;" enables
 4t

•csou•ccs tiom the p1imitivist l:1ulty people of Malgudi Th1s is the child's style of

think1ng Fven the g•m•n-up chala<.:lciS of R 1\. N;uayan abounds li<.:tional fascination in

it

Raju, the p10tagonist of The Ullldc is introduced to the 1eading public, as an

enthusiastic adolescent, pe11iu ming himself as a pari table purveyor all unfounded,

inauthentic inlo11nation about the toUiist imp01tance of this place. It is just possible that he

might be telling an at !I active story of the place, and the tactual inlormation that he gives

has no historical validity and truth in itself Precisely speaking, Raju is more a enthusiastic

teller of stories than a real guide, giving the historical validity of truth. Raju himself is

conscious of the fact that he is under the forced necessity to tell the enchanting stories

about Malgudi and its historical past

The tourist themselves are mo1 e fascinated by the manner in which he tells the

story (for he exactly adopts for himself the enthusing methods of the traditional granny

telling the stories), than with the veritable historical stories of the real historical nature of

what all he tells. In this context, he is like a child that tells out and out files of lies to his

elders, with an intention of exciting their sympathy and affection on instances. Raju's real

purpose, as we all know, is in his immediate necessity to win the minds of the tourist and

extract lrom them all the fi!Vours, including money

The manner in which Rosie gets atil acted to Raju is exactly in the nature of a

fabricated fantasy and fairytale, wherein the hero and heroin are invariably mend for each

other But. Rosie is a dancer-\\ ite of 1\larco, 1\ ho in h1s m\ n tu111 IS a relentless gra\ Jty-

filled. sc11ous schol;u R•ght liom the hq.!llllllll~. 11 is oil\ IPUS that Ro>~c" liP! 111 adpcc 11 t

1\lth he• schola•il husha11d. \Lucll I h,Jt a~a111" p1nhahil a child li~c dckct 111 lic· 1 ll:c·
 42

child hke detect in the ch;u acter of Raju is m Ius excessive vcdml enthusiasm and in the

manner in wluch he uses rt 111 his personal lavour Whatever it is, the enthusiastic manner

of Raju awokcs the attractrve crisps in the mind of Rosie, as a result of which she even

goes to the extent of deserting her husband, rvlarco and JUnning away with Raju.

Children, when they arc not in amity and coml<nt in the company of their elders,

they ollen preiCr to, specially distance themselves and seek a protective asylum in the

places and hide-outs of their choice, may be it is sometimes hiding under the cot in the

corner. Rosie's manner of running away fi·om Marco is comparable to that of a suffocated

and smoothered child, distancing herself fi·orn her own husband. One should not forget

here that Rosie was trained in classic dance. Her innate and intimate verse for dance does

not find a dignified place of recognition in· her scholarly husband, whose life interest is in

making a archaeological studies of historical monuments. Marco, himself may be having a

possible defects in his personality (Narayan suggests it quite vibrantly) in over looking the

live presence of an artistic model in his wife Rosie and diverting his all embracing attention

to the dead rock pillars and monuments, quite ironically all in the name of art appreciation.

Intact, almost all the characters of R.K Narayan suffer from this kind of anxiety,

born of a practical need to dehome themselves from their surroundings In the story of

Jagan, the protagonist of The Vendor of Sweets, the child like enthusiasm towards the

monkey-god, Hanuman, becomes another streak of childishness and child like manner of

playing hide and seck 1vith the prartiralrcalitics of life The il>llowing words of Nmman

N Holland. in the context of child's stYle of thinking arc \\Orth quotmg here Says

Holland
 43

"For the. as rs well-known. a clnld's style of thrnkmg drllcrs limn an adolescent's

01 a adult's Young children can olkn propose b11lliant concepts, but they cannot take

them f(rrther, they cannot concentrate f(>r long. they day-dream, prephaps . because too

many neural connections interfere with sustained logical thoughts possibly the adolescent

changes in the bra in explain why well-adjusted children can become schizophrenic in

adolescence, or why children bel ween four and ten can learn language or musical

instrument more easily than adults, but. it is only in adolescence that we can learn to

solve complex, abstract problems at all" (7)

It is evident from the manner in which R K Narayan's characters executed their

lives in somewhat a haphazard manner or in the easy-come manner of what all they desire

to have In this easy-come properties of life entracned in their personality is what it

conforms them to the child like faulty ways of living their lives. At every turn and mutation

of their life, there is either a tragic flaw or a comic error that ultimately revolve them into

confused human entities, again in a child like form of relating themselves with the outside

world of their own culture.

B. Primary Activity of A Child

R.K.Narayan upholds the delightful and playlul manner of upholding and

demonstrating these critical discering qualities in the characters of Swami and Frinends.

The psychological primeval manner in which they react to the grown-up man's world

around them is in itself an act of criticism and opposition The modern psychologist

conlirm that the primal mode of child's acti<ity, e<en when it is nai<ch dcstructl<e

accordrng to the sophrsticatcd nWIIIl'" nf d"cllllliiiaiion nl· the cldL'IS. as transpa 1c11 th
 44

honest and instinctl\ely Cllttcal and as David llolbtookc in his "Cicattvi~in Children's

Writings and Conll'lllJHO:uy Cultutc". tightly tem:nks "l'sycho-analysis, in its post-

Freudian development, has gutdually ceased to see culture as mete sublimated instinct, and

now sees it rather as a primary activity" (344-3()4)

Needless to say, that this 'prinuuy activity' 111 itself is a typical child's mode of

insight into the relative mannet s of ltfe as lived by the elders and the children These

relative distinctions, as implemented by R K Narayan in his novels, offers a wide range of

criticism of lile. On reading his S_wami and Friends the automatic reaction of all the

readers belonging to dif1erent age groups confirms the fact that there is plenty of freedom

and joy, which the elders always miss because of the constrains imposed by the

sophisticated measures of life The enthusiatic manner of Swami in wilfully transposing all

sophistication of civilised lile vindicates that freedom play, and dreaming are the real

substantial modes of 'primary activity'

It all demonstrates that R K Narayan's art is invariably characterised by a great

respect for child's existence The state of innocence struggles in its own way for a true

apprehension of lite The manner of Swami conducting his life is an education Here his

innocence becomes a true mode of insight when it is not particularly attended by adult

knowhow and all such sophistication, it automatically descends and connects itself with

the fond memories of childhood Inspite of abundant achievements, both on the instinctive

and 'ptimary activity' components, S Ktishnan in his editorial note complementary states

"I lis (S"ami) life is full of inctdents "ithout accomphshemnts'' ( 17)

 45

C. The Mythic Approadt

As a matte1 of EJct. the ve1y theme of The Man l'a[~r_\lf:M_<tlgLlili has its source in

the ancient pre-histo1 ic lo1 es as perfected by A~SQJ2h_J; fables of the ancient Greece, In

Vishnusha11na's, Kathas and Saga1, an11nals and c1eaturcs take upon themselves all the

human dispositions and behave themselves as human beings in a given imaginary situation:.~

The very expression 'cock and bull stories' that is altogether unbelieveable stories takes its

origin in the fables of the so1t mentioned above. In The Man-Eater of Malgudi, somehow,

a circus tiger slips out of the cage and starts moving freely in the streets While everyone
.....
else was scared of the open movements of the tiger, it is Babu alone, probably out of his

intution that all species in the world, inspite of their mutual discordances and antagonism,

are likely to become good tliends and amicable pa1tners of each other. Quite fearlessly

Babu befriends the tiger and moves alone with it in the streets with a great gleam of

victory in his eyes, in the street. Here, Narayan gives a kind of mythic touch to this story.

D. Escape From The Gnmn-ups World.

A child always prc!Crs to slip out of the monotony of the house and the continual

manner of tact ness of life in the house In ganging up with other children, they secure for

themselves a lazy and free time for play as well as aimlessly wandering in the streets. They

make fun. child-chat and purposelessly discuss among themselves all so11 of things which

they find to be inconque1ous and unnecessary in accordance with their own vision of life

They even go to the extent of mimi king their own cldc1 s without intending any great harm
\..
We ha\e an age-old sa\·ing that the lazy man·s lJ!ain is a de,il's \vOJkshop

Chlid1cn u>ualh llll'li:l to l'l' a Ia;\ >lock "' n1uch "' that thC\ 1na\ a\old the
 46

~iwami_anQ_ Ftiends, Swami slips out in a sectet and filthy manner li·om the house

Whenever he linds his litthct ot ntotltct coltcstng him to study or do some useful work,

Swami runs away and seeks asylum in the lap of his gt and mother He knows that his

grand mothet invariably pam pets and l(mdles him to his best satislication. The manner in

which the childt en pre-occupy themselves with un-motivated free and frank mischief, is

available in the way that they exchange slips of paper silently to each other with writings

like "Are you a man°" and "you arc the son of a dog. If you doni answer this" (20).

The modern psychologists confirm that, in addition to the atmospheric

surroundings of their own day-to-day practical life, they nurture in themselves a parallel

imaginative world view of their own, which in all probability is comparatively more

comforting and more soothing for themseclves This separate world view of a child is

invariably born of his own brilliant conception, but then children, because of the

innumerable conRicting neurons interfering with their brilliant concepts, usually leave out

the concept for themselves But then, viewed objectively, the child's conceptions are quite

often more sophisticated and bt illiant, without the child himself conceiving them as such.

E. 1\lalgudi Children

1\loclern psychologists admit that chtldren ate virtually capable of prevailing

themselves simultaneously in two or more difl'ercnt worlds That is to say that children are

capable of living in the practical \vtHid. as \veil as in the autistically imagined world

Simultaneously we have innumerable examples, of such child like operations in the novels

of R K Nara;an Raju U hc_Ciuidej. Jagan (JILcVendorQL'>,~eets) S11ami (Swami ang

htendsi and the ho1 tn "1\Ja~a-- <tte '<lllll' 'uch cxampks lliltl ptacttcallv Slii\1\L'd 111

multtpk '""lth '1111ltlt:tne<'u'il lite ho\ tn "\aga" lttCtitt\ helteiL'' tn th,· nl\tlt that the
 47

"Naga" would develop wrngs 111 cmu sc of time and behaves himself accordingly In the

case of .lagan of The Ycndtu of Sweets, the imagm;uy wotld vision that he compounded in

himself as a possrblc cowsc of lilt: l(u Mali, his son, always remains, suppressed and

unexpressed in him The rhcam-vision that he mutwed in himself for his son becomes

available in the half: hem ted mamtcr in which .lagan accepts what all Mali does, even when

he resents and hates the ways of life that Mali adopted lor himself. .lagan's atrection for his

son is the potential f(ucc in hun to agree l(u what all Mali docs. In his hearts of hearts,

.lagan never reconsealed with Mali and his ways As a result he suffers in himself a typical

pain, getting hotter and hotter as a never exploding volcano. His is a typical case of

transposing the childlike manner of surviving in di!Terent worlds simultaneously, into a

bitter truth of reality in life

Raju's (The Uuide) case also fitlls into some such doubl'e personalities contending

for supermacy in his authentic self To start with, Raju is a sinner, deprived of all ethical

norms of life In his dreamy constrainious enthusiasm, he distances Rosie from her

husband Marco, by way of playing the role of a paramour. In his case, the dual personality

complex comes to the foreliont in the latter part of his life, after serving the prison for

forging the signature of Rosie on the cheque Raju, in the second half of the novel,

functions himself as automaton, without any will of his own in the decision he makes.

Such is the phcnomcnonal compl<:xity in the char actcr of Raman (The I lungry Child)

The most important aspect of R K Nara)an's novels concerns v,ith the absolute

possibilitY of promotmg S)mpathY and understanding between human beings In hislli!i_cl::

times. Charles Drdcns introduces the prol(nrnd pl11ase 'the clllldhood of mnrc, as a matter
 48

of fact or our 11101 al sense of being eme1 ges out of a 1ich imaginative lilc' Even without

our conscious aw;ueness of the lite\ we apprehend the richness of the lilc thought.

F. The Ambitious Chilli

Rrefen ing to 'J he Guide, R K Narayan makes the following misplaced judgement.

Says M K Naik

"The GujQ_e does not manifestly have the limited aim of the exposure of comic

absurdity in the lives of its characters It seems to aim much higher to deal with a moral

dilemna in the life of its protagonist A dilemma which illustrates the all-pervading irony of

life itself, by raising overwhelming questions about all human motives and thereby

highlighting the essential ambiguities of human condiJions" (86)

At the outset, to arrive at the problem of 'essential ambiguities of human

conditions', leave aside 'a moral dilemma of the life of the protagonist', is in itself more or

less a hasty judgement. R K Narayan, in Jhe _Quid_~, as well as in all his novels and short

stories, neither proposes nm' a1ms to resoh,e any big 'moral dilemma' or 'ambiguities of

human conditions' Narayan's highest committment is in telling a story, a story that has an V

immediate perceptual experience on the readers mind. The story of Raju, after his release

from the jail, certainly takes a serious narrative tone But the seriousness in the narration is

obviously conce1ncd with concious urgent manner of making a truthful, honest and

transparent confession of the \\hole of his life This kind of urgency on the part of Raju is

more like a child's manner of sinceliy telling out his minds concerns about what all that

happened mcrtly through h1s act1ons A child nc\cr falls into any great moral dilemma' as

he does not han~ anv se11ous conceptual undc1standing of life Raju 11ght !iom his

chtldhood 1s anmqu1s1tc pc"onal1tv. \\ho puh his o\\n pe1sonal llblght into the m: 1tt''" ,,r
 4Y

everybody and anybody 'I his is what he lca11rt automatically as a tot11ist guide. As a

tourist g'l;ide, it had been Raiu's inurH:diatc busrncss coucern to solve his clients problems,

then and there, almost instantly This ncedfirl trait in Raju as a tourist guide came to him in

the manner of a child instantly and instantaneously chm actcrising a world around him for

his exclusive perceptual ex per icnce In this act or perceptual anxiousness, an average child

never enters into the mmal dilemmas He simply has a complex to take Puck (The Mid

Summer Nights [)_reams) like mischievous peep into others Thus, "It was his (Raju's)

nature to get involved in other peoples interest and activities' (8)

The expression 'other peoples mterest and activities' is very important m the

context of Raju's child like manner of apporach to life. A grown-up man takes a wishful

peep into the atTairs and businesses of others. To become curious of 'interest and

activities' of people is a major par agative of children. It is the sheer force of habit that

ultimately forced him to take a personal interest into the interests and activities of Rosie.

Intact, he had contributed for extracting and distancing Rosie from her dogmatic,

authoritarian and unfeeling husband Marco Rosie had her personal ambition to be a great \

dancer, and Raju helped her to become one. To that extent, the plot has all the material of

a fairytale, in the context of which the hero rescues the heroine from the vampirish

clutches of the gaint The tairytale fabric of the initial stages of the life of Raju, starts

taking a dibolic transformatrun into an insolvable problem of life Both, Rosie and Raju

come into a close knit togetherness \\'hen Rosie became a great dancer, with fame and

name. Raju becomes her pri' ate secretary, looking alier all her dance engagements, as

\\ell'" her monetary all:rirs It is at this stage tlut \larco ma~es a 'l'"cious gesture of

entellng into the life or Rosre. h\ \\a\ or ptesenllll~ a cheque Ill kr 1 :rmc It IS the S:lllll'
 50

Marco, the committed antique1 ian. who stud1cs the ancient pillars and rocks with a great

personal passton allc1 absolutely ove1look1ng and blind!(Jiding himself to the living

greatness of his wife. Rosie as an aspi1ing dancer

It is at this stage that Raju comes to his 1cscue, and in making he1 a famous dancer.

Raju's conttibution is not less lie stood by her in her dillicult days, as well as on her days

of eminence and prominence hom Raju 's point of view, there is a sort of unwritten

human bondage between himself and Rosie lletc starts the childlike t1xation of Raju in

craving for the exclusive possession of Rosie for himself He certainly encourages her in

the furthurence of her arstistic faculty; but he cannot even stand the passing idea of Rosie

being distanced away from him, even when it was Marco, her old husband. Here, the

relation of Raju and Rosie is profond in its intensity. In Marco, offering a big cheque to

Rosie was perceived by Raju as 1\larco 's initial gesture to take away Rosie from Raju. It is

in this troubled state of mind that he childishly, even foolishly, forged the cheque; and the

later consequences are obvious lie was sent to prison and was required to serve a term.

But from his own point of view, the manner in which Rosie, not only

coldshouldered him but also 1 esentfully distanced him becomes, alltogether

unwithstandable to Raju and his childlike mind He certainly represented and regreted for
---
what all that happened But then, l(lt the child like ctu iosity of the author himself, as well

as that of the reader. Raju's st01y should not end up with a mere penal survitude in the

prison itself There should be some more things that must have happened to Raju; and it is

111 these ine\ itable corollaries of his ltfe that his child like innocent su!Tenng manner of

d1spos1tion comes to the fmcliont I\ I K Natk considctes tlus latter port1on of the life of

R;qu as an 'itonic \lsJon· 111 the sense that the 11holc c'tc!lslon \lf the stt'l\ of R.ttu 111
 51

prison itself There should be some things mo•e that must have happened to Raju, and it is

in these inevitable co• olbillcs uf Ius lite that his child like innocent sullc1 ing manner of

disposition comes to the I(Hcliont

M K Naik considc1s this latter po1tion of the life of Raju as an 'ironic vision' in

the sense that the whole extension of the stmy of Raju is a sort of mock heroic parallel,

which is in accordance with the nnagmary demands of poetic truth and poetic justice. Naik

again arrives at the mo1bid conclusion that chief 'motive' in the latter e~tension of The

Guide is 'sainthood thrust upon an undeserving protagonist', Naik, like any other critics of

RK.Narayan, arrived at an argonious conclusion that this sainthood somehow was not

only desired but also craved by Raju, the pwtagonist As a matter of fact, from what all its

perspires in the latter part of the novel, there is a constant and continual desire that Raju

always wanted to unburden heavy weight of the self, by way of making a clear confession

and also of what really he was

There is a way of understanding this sainthood thrust on Raju. As a matter of fact,

Raju being torced in a situation like in the context of metaphysical evil that it is the

essential ambiguity of the human condition A child, so long he subsits in the perceptual

manner of subsitting in life, no conceptual ambiguities of human conditions touch him. As

a matte• of fact, Raju does not have any conceptual idea of this sainthood that is being

thrust upon him, just like a grm~ing child never has an understanding of the moral

dilemmas and the 'essential ambiguities of human conditions' in the p1 occss of his growing

up into manhood

ll11s \\il\ of undciStandmg Raju 's llansl(>llnatll>n in the late• half l>f the nm el, as a

s\mboilc gesttiiC of RattL quite unintentional!\ but quite mstmcti\Ch tl\111[! to acqtiiiC 1(, 1

- \

1111 Ill Ill II II 1111

T • :. -,- -
 52

himself a sort of oblivious 11gours into a state of innm:cnce and naivety, the prune

characteristic fcatur es of childhood Aller Ins rcseals fi om jail, ther c a1 c two psychological

alternatives open f(n him lie could have nurtlllcd in himself a hatred towards Rosie and a

desire to seck revenge on the person, who played the principal role of bringing his

varitablc downfirll Incidentally, she came into his life quite innocously and innocently; and

after having acquired for herself all the name, fame and money, started cold shouldering

him

As a matter of tact, Rosie should not have resorted to such severe and callous

treatment towards her erst while benefactor But, the inevitable happened; and the other

course open for him is in his repentent desire to take back upon himself his original child

like inquisite manner of involving himself "in other peoples interest and activities". (The

Guide, 8) This trait of Raju is highly satisfying for him as a manner of showing honest

interest in guiding the people as a tourist guide

But the very title The_Guidc is ironic in the sense that Raju, who persumptously

takes to the vocation of guiding the tourist, docs not know who to guide himself in his

own life. It is this incapacity to guide himself in a worldly wise manner that ultimately

renders him into a unfortunate patient, instead of being an agent, who is susceptible for all

suggestions and ideas even v. hen they are deterimental to his own safety and preservation.

The second force of consistantlv and continually regressing into a kind of child animity is

adopted by him after he comes back fi orn the jail

Du11ng the second phase The_ <.il!lde, dramatically opens up "ith the meetmg

bctl'ccn RaJU and \clan Ra1u " ficshh released fiom the prl and \'clan is a simple

\rllagcr I he\ both arc slr;lngL'Is I(H each other ltrs tlus niL'L'trng \\rth \clanthat)M\L'' a
 5}

new way of life llH RaJU It is rn this encounter wrth Vclan, the srmple minded villager, that

Raju regains for himself Ius o11ginal t;tcu!trcs of enjoying all sorts of pctsonalli"ecdoms in

guiding the tourist

At the outset Vel an, in his own innocent villager's manner takes Raju to be, the

only 1 wise and well-informed person Vclan seeks Raju 's advise on his own domestic

problem of his ignmant hall~sistcr, who refuses to marry the youth choosen by Velan.
- " > ~

Somehow, Raju advices her to consider Yelan's choice positively, the girl suddenly

becomes transformed, and she attnbutes the change of her heart to the benevolent look

which Raju gave her She even speaks of him as her saviour. It is all just possible that Raju

had regained for himself that childlike atttactivc glare in his looks, particularly when he

sensibly advised Velan' s sister to marry the boy choosen by Vel an This is the first instance

that started elevating Raju into the stature of a saint into the innocous minds of the

villagers

At the same time, it is also a fact that Raju never wanted to be a saint or a spiritual ·•·

guide llc is always conscrous of the Etc! that he was only a tourist guide. As a tourist

guide, it had been Raju's vocation to solve the problems of his clients, rightly or wrongly

quite instantly, by way of imparting upon them all the enthusiastic informations they liked.

ln the present context, Raju agrees to advise Velan. when he gratelully tries to touch

Raju · s feet It IS in tl11s context. that the author· s comment underlines the specific import

of the ps1chological change and dc,eloprllcnt that was coming to him R K Narayan

i10mcall\ states here "1\c !i:lt he \\as attaming a stature of a saint" (SO)

llut as ;1 matter of rcalit\. Ratu li:lt 111 h11nsclf the child hi-e charitable manner of
 5-1

thought, nothing that Raju docs hc•cal\c• become hmmful to anybody else But, then with

the same old ch;u itablc and gladly n1ann.:1 of stamlmg in the eminence and good looks of

others, Raju gradually cnllaps himself~ by way of gaining lor himself a lalse reputation of

being a saintly personality All the villagers and others, impose upon him a grand design of

sainthood, which ultimately becomes complete in his child like voluntary manner of

persumptously attaining a saint's matrydom For the whole world it is just saint's

matrydom of Raju, but lor himself it is only a gesture of recovering for himself his original

child like stands and personality, even when it is the utmost painful process of completely

annihilating him

Raju is being looked upon by the villagers as a saviour. The irony of the fact lies

that when he was meditating with closed eyes, concerning a speculation as to where he

would go next, the villagers unfortunately thought that he was lost in a deep saintly

meditation There are many more coincidences that endeowed upon him the widespread

rumour of Raju been a great saint. An unexpected return of a promisary note by a cousin

in a village, is regarded by the villagers as due to Raju's holy influence. In the overall
\
estimates of the people of the "orld, RaJU is a 'Sadhu'. But it is a fact that Raju himself

never made any conscious ef1orts in this directions lie also does not have a mind to

deceive the people

But at the sametime, he docs not have any idea about what he should do next

Since the \ illagcrs me p1ettv gcncwus in supplying his food, unasked, he confirms in

lmnsclfthat he has no \\hc1e to go In quite an involuntary manner, even \\hen it is against

hi' \\Ill and dc,llc. he dcc1dcs to pia\ sc11ousil the sa111thood 1olc tl11ust upon h11n
 U_ut at the sametlllle. he does not have a11y idea about what he should do next.

Since the villagers arc prl'ltv f'.L'rlL'I!>tJs ill "'l'l'lyi11g Ius !(rod, u11as~cd, he co11lirms in

himself that he has no where to go 111 qurtc all i11voluntary manner, even when it is against

his will and desire, he decides to play set iously the sainthood 10lc thrust upon him. He

decides "to look as br illia11t as he could ma11age. let drop germs of thoughts from his lips,

assume all the radiance available" (30)

All this is not somcthi11g new f(n him This was what he was always doing to the

tourists in his early stages of life In the present context, he even delivered lectures to the

village boys Here, the authorial voice informs that he is "hypontised by his own voice ..

he felt himself growing in stature no one was mote impressed by the grandeur of the

whole thing than Raju himself' (42)

The author wants to suggest that Raju's condition here is that of a Jlattered child,

pampered to the extent of invoking upon himself, even a self-inflicted destruction. It is in

everybody's knowledge that a little bit of flattery, elevates and extents a child to

unimaginable heights of comprehending himself as all inportant, in been a coveted

protagonist But, however this child like \\eakness in Raju puts him into difficulties,

particularly when the villagers invite him for a discourse

There are only two things in the world on which he can speak with due authority;

one rs his elopement of Rosie and the other is Ius jail life. So, any amount of discourse or

discussion is not at all possible for him But, there is that original trait of Raju as a tourist

guide in chattering \\ith the tourist in all sorts of misguiding grbber But, hm1ever, he was

ccrtallril a 1e11 cscr circu11rh>nrtcr 1\s a tour"! ~uidc. 111 Ius carlrer illcatllation, 11hencvcr

he kit siHHI ol'proper a11d con1 IIICIII~ c·-.posrtrorrs about the old rclrcs. he used to ll'll the
 56

tourist to gaze at the mom1111ent li om vm i'"" angles in order to appreciate the mystical

altra and grandeur oft he relies I his rs onl\ a psydlOiogicaltcdmique that he used to play

upon the tourist And this deceptive trait of Raiu's verbal deception and speaking lies, is a

matter of selJ~satislying flm l(n children Ra1u scr iously advises the villagers to go into •

meditation All these 11 icks \VOl ked well in pt oviding loud f(Jr him and the most desired

· place of height and honour in the village

In the meantime, nunber or times he tried to speak out his deceitful past to Velan

and all others But, however, the child like mnocent manner categorically always eludated

him . lnspite of his keen desire to speak out everything about himself in order to unburden

his overburdened self of the past, the villagers never allowed him this opportunity. They

always glorified him; and again like a seiJ~satislied child on instances, Raju started

enjoying the comforts and privileages extended by the villagers, quite freely, and that too

with great devotions It is in this context that Raju virtually gained back the initial child

like charity, of continually spending his life through pleasant perceptions of affections

leaving altogether aside the heavy, burdensome concept of life R K Narayan is extending

the story of Raju in this pleasant manner only to revert the whole process in its final

analysis

'I he inevitable happened aller three years A severe draught struck the village. The

villagers, in their own ignorant manner thought that Raju could emancipate them after

bt mgittg rain through his supernatural pmver Raju knows for certain that he does not have

any supernatural powers But he cannot willingly run 3\\ay fi·on the situation And the final

apacalrps comes to RaJU ttt tire lillttt ofsdl~desttttl'tion. \oluntartly a;sumed upon himself
 57

There is a pr ol(nmd autho11al suggestion here, that one day or the other, the primal

IClicities of childhood arc hound to he dL'Stl<l\l'llm the process of growing into adulthood

from childhood This total dcstructron of childhood happens usually in a very casual

manner in everybody's life llut then. the very destruction of childlikeness, however

eradic, simple, controversial and callous it might he, it passes itself and its ommous

disappearance tl-om life is always a matter of great tragedy It is this tragedy or the

inevitable loss of the bliss of childhood and all its eontrovcr sial complexities that gets

represented in the life story of Raju Cl he<Jl1ide)

If Raju' s death at the end of the novel suggestively comes as a seJt:invoked rig our

into the primieval innocence and naivety. both born of a profound vaxation on painfully

experiencing the irrational paegent of the world around him Raju's moments of life and

his childlike desire have nothing to do with the mundane world around him Untill he

forged the cheque given by Marco in fiwour of Rosie, Raju was mischievously active not

even taking seriously the crvic loss of the wmld in which he has to survive. Moral lapse in

his character already took place quite some years before, when he unwillingly eloped

Rosie When he forged Rosie's cheque, he had shown again a blind childish trait of

transgressing the laws of the land, quite deliberately and without any fear. Untill that time

he is an active agent, confo11mng his activity more or less i'n irrational manner.

The straddling irrational bravado of Raju in being active to the extent of

committing an illegal act, he acts like a sell~appointed agent When he was brought to

books through imprisonment, he becomes a passive patient Number of tunes, Raju

\\anted to gain !(Jr himself a relief and ti·eedom liom the so-called sainthood thrust upon

hun bv thL' vrllagc f(,lh s But rt CPtrld not be casrlv pt»'lble f(,, hun h cr vtune he made an
 5H

attempt to make a neat and clean conks"on ot the Simple life of the past, quite ironically,

he was thought to be too modest to be i>chl'lcd In a way, he scll~cmluwcd upon himself a

way of life of a saint f[Hceably thrust upon hun, again out of a childlike innocence and

naivety of the villagers born of the rgnor anee and illiterary cojnate with pure infantile

imagination Raju 's pr ecadment as a saint has asb-4ddling and telling ellect on the child and

childlike readers

G. The Mothl·rly Child

In the "llungry Child", we have absolutely a different story Here we have a

mischievous child who quite innocously and unintendendingly exposes the world of elders.

In general, the world of elders is replete with some false sentiment, unfounded belief and \/"/

impossible dreams As a matter of fact, the point of view in the Hungry child

intermediately goes on shilling fi01n Gopu, the hungry child and Raman, a signboard

painter Gopu as a mischievous child is slightly a fictional extension of Balu, of The

Financial Expert

While Balu is the case of the spoiled child because of excessive pampering by the

parents, Gopu is the case of the chrld who simply does not bother about parents, or for

that matter any elders Usually chrldr en are fondly attached to the parents. When they are

set aside fi 0111 their par cnts, or the elder members in their family, they become

inconsoulably restless But Gopu's case is altogether diflerent. Here the author's idea is

of a naughty and fcarleS> child. 11ho would not resent limn his naughtiness lnfact he was

lost m the ·mel a· and he 11 as collected bv the sponsors of the 'mel a' The sponsors were

makrn!' ficqucnt announLTiliC!lts about the lost chrld ·1 hcv 11crc asking the parents to

l'<llllL' t" till'll ccntr ;1\ "ll'rcc and uJI\cct tile clnld
 5'1

Raman, the parnter of signs is rest less gentleman because of his personal reasons

Intact he is a guiltcd lover I he marriage of Raman and Daisy was fixed, but about the

time the marriage was to be peifin mcd, Daisy preferred to run away with somebody else.

From that time onwards, he became av..fi.rlly restless like a child Daisy's act of deserting

him was seriously, even painstakingly, diSturbed and shattered his inner psychic. His

romantic love towards Daisy psychologically turned into a sort of revenge passion in him.

On the occassion of the story, he is partaking himself from the 'mela'. But he is not

able to enjoy the ·mel a' as such The frequent announcements about the missed child in the

· mela' became an occassion for senously reflecting upon the extent of carelessness of

parents towards their children. He goes on thinking about his lady-love, Daisy and the

possible imaginative manner in which they both could have made themselves ideal parents.

If only she had not taken to the extremity of deserting him and opting to marry somebody

else. Raman could never excuse Daisy for her callousness. The memory of her had always

been haunting his inner memory As a consquence, he developed a psychological hatred

towards all men and women, as parents of little children. It is important to note here that in

his earlier moments of love wrth Daisy, he was always dreaming about the possible

children that would be bm n of their romantic love But then, Daisy quite mercilessly

shattered IllS dreams

v
On hearing about the lost child in the 'mcla' over the microphone, Raman was very

curiously rcrmnded of his erstwhile lady-1m c. in the company of whom he wanted to

adopt himself into an ideal parent \\'ith a sudden stroke of this idea further disturbing his

rnnc1 imaginali\C conl(lUIS. he becomes quite unprepared and Ullllllendrngly, a

compassionate male pment lie Jelkcted upon possible c1uclty on the part of the pmcnt

who did not come to collect the child i'"Jl'le of incessant and continual announcement in

the microphone In a sort of ccccnt1 ic and extra-authentic manner, he emulated upon

himself quite imaginatively the possible 1ole of a concerned male parent thinking wildly

and revengefully about his D:usy lie mmchcd quite casually towards the central otlice of

the 'mela' where the child was kept On seeing him the 'mela' owners pressumed that he

was the probable pm ent of the lost child Aller due repremence and appraisals of the

nature of good parents, the 'mela' -sponsors handed over the child to Raman. In a sudden

impluse Raman said "Yes", when the manager asked him· "Are you taking him away?".

This sudden abnormal manner of Raman is ditlicult to understand. If Raman is

conceived as a normal humanbeing, there is something psychologically quite abnormal

'--"
about him He is probably a psycho-romantic dreamer, who takes the incidents and things

around him in an extraordinary manner as though they concern him in a personal way,

even when they a1 e not This tJ ait in Raman, psychologically speaking, is the usual

property of the child Children quite inconsistently take the matters happening around

them, somehow concern them 111 one ''ay or the other, and react and reciprocate

accordingly This trait is quite meaningless But then it rs a phenomenal reality with

children

Thus, Narayan is tictionallv tackling here, not one but two meaningless children. In

their coming together. thc1c is lim and p10lilic, condcnscnding to black comedy Raman
/
automatically acceptmg the child. is in itself an absurd predacament, t is born of his

inne 1 ps\chol\l[!lcal dl'lulhancc·, In lite!. the chdd he1e. as \' NJI\anand Bhatt suggest

".\ttacl' the p!L'tL'Ihll'n PilhL' '""ld ofadulh ··11:1)

 61

Quite contnuy to the normal rational properties of an average child, the lost child,

when Raman lit s! saw him, inspile of the Iii\' I thai he was los! in the litir, Gopu remains

quite unpreturbed He was sillmg on a bench "vigorously swinging his legs and amusing

himself by hoisting ;md bending and noisily 1ocking the bench much to the annoyance

of the clerk" (79)

It is quite interesting, and even absurd to note that the child readily volunteered to

accompany Raman, even when Raman is an absolute stranger for him When he "held up

to him the half~eaten candy, at which the boy shot forward as if from a catapulled,

snatched it and buried his lace on its pink mark " (225) Raman instinctively appreciated

the wild gesture of the boy, or even he readily transposed himself, even without his

knowledge, into a strange automatic and mesmerised character, quite involuntarily acting

in accordance with the suggestions given by the "gumpy of his clerk" (225)

From what all it perspired of the dramatic interacting moment of the Raman and

the child, convinced the clerk thai Raman was the parent of the boy. When the clerk

asked, "Are you taking him away 0 " (225) Raman showed no hesitati~~~hen the office
clerk asked, "Where is his mother''" (225), Raman as it happens in an absurd drama, quite

involuntarily uttered, "OI'er there, waiting outside" (225),What exactly that prevailed in

the mind of Raman is the manner in wh1ch he literal~ transposed himself into altogether an

imaginary \\orld, wherein he complcxially/<;ompounded in himself that in his imaginary

/
\\orld;f);usv "as his \\tiC and the child on hand is the dream child of his, with Daisy as its

mol her \\.hal exactlv attracted him towards the boy is in his persumption that the boy was

hungt \. and tn h" 1111 n '~' ntpalhetre 1 ea1·tiona1 v manner became sentimentally dum n

to11ards the clnld

 62

But the child is a virtual devil lie is not at all sol ry or disturbed in the mind for

having been deserted liom his parents On the contrary, he was quite mischievous and was

ready to accompany Raman, as Raman was perceived by him as a fellow who would

appease all his demands tor eating and enter tainmcnt The child was not wrong in his

perception
\__
Raman was a strange abnormal character, simultaneously living in two worlds. The

real world of his habitation and the hot and 1evengeful world of imaginations, in which he

grutinly and nutinly, practically abuses and shows his hatred and revenge towards Daisy,

who quite inhumanly, mercilessly and callously ditched him, by way of marrying somebody

else Psychologically speaking, Raman is an abnormal varital dual in whom his two

personalities are cognitively co-released and Raman's practical action are taking their

origin in the common ground of the two co-released characters. His is not a case of

alternating personality. He is a quaint imaginary fictional creation of R.K.Narayan. The

owner for such characterisation is available for him in the world of children.

Raman in th~' )-lungry child:'in an automatic manner 1esorts to the symbolism and

react in accordance with his 'childhood of mind' The moment he heard about the missing

child in the ·mel a- on the microphone, Raman, the painter, paints for himself in his

interiority about the sulkring of a child distanced tiom its parents In a strange analomous
---------
manner and in a Symbolic ;\aV, he co-relates his own pain of being callously distanced and

sa10ured by hrs crst11hilc bclO\ed Daisy He is a desuade lover. lie could never extricate

hunsclf liorn the trauma of been deserted by his belo\ed It is again the 'childhood of Ins

nHnd· that O\crpo11crs hrs conscious self, and quite automatically, he walks towards the

ollicc of the mcla· I o hrs great surpmc. he finds the child bcha\lng hnnsdf qurtc
 61

mischievously and even LIIKOIICCI nally tLm<llds his deseJtion by the pa1ents "lie noticed a

boy sitting on a bench vig01ously sv.11Igmg his legs and amusi11g himself by twisting and

bending and noisely rocking the bench on its 1icketty, uneven legs much to the annoyance

of a clerk at a table "(225)

Here is {11ertiment lesson f(Jr Raman II ere onwards just like a sd\ziod personality,

Raman goes on making an inte1 i01 monologue for himself by way of bitterly cursing his

beloved, who deceived him J\t the sa111e time, the boy's unfeeling stubborness, even when

his parents seemingly forgot (inspite of the innumerable announcements on the mike, the

parents did not turned up to collect him), at once creates two passionate strains of autistic

imagination in Raman, one concerned with his hatred and 1evenge towards the estranged

beloved, and the other concer-~s with his sympathetic reaction towards the child.
0
The child is a lost chrld and he is a lost 1Jve;.. There is a strange similarity of tJ
emotional context between the both Quite unassumingly, and even unintendingly, Raman

volunteered to impersonate the parent of the child He offers the child a candy, just

casually out of sympathy The chdd to his great surprise, jumps to take it and thereafter he

was ready to go along with Raman, inspite of the fact that Raman he is stranger for him.

J\ child's interior vis1on of his own life for himself is altogether different. He is

capable of eclipsing and capsulati11g himself i11to his immediate inner reality from the

unsituational ohjcctl\c 1c;dism I his is a g1cat gil\ of(iod fm child1en The grown-ups are

invanabh IIIf(llllll'd bv the histLHical scnsc'(,rpa~t, present and future But a child can seek

resort of exclusl\ c 1111 crsion into himself and react in accordance with his exclusive

inner 1cailt\
 ((
\ l?

In the llunll'J Child, the child's i1111c1 1eality is gluttoning, coupled with moving

mound in the ·mel a' Ra111an is Jl'ady to '"' ve both his demands lnli1ct, Raman was

imaginatively transporting himself quite liequently, and even revengefully towards wild

thoughts of revenge on his wic~ed beloved The companionship of the child, constantly

and continually brings him back li 0111 his imaginative cast of mind towards the reality of

'mela' and the enjoyment otl'cred by it

Narayan gives a vc1y nice point hc1c, the literal 'mcla' in the story is to be taken as (]}_

a 'mela' metaphor f(Jr the life itself in this world ~~-the 'mela' we just rumble enjoying all u ·
- ---- .
the immediate stuns and trandoms of1'e1 ed on instance. Narayan means to imply that life
v--··
too has to be lived in such an objective
-
delectable manner witb_out
/'-
ever been involved in

serious attachments and entanglements It is the child tl~l'c[.;:!l$ fair and felicitious
. --...
\lesson to Raman tluough his cmcrscd bchaviowial reactioin for every movement of life in

~e 'mela' This is in conttast to Raman's fi·equent sojourns into the pathetic context to his
'-..._

past

Ultimately towards the end of the day, the moment the child spots his parents at a

distance, he runs towa1ds them, even without showing any courtesy and civility for all the

gifts and comforts that he p1ovided to the child. There ends the story, and there beings the

fundamental lesson of hfe fo,r Raman They have to take upon themselves what Dickens
\__..· '---
called the 'childhood of ll!llld' and live their life in the 'here and now' on 'as is where is'

basis

II. The Innocent :wd Submissi>e Child

I he stun of the '""cl sunounds ;uound 111numcrablc incidence in the Ide of

 65

of Mmk Twain in his The llucklebe11Y hnn. Swaminathan vchcmantly dislikes his school

environment The mechanical 1outine in tk scilool coupled with the ove1powering and

dictating teachers, becomes highly msufl'c1 able f(Jr him But then what gives him the

necessary zest of life is in the enthusiastic manner in which he makes friends Play, friends

and occassional dreaming. p1ovidc hnn mth the most needful relief from the imposed

discipline of the school and f:1r reaching discipline insisted upon by the elders in his house.

Swaminathan is a typical average n11ddlc class child intending to live his own life

in his own enthusiastic manner lie always finds it necessary to struggle to free himself

from the oppressive world of the grown-ups a1 ound him. In all his moods and movements,

Swami executes himself in his own unique ingenious manner Whenever he finds the world

around him insutlerable, he instantly invents a verbal carricarist manner of showing his

resentment

Vedanayavam, is the name of the teacher who taught him arithematic in the school.

Somehow he could never understand his arithematic lessons as taught by him. The simple

reason is that the mathematic teachers assume upon himself a great frown in his face.

Swaminathan mischievously calls him Fire-eyed Vedanayanam' This is the nike name that

he had to given him, and the mathematic teacher was notoriously called and geared by all

students as Tire-eyed Vedanayavam·

 66

Like WiSe in that bttllll" l'Vcie-"heciL'JliSodc or his lifC, when he fitiled to "convert

the two pebbles into two, three prasa coins".cvcn al\er pellorming a very sincere and

devoted ritual or placing the 1\vo pebbles in the card board box and prayed the Gods in the

Puja room l()r the most need lid comer sion or the pebbles in coins And when his prayer

was not accpeted by the God. he rushed into the house or Manito borrow the necessary

amount ti·orn him On seeing a imposing stranger in the house or Mani, is readily calls him

'bushy eye-brows'.

Pillai is the history teacher His method or teaching history is absoloutely quioxtic.

History is a matter of providing information and insight into the past of the nation. His

method of teaching has no serious information, nor there is anything specific in the past.

As such there is no specific historical sense Hut then it is not very easy for children to put

an insight into the historical sense, unless and until the past events are co-related with

human ur gencics and inter est Prllai lays lust01 )' as a scll~dramatised demonstration of

innumerable wars in the past The reactions of the young students are presented in the

following words "When he (Pillai) described the various fights .. one heared the clash of

arms and the groans of the Slain" (5) It is quite natural that excessive dramatised

enactment of the 'clash of arms' and the 'groans of the Slain' scares the children instead of

installing into their ) oung minds a human interest in the history kssons. As a consequence

the history lessons arc camati\ e of a sort of aversion instead of interest

t\ greater a' ersron rs catered by the scripture masters He always delighted in

abu,111g the llr11du (iod> and the11 rdolators \\orshrpper Almost all the students in the class

are llrndu. and the humrlatrrrg manner rn \\hteh the Suiptt11c master cxpmes the llrndu
 67

Gods and their WOI sluppc" has a ncgat 11 c psychological ci!Cds on the young minds

lnli1ct Swami once challenged and inllaicd the emotions of the Sc1iptu1e master in the

following retanl.

"• lf he was a Uod, why did he cal lksh and fish and drink winc'l' As a brahmin

( ' boy it was inconceivable lo him thai (iod should be a non-vegetarian. Jn answer to this

Ebenzer left his seat, advanced slowly Jowa1ds Swa1~inathan, and tried to wrem(h his left 1 /

'<!llLQ['_LtJ.L____ .iJ y '- ..$. C.A..J,-_ _cl '- .vJ ~-" ~""-·
The Head Master himself: with his 'thin long cane' is a matter of dread for the

students. With all such imposing atmosphere in the school, the young students are very

often driven to run away fiorn the school l3ut then they cannot resort to this practice as

often as they want. Therefore they invent for themselves the usual ingenious method of

children not paying any attention to the presence of their teachers and their lessons.

Even when they are sitling in the class rooms, their inner modalities of imagination

transport themselves to the inwardly memorised pleasant incidence of their lives, so far as

they become intc1 csling and involvabic i(ll themselves This tendency, particularly in

Swami, creates a great potential for day-dreaming as a convenient vechicle of escape from

the rigours of the class 1oom context lnli1ct he learns nothing practically in the schooL

Moreover, the excessive discipline of the 1\lissionary education system literally subvert' the

young man's sense of fi·ecdom

Pia\. ti iends and d1 caming become potential pre-occupations m the mind of

S\\all!l llc had a ft111n\ gwup of fi·iends a10und him 1\lani, Shankar, Samuel and Rajarn

con;Jiiutc f(H the thcln,cLcv 111tP a fi1cndl\ g1oup, al\\ays mvolving themselves into warm
 68

engrossing, convcisation amongst themselves Swami himself chmactc1ises Matti as the

'Mighthy good !(JI !1othi11g', intending to"'"'!'""""' all othe1s in his class with his robust

and towering physique Shankm, howevc1, is the most brilliant boy of the class Being

highly conscious of his brillancc, Shankar always behaves like a umque boy, with

excessive importance of his own But then, making friends is always a matter of

establishing sweet and channing relations Such sweet and charming relations emerge out

of mutual appreciat inns of the fi iends amongst themselves.

Swami always shows a great admiratton for Shankar; and Shankar reciprocates the

same with a sort of patternising warmth and felicity Samuel, fourse, was very short in

size He is therelore,,nick-named as 'Pea' The fresh arrival of Rajam, the son of the
I

Superintendent of Police, creates a little imbalance and alteration in the relational aspects

of the friends. Mani, who was enjoying a sort of superior status in the class, receives a set-

back with the arrival of Raj am 1\!01 e importantly, Swaminathan alters his inward devotion

from Mani to Rajam, simply because of the importance of Rajam as the son of the

superintendent of Police

The school is a great uncomf()rtable place for Swami as well as his friends. The

strict discipline of the 1\lission<Hy school and its curriculum, together with the dogmatic

religious fanaticism of the teache1 s, makes the entire atmosphere quite unfriendly, and

even painful to the !oYclv little sense of fi eedom of the children Therefore, they always try

to escape litcrallv and ima~tnatt\ch.llut such a literal escape is not possible In the

hohdavs parttcularh thcv J1!efcr to \\andcr here and there aimlessly Loafing, dreaming,

dut-chattn~ and J'lallfl[! utckct a1c the ptomincnt pieoccupattnns lnfact all these
 activities ofrcr them a wide scope of licedol!t as against the atmosphetic discomforts and

constrains in the school and in 1he home

llowevct, Swami finds a sympathetic liicnd in his gtand mother His father is

always busy with his own a!Euts lie is a vety sttict discipliner llis mother is always busy

in the domestic atrairs His J;tther insists upon his studying and doing sums in the vacations

also But the vacations are the very good r6,ppostunity)for Swami and friends for seeking
''-
' /
'
,/

asides from the stringent domestic atniosphctcs His mother pays more attention to her

new born younger baby This too becomes a unbearable point in the domestic environs for

Swami.

Therefore, S warni al11 ays engages himself in serious conversations with his grand

mother. But the grand mothet is an old timer Inspite of the fact that she is a loving

character, who always pampers and pets Swami, she does not really understand many

things that Swami seriously discusses with her For example, she does not understand

anything of cricket and all the chatter he makes about the game. Even then she takes him

in confidence and heats him patiently Whenever Swami has any fear or problem of the

surrounding atmosphere, he 1eadill' runs to his grand mother and takes a comfortable

asylum, by way of enveloping himself in her lap Thus, for Swami the grand mother in the

house and !iicnds in the school :ue the only soutces of happy engagements Otherwise life

is a senous rig our and '" dcali(ll his mnocent self

S\\~n11 and his litcll(l' statts the Clll'kct club lhcv call it 1\tC'C The initials do not

stand f(,, the unl\ et'alh !;unous \fclbotnc Ctic~ct Club of England They stand for

1\faleudt
. ( "'·k,·t ( luh. '''"""·It thn ate• the ptoud pio11cets It is 11ot al\\avs easv. to spate

tnnc 1(, 1 the ctll·kct ,lui' L'\l'IIJII tit,· L'\CIIJII~ lwuts because the schoolc\lc!lds Uf'll'' !' m
 70

Swami very ollen escapes and tuns a\\ay ft<llll the last petiods wl11ch ate usually detained

for <hill classes lie was tahing Sl'llous tJ;tllllllg !ill the CIISL!JIIlg nichet match. Whc11evet

his head master linds him abse11t !iom the lhill classes, he canes him sevcrly on the next

day.

On anchoring the scvc1e displcasutc of the school authorities, he ran away from

the school As a consequence of this distut bing school, he could not take proper training

under his cricket coach for his cJ icket match Finally because of his absence on the day of

the cricket match, his club loses the match to the rival team called YMU(Young Mens

Union) Because of this defeat m the c1 ickct match, he anchored more or less a loss of

pace amongst his friends, and an equal pcl!nancnt loss of the warmth and love of his

dearest friend, Rajam With all such playlttl incidents, Swami's childhood comes to a

close In an ultimate analyses, it is a inevitable loss of childhood's fun and play that
'\
becomes the real fictional bo11e of contention in R K.Narayan's Swami And Fri ends.

When he sensed that the tteatment of the head master became intolerable he runs away

from his second school also

Swami was originally admitted to the Albert Mission School, whose discipline very

otlen becomes a mattct of ad1 et se conce1 ns for Swami as well as his friends. But the

school cutt iculum is quite Llltal·<lldahlc I lis elders would not allow him any choice in this

matter As a matter nf fact. e'cept fm the presence of his fondling grand mother, his own

house is quite const1 a1111 l(n h" tcmpc11ncntal choice of moving freely, dreaming

unendint:h a11d spendm[! trrnc 111th ti icnds Ills mothe1 had always being busy either with

the durneqll· dut1es '" 111 ,-,cluSIIC attending to his httlc brother !lis litthcr's picscncc is
 71

nototollcomfortable because of the fact that he always insists upon studying in the house

also

In compatision to his own house, the school oilers just a deviation, but not the

requisite satislication of a li cc mind 1\ 1<11 covet, the humiliating manner in which the

Missionary school teachciS look down upon the lfindu Gods and myths, produces a

typical retialatory tendency in Swami

As an alternative, imaginati'e distinction, he likes t~a:,:s)!;iends with a huge of

his classmates, in whose company it is possible for him to have a free, frank and

transparent atmosphere of engagement l'svchologically speaking, the overall discipline of

the school is quite monotonous and unbearable. The overall general disturbed atmosphere

of the freedom fighters in the country also had its adverse affects in the general school life.

Intact the arrest of a national heto brought a strike in the school Swami took a very active

agitational role in breaking some of the wmdow panes of the school. For this delinquent

act sevet e corporal punishments "c' e inflicted upon him by the headmaster. The proud

retrieval temper of Swami made him bt ave enough to reach out of the head masters room,

grudgingly muttering,"! dont care for your dirty school"( 36).

But his father immediatelv admits him in a boarding school, which is slightly

inferior in standards, but equally bad in so lar as Swami's intentions of asserting his child
 72

like freedoms and choices are conce11red It is rntitct, as a matter of change ti·om the school

curriculum, that Swami and l11s Jiiends started the Malgudi Cricket club Since it is nut

possible to come early "" the c11cket pr actrcc, Swami was always cutting a few drill

classes in order to take wckct traimng Srnce the discipline of the school docs not allow

him do so, he prcfened to run away liorn thrs school also permanently.

Swaminathan's story, in so litr as the novel covers, abruptly ends here. In a way

there is an implied suggest ron that Swarnmathan 's young and uninformed temper is not fit

for the riguurs of discipline in any manner whatsoever, particularly when it is imposed

upon him by the elders in the house or the teachers in the school. The story of Swami,

with all its instances upon the child like assertions of freedoms and choices, readily

acquires a universal touch Children any\\ here in the world are alike in demanding for all

sorts of forbidden ti·eedoms They like tc' live their lives in the 'here and now', in

accordance with the visions and dreams that they nurture in their absolute freedom bound

imaginations At the same time. Narayan pertinently gives an ideal example of an average

middle class Indian child, "hose conccr ns v.ith life are absolutely associated with

excuberant 'primary activities·

The uniqueness of R K Narayan's fictional devise in this novel concerns with the

manner in "hich he attributes a univcr sal appeal, to the average middle class children of

India. who arc prornincntlv imohing themselves in the rigours of the Britich educational

system As he obscn eel. the chrld like innocence and the sense of freedoms are the

promrnent cast~rcs in the B11tr:-h educatronal system, which was being imposed in India

du11ng the B11 trsh ruk .\t the same tnne. "mbolically speaking. life anywhere in the world

"bnund t" ''""''the ,lllidlll'<'d dr,l!ms pf C\lstcncc through the inc,itablc gro\\th and
 71

matwity into adolescence, and mto manhood thc1eallc1 What all that 1cmains as a sweet

II CaSUie is the COlli ingcnt I Cllllll"ll'S pj the !1 t'l'lillll" and joys Sl<ll cd up ill the memoty

Most of the novels of R K Na1ayan ;uc scll~evident, sclf~Iellectivc and self-fulfiling

charasteristics narrative app1aisals l(ll· the pmnltii loss of the childhood and its exuberant

joys and happiness In almost all the novels of R K Narayan, the central theme is this

relative loss of childhood and its joys tin ough wo1'Piy entanglements. If so, it can be

arrived at a conclusion that R K Narayan makes a sort of painful narrative and

representative appeal of the various manne1 s in which the child like innocence gets

evaporated and lost in the life course of man The relative manner of inportance that he

gives to childhood and its liccdoms and joys as compared to the stress filled

committments and incidence of life, becomes the central appeal of his novels.

I. The Ineffectual Parents

We have in The Dark_RQQ.ill an ;mlully mind-blinded elder called Ramani, as the

main protagonist Inspite of the fact that he is a dashing executive in his public life, he

resorts to "many tantiums of a tampetamental husband" In the domestic context of the

life of Ramani, he beha1 es hnnself as an insufferable, cruel type of a character.

The unbashcd mannet 111 11hich is tortwcs his wife and children, makes almost a

terro11zmg phenomenon of the no1TI llut, hem ever the mute and silent manner in which

his 11ifc sulfets l11s ant1cs and the prof(,und undetstanding manner in which his children

respond to the nudt1 of thetr li1thct. compound in the novel a typical Indian situation of

an autoe~atrc hu,hand. d1ctato1ralh nllliiolhn~ the moods and nHl\emcnts of his own 1\lfe
 74

and children S. Krishnan in his MalglJ(h l.and,capes, 1igh!ly points out that this novel "has

a touch ofsocinl consciousnc.ss li>t its l>ad gtound" ( Ia)

Certain amount ofsadlhsm, coupkd \\lth out and nut authmitativc tantrums is not

new for the middle class and lo\\CI cia" hmilies in India Somehow these traits have

become intolerable fc1r Savit1i and hc1 child1en Whenever there is something wrong in

between the parents, it is small child1en of the house who suffer a Jot. Whenever Ramani

becomes meaninglessly i11 altona! 111 l11s lln v, Savtlt i suflc1 s in hc1 self by way of relapsing

herself to a dark room This kind of Ramani becoming irrationally furious and Savitri

entering the dark room silentlv, is quite a common phenomenon of Rarnani's domestic

environment II is all a mallet of l>ig ltilwna I(H children But chillhcn themselves,

particularly to Babu, the elder son along with his sister Kamla, have to bear the intolerable

tensions in their minds

The horrible nature of the domestic environment of the Ramani is brought out

from the vantage point of vie" as a common and usual matter in the middle class families

of the South India The novel itself has some social purpose, as a convex and concave

mirror image of the fiunily institution itself Since the whole strain falls on the children, it is

understandable that chillhen in such strained environment grow tremorously, always

failing to take proper decisions for themselves But both, Babu and Kamla, are quite

understanding childt en 'I heir emotions are always sympathically tilted towards their

mother, who sul1crs the tcckk" litr\ nf het husband, by way of hiding herself in the dark

room Since thcte is no wa1 of soiling the problem of the temperamental nature of

!Currant, llahu , ,., 1 , '' tc·n "'''"'II ~~' '"' tnt11 th,, dark room in or dct to console his mother

On 1,,, 11 n th 1• -,_,.,, 1c·.ll Ill'. ll,rbu ttll'd to connect the electric 1\trcs, in order to
 75

provide illumination to the !loll's show. 11 hc·11 suddenly the house turned dark due to the

W/OIIg co111rectious of tire ekeillc "'"'s \\'lrell l11s lather. Rarnaui carne ho11rc he l(nmJ the

house dark and.. was ltn ious Following com-ersatrons readily explain the horrible nature of

Ramani·

"As soon as he sighted llahu he asked, "You blackguard, who asked you to tamper

with the electric lights?' Babu stood stunned 'Don't try to escape by being silent Are

you following your mother's example?'

'No, Father'

'Who asked you to tamper with the electric lights'''

'I didn't touch anything I brought in Chandru fie knows all about electricity.'

His father moved towards him and twisted his ear, saying, 'How often have I asked you to

keep to your books and mind your business'''

'I'll try to set it right. Father, as soon as Chandru comes home.'

'Who asked you to go near the dolls· business'' Are you a girl? Tell me, are you a girl'

(46-47),

Then his father slapped him on the cheek When Babu requested him not to slap

him, Ramani ga\'e him a fc11 more slaps There onwards, Savitri became it~consolably

sorry and 11ent into the dark room The llnal termination of the incident is quite human

and interesting Next morning. Babu himself went into the dark room, since he was

troubled about his mother l'r obabh it 11as his tears that made his mother stricken with
 76

so11ow lie went to h,,, and "nd "1\'hv do 1011 go on lying thc1c'' It was only a slight slap

thai he gave me allc1 ;dl You make too llllll'h ol1t I an1 going to sehoolnow" (SO)

It is this kind of ll'athnc" to take the blame upon himself and share the pathos

along with the mother that becomes vc1 v mm ing The whole novel is li1ll of such events,

where Babu and Kamla shmv a g1 cat nwtuii!V and unde1 standing, inspite of the fact that

they are very small children This unde1 standing and sympathizing nature is quite common

in the child's characte1 of R K Nmayan But, the structure of the novel itself is centered

around Ramani and his antic behavio111 s It is really a matter of surprise that how such a

terrorising parents where tole1 ated by the children in the house. It is just possible that

R K Narayan wants to expose the autow1tic macho behaviours of the heads of the

families, particularly in the Indian context The streak of barbarism and evil had somehow

bec~me a prominent characteristic features in the Indian families. R.K.Narayan is quite

realistic in upraising the most conspicuous evil contents of the Indian family life and their

shattering fall out on the growing chi !til el'

J. The Petulant child

Children anchoring aller the impt1ssible miracles is universally acknowledged in the

mischievous brains of chilchcn But then, as Ramesh K Shrivastava pertinently suggests,

to sav that all the child1cn arc mischicl'ous is to lalsify the infantile rays In a short story

"Naga". R K Narayan gives us a mc11ing life of a snake-charmer's little son, who is a

urmersal emblem or magnilicant alfcctlons, serious concerns and a profound sense of

compass 1011 and lc1\c tcm;uds all the crcatu1es in the world Referring toR K Narayan's

tcchmquc or handl1nu chdchcn ;u1d thci1 an;,;,,, Ramesh K Shrivasta\a pertinently states

that 10 ,, 11 t h:~t .Ill t h,· , lnld 1t'll a,,. lli!Sc·hin ""' is to lalsil\ the inl;mt ile 1ill'S .. ( 57-72 )
 77

llsually chillhcn a1c in gcne1al att1ibutcd with a wholc-hcailcd concern for the

prinuuy essences or hie lihe, 'hll- "bl'ltc1 than death', 'llappiness is better than misery',

'Freedom is better than bondage', and 'Play is better than school' Uut however, all the

children are not ftlllunatc in hav1ng the lmmg p;u cnts hkc Swami and excessively

pampering parents like llalu (The f· inanciaf f:xpe1 t)

The boy in the sh01t sllll v "Naga" is a quite unf(Htunatc child His mother died

when he was a small bov, ""''his lilthL'I, a snake-charmer, like the father of Huck in Mark

Twain's Huckleberry_ Fir111, is quite selfish lie holds no responsiblity towards his small

son Instead of providmg amenities of life, like protecting home and good education, the

snake-charmer exploits his own son, by 1vay of involving him in his street-shows and

demonstrations Con'""luently, the boy g1 "" s into an absolute innocent child. At the same

time, he prominently establishes a loving bondage with the serpent itself. In order to make

his street-shows more atllactive, he also trains a small monkey, Rama. Both, the serpent

and the monkey are the sourceoltauit(,r both, the father and the son.

But something tCJJible happens to the boy one day. When he woke up m the

morning, he found that ills lather was not the1e Also, the child monkey, Rama was not to

be found 'I he boy \\as completely pluucd lie docs not know what to do At the outset,

he dctc11n1nes to 1\ait !(, Ius liJthcJ In the meantime, the govclltment authorities started

e\·acutmg the people li l'lll 1he cncJllc!uncnt huts, in order to honour a big political

personalit\. 1\ho is supfH"cd to pa;s hi the hutments All \\CJe vacating their huts The

bo\ dues not hn'"' "hat In do It Js at this juncture that he comes to know that his father

has pclmancnth dc'l'Jt,·d fum I he f(,flll\\ing cou\etsa!Jon claJilics the situation

 7X

"i\11 the cll<uts of the r-.tunicipality to dislodge these cititcns has proved futile, the

huts SJHang up as ol\en as they we1e dest1oycd, and when the municipal councellors

realized the concent1ation of w•itn•g powe• 111 this colony, they let the squatters alone,

except when some V I P tiom Delhi passed that way, and then they were asked to stay

out of sight, behind the park wall, till the eminent man had llashed past in his car

"Why are you not out yet' I" asked a women

"My father is not here," the boy said pathetically, "I do not know where he is

gone " He sobbed a little The woman put down her basket, sat by his side and asked,

\ "Are you hungry7"

~ "I have money," he said

~.

She gently patted his head and said, "i\h, poor child I I knew your mother. She

was a good girl That she should have len you adrift like this and gone heavenward!"

Although he had no memory of his mother, at the mention of her, tears rolled down his

cheeks, and he licked them off with relish at the corner of his mouth. The woman suddenly

said,

"What are you going to do now""

"I don't know", he said, "Wait till my litthcr comes"

"Foolish and unl(lrtunalc child Your lilt he• is gone"

"Where'?", asked the boy

"Don't ask me", the woman said, "I talked loa man ""o saw him go He saw him

get into the earl) morning bus, which goes up the mountains, and that slnnnpet in the blue

sari was "ilh him"

 "What about the mtllt~ey' 1 " the boy as~ed, "Would it come back'/"

The boy thall IHttl'ha"·d a kw idlics f'1ottt the sttcd-vcttdttl and allcr eating the

same, he "felt more at case with the wotld now, and able to fltcc his pl(lblcms" ( 151).

The boy got 1cady now to play the p1pc and handle the snake and feed it also in the

manner as his father used to Thereby, the boy started learning the primary lessons of self-

independence It is inte1esting to note that this boy, with his in given passion for decency

and moral, docs not stroop to I~Jisehood 01 any immo1 al act like thieving or cheating, etc.

This in itsel( is an evidence that this boy is dillerant Neither poverty nor helplessness

windel his courage to survive The only hope for him is the old Naga, who had almost

become irresponsive to the music of the world. !3ut then the boy's compassion towards

Naga has become an aiTeetionate bondage At the same time, he is under a necessity to

show his play on the 1oad-sides in order to survive. The following words of the boy

;;y·C)u have become too lazy even to open your hood You a1 e no cobra. You are

an earthworm. I am a snake cha11ner attempting to show you oil' and make a living. No

wonder so ollen I have to stand at the bus stop p1etcnding to be blind and beg The .

trouble is, no one wants to see you. no one has any respect for you and no one is afraid of

you, and-do you know what that meam 7 I stanc, that is all ·.:__~_5l __~'_~~;:;_:~ }~
The fear of stan at ion on the one hand and Naga 's incapacity to play on the road-

side makes him tc11ibl) sad Even if the Naga is not in a jlllSIIIon to dance to the tunc of

the goard. he has to be !Cd 1cgula!ly l'lcscltlll the ho1 th1n~s of taking to some

a htHltllll able lt1 cl1hood

 80

At the outset he has to lice himself fiom the Naga I lis fitthcr quite unconcernedly

lefl !tim alone and 'an away with a wench lie also dcp1 ived the boy of his little monkey,

which could have successfully earned sullicient money for him on the street-shows The

boy could not be as mciciless and unconce111Cd as his own father was. lie could not afford

to think of leaving Naga in a circular wricker basket to starve and die His conscious does

not allow him to step to this inhuman act of having no concern for Naga

Naga becomes an unatlordable bu1 den on him. He seriously meditate upon the idea

of taking away the Naga to the nearby forest in order to leave him there in the original

habitat of the serpents. Accordingly, he takes him to the nearby jungle and tries to leave

Naga into the mounts, crevices and ant-hill The boy thought that the serpent would be

received by the cousins of the serpent into their fold As he heard it, in unfounded folklore

that Naga in the course of many years to come would grow wings on himself and would

fly But anyway, he is not in a position to distance himself from Naga

Somehow, he took out the Naga from thev-ll'icker basket and left him near the ant-

hills The snake firstt1icd to lind a hole in the ant-hill in order to glide himself into it. But

then, the Naga turned back and started moving towards the wricker basket. At this

moment, the boy noticed a brahmin kite sailing in the blue sky Se1pents are supposed to

be the food for kites Suddenly the boy becomes ten ibly agitated in his mind He runs

towards Naga and falls over it, in order to save it from the kite He started praving

towards the bird v.ith the foJim,ing add1ess tlmmds the (j;uuua_ the kite_ "You a1e a (i,,d.

but I know you eat snakes Please lca1e Naga alone" ( 1·17\

The Naga himselftulncd bach and 't:utnlclal\111"' 1<'\l,ttd, the·),,,._ ''·'ti 1 ,, 1 1 v 1•

lcthaigl, bo111 of old age and hutlf!l'I I h,· ""' 1:, U !,·· 1 .', . . . 1 , ,
 81

semched wricker basket, he let him into it Naga too appears to have learned to stay in the

basket It cannot probably 'lllvivc in its natural habitat in the liHest The boy becomes

restless but then he cannot separate his bondage with Naga He brings Naga back home.

But he would not show him on the streets in order to earn money. l-Ie prefers to go for an

honourable pr olcssion of a coolie on the railway station In his own child like innonence,

he speaks to Naga as follows,

/ "If you don't grow wings soon enough, I hope you will be hit on the head with a

bamboo stafl: as it normally happens to any cobra. Know this, I will not be guarding you

forever. I'll be away at the railway station, and if you come out of the basket an<:t

,adventure about, it will be your end No ~necan b~a~ne me aller:;va~d '~ (14!l __ /;J
'\, -----~--- _. .
v:
?)_,(!--'-
K. The Mischievous Child

Mischief making is one of the important trait in a child, so as to attract the

attentions of elders towards them One day Swami was awarded a punishment of standing

on the bench Even on the point of repeation, the episode is worth mentoning here

Swami, instead of feeling the humiliation of standing on the bench, starts counting the

heads of the other students sitting in the class room, from the vantage point of his

physically elevated position on the bench, he is capable of making a overall view of all the

heads of the other students

---
in the class room
----

" Swaminathan paid no attention to the rest of the lessons His mind began to

v.ander Standing on the bench. he stood \~ell owr the "hole class He could see so manv

heads, and he classified them according to the caps there \\ere four red caps. t\\Cntv-Ji,c

Gandhi caps. ten lur caps. and so on" ( 17)

 82

The manner in whrch is typically catcgmious them, is lull of tun lie distinguishes

them in himsdf as 'li•ur red caps', and 'twenty-live Uamlhi caps' Swami, certainly does

not want to draw our attention to the ti ecdom light that were raging high and dry during

those times Most of the people in India are fighting for India's fi·eedom under the

leadership of Gandhiji The strategical distrnction of t(mr red caps to twenty-five Gandhi

caps speaks for itself the intensity of the lieedom tight, where in, the freedom fighters and

their opponents are divided in the ratio of twenty-five to tour

Swaminathan resorts to this kind of activity exclusively in his autistic personal

imagination, even without intending to suggest at the gravity of the Non-cooperation

Movement This kind of intension 1s in the narrator's mind; and R.K Narayan uses the

brilliant concept of Swami in this context for the purpose of giving vent to his own

intensity of perception concerning the Non-cooperation Movement. From the point of

view of Swami himself, it is not only a harmless, mischievous emuneration but also

expressive of his characteristic manner of comprehending, that the meagre number of

Gandhi caps is not really a great power in itself They are probably wearing the Gandhi

caps just like unthinking sheeps following their leaders

There are many other such sarcastic intentions of the author exptessed through the

unassuming innuncence of Swaminathan and his liicnds One should nul forget here that
 83

Swami was supposed to read in Missionary school, and the Christian Missionaries are

ruthlessly against the Jicedonr lighters ·1 hcv are <'<lllscious supiHllters of imperialism and

colonialism, as the most civilised social and cultural programmes, oflcring 'progress and

enlightment ' Moreover they are supposed to be strict implcmentors of discipline in their

schools Narayan has his own authentic inner satisfication of assidously suggesting that the

Missionaries, inspite of their rigorous disciplinarian manner, would not forbid the Gandhi

caps in the campus. '[his is another scr ious deduction available for the readers. But all this

is done in a seemingly harmless mischievous act of Swami nathan. This does not mean that

children are always harmless in being in mischievous.

There are many instanecs, in almost all the novels, about the manner in which the

mischievous children, practically contribute for real harms Raju, in The Guide. as a child

was quite mischievous As a child he was never serious about his school. He was always

absent from the school. He was in the habit of chit-chating, about all the unfounded cock

and bull stories to his companions This personal streak of telling unfounded stories

ultimately turns into a formula of telling pleasant lies to the tourists about the historical

monuments and their historical backgrounds The manner in which he vociferously imparts

blated unfounded lies, however pleasant they are to hear. explains the purpose serving

mischievous na1u1c oi'Raju It is ~>ith tins purpose serving tnischic,ous intentions only, he

could successfully wean out and distance Rosie fi01n her othcm1se scholarly and serious

husband, Marco

Again out of his mischie1 nus conceit to11 ards life ihciC Raru "as quite· <wn-

serious. e1cn callous. about the nwral 1al11L'S ll1s '"'·al'·lcltl l\l "'"'l"l'l:c :·.[ :I,

importance of moral \alues rnl!fe ult11nald\ turrh hrm Jfl~l' .1 I" I"-' ":· 1·, I· •..
 84

diHctent matte• that in quite an itonic nwnnc• he ultimately litlls ptcy to the unfounded and

i11ational ptomotin~s of his li>llowt'ts. that he ulti•natcly succtllllS to I lis ft>llowc•s that is,

the villagers. scr iously and sincct ely believes that he was a God man Like all the other

tourist who heard him seriously a11d enjoyed all the mischievous lies that he told to them as

a tourist guide, finally becomes a c• iscs I(H him, when his devotees rever ted his own trick

of mischievous lies against him.

!Jere, Narayan as the author implies a very important lesson for life Mischief and

mischievous doing, which are quite casual and common during childhood, should never

become serious projects and programmes, atler adolescent. As a seasoned psychologist of

humanity, Narayan is well aware of the fact that the real projects, programmes and visions

of life start taking concerete shapes and projects of life during adolescence and after.

Mischief making should never become a habit of lile

Unfortunately this is what it happened to Raju, an uncared orphan from his father's

side, while yet he was a small boy His mother, with all her serious and good intention,

could not really impart the serious lesson of morality in Raju As a tourist guide, inspite of

the fact that he was telling all pleasant lies, he was bringing the necessary support money

for the survival of the family That is probably a trap, because of which mother could not

be a real guiding f(Hce ltll Raju. about the importance of evenly cotdinating morals and

life styles The case of Raju, as a mischievous mocking is a pitiable one His is a case of

mischief turning into a streak of fi au d.

~
\~hich ultimately. becomes a habit for him Tins is

an intense of mischief pla)·ing the role of trag1c error and turning the \\hole life mto an

insuflcrablc tragedy It is .iust posstblc that Raju being otphancd horn the L1thc1·s stdc.
 85

L. Tht' Ht'111•llious ( 'hild

·1 he case of llalu in ·1 he 1-inallt'ial hpc1t, tells altogcthc1 a dilleJcnt story about

the mischievous natu1c of exclusively pampc1cd children Balu, in The_ Financial Expert is

the only child of Margayya lie was born very late in Margayya's married life. In all

transactions concerning his comi(Ht, Balu would insist on having his own way usually

going to the extremities I lis penchant fur doing nonsense things is evident from here.

"He usually insists on having the peppermints and tiny play things. Every play

• thing, including an elephant is a tiny thing for Balu Margayya is also very fond of his son

( usually When he came home he could not bear to be kept away from him for a moment."

\ (90)
~.
One day when Margayya came back home, and called for his little man fondly, the

child did not reply. Margayya waited at the door and had been secretly observing as to

what the mischievous master was doing

· .. ~

"The child throws a piece of paper into a lamp, and when it burned brightly he

recoiled at the sudden sprut ofli1c But when it blackened and bwnt out he drew near the

lamp again, gingerly putting his linger near the metal plate on the top Before Margayya

coui~had touched it lie let out a streak" ( 901__--~--

----------------

Margayya 's wife became highly distrubcd in her mmd on hearing the cries of the

child. Margayya too ft~lt quite embrassed and afler a big 'Of.:UC het\\een Margayya and his

wife, the afl'air tempolaJilv )!Ot quiet In the ni)!ht she li";.ti· .,ked I!C\'CJ, nclcr to go ncar

lire again It is then that Balu's strategv ofallth;' .,,,, hlcfdiscloscs !lis checks stdl 1\Jth

tears, the child asl-cd. "\\'ill vou bu1 me a little ,·:Th,lllt tomo""" '" It " tillS kmd pf
 H6

Balu is Balu lie kno\\s \\eakncss of Ius patents Fvetytime when he wants a peppermints

01 an elephant, he Icsotts to such dangL'""" activil!cs that might1ousc a whole panic-and

quarrel in between Ma•gayya and his wife

Sometimes, llalu's mischief reaches to abnollnal extensions In o1der to insist upon

having an elephant or a peppe1mint One day, he kicked the ink-pot and spilled the ink

over the red register, the ledger 111 which Ma1gayya keeps all his financial deals As if

spilling the ink on the ledger is not sullicicnt, Balu danced over it callously In the very

presence of his father, the boy ran away with the ledger

"The boy dashed down the front steps, with his father following him, Margayya

was blind to all his sunounclings-all he could see was the little boy with his curly hair and

the small red bound book which was in his hand. Some passers-by in Vinayak Mudali

Street stopped to watch the scene. Margayya cried shamelessly: "Hold Him !" at which

they tried to encircle the boy It was evident that by now he had become completely

intoxicated with the chase. Suddenly he found that he was outnumbered and cornered. As

the circle of hunters hummed him, he did an entirely unexpected thing He turned back, as

if he was coming into his father's arms and as he was about to grasp him, drifted sideways

to the edge of the gutters and !lunged the red book into it" (32).

The mischief of Balu in this context is certainly intolerable But Margayya is

helpless The irony is in the fact that such a crooked financial expert as he is, Margayya

could not ha\·c a contJOI on his httlc son Yet on another da\. the little devil found it

occasswnal to splash about a bucket of 1\atcr in the bacba1d. pUJeh out of nnsch1cf

When the 1\ater I\ as exhausted. he looked all aiPund and k·t out such an angl\ shout f(, 1

his filthcr that the people on the othc1 side oft he 11,1il tcmarkl'll tP e,1eh <>ihL'J IJn, "the
 87

worst of biguelling sons late in life I ., hey pel them and spoil them and make them little

monsters" (9.l)

Intact, Narayan wants to give a pretty nice example of a spoiled child It is this

kind of excessive pampe1 ing of children that ultimately turns them into pity rogues.

Na1ayan's message is simple f\largayya, as the linancial expert, was awfully exploiting the

ignorance of the villagers and extracting money from them for getting loans from the co-

operative bank In a way, he is resorting to exploit the ignorance and illiteracy of the

villagers, in order to fatten his tlnancial prospects As a crook as he is, Margayya gets the

proper lessons from his little son.

M. The Simple and Desperate Child

Narayan deals with innumerable varieties of mischiefs in his novels, just to show

that there is something wrong with the social and domestic situations of life in Malgudi. In

addition to mischief, the other great pre-occupation with children is play Children as often

as possible, would prefer to stay outdoors playing along with his friends.

All children are not mischievous in R K Narayan. Some children "Are simple to

the point of being stupid" (41), to borrow the expressions of Ramesh K. Shrivastava

(Portaryal of Children in R !< Naf ayan) even Swami, the hero of Swami and Friends,

inspite of his b1 illiant and Of iginal ideas, sometimes appears to be stupid in his behaviour

His "one consuming passion to get a hoop" In his vigorous tf ial to get a hoop, is itself

a streak of utter stupidity lnlact the 'hoop' episode in S\\ann and_Ffiends opens up a

significant aspect of child's be has iouf ial pattern A child usual!\ seeks asides the

dictatorial fo!fn fromlus <llln eldcfs and !cache" l·c'af <1fthc cldc'f' and IL'achc·fs. '"llf'h
 88

because of their over bearing size and imposing dictatorial manners provides a child to run

away from the elders

Getting seriously involved into a game or play, either alone or along with friends,

is a most convicing manner in which a child distances himself li01n his parents, as in the

case of hoop or a cycle-ring without spokes and tyres o11'ers an opportunity for Swami to

totally withdraw himself into his own autistic world with a great ecatasy and bang. The

revolving wheel with its accelerated speed driven by a stick in the grove of the ring is in

itself, typical and the imaginable speed in running after the hoop Swami dreamt for the

hoop days and nights Referring to the childish passion for the hoop, the following passage
// ____ _

is it:~ _ _ - - - -

( "fle feasted on visions of an ex-cycle wheel without spokes or tyre You had only

t press a stick into the groove and the thing would fly Oh, what joy to see it climb small

o stacles, and how gently it took curves I When running it made a steady hum, which was

+usic to the ear. Swaminathan thought that anybody in Malgudi would understand that he
I

l/
~as coming, even a mde away, by that hum He sometimes kept awake till ten-thirty in the
. . . . , ~~,_t- ~ v-~~-v
mgh~lunkmg~h~s~oo~ _ _ _ __ .-~-- ----

In so far as developing quaint dtearns for a hoop, there is nothing unnatural It is

not at all an act of stupidity Every child, sometime or other gets passionately endowed to

such silly ideas Swami's l[rrther trials in order to secure a hoop consitute a mock heroic

narrative formula i\t the outset. he begged e1·eryonc IVIth \\hom he came across. timn his

father's tirends to a mumcipal S\\eeper lie requested them to g11e a cycle "heel lie

stancd sccmg every bicycle on the road "'than added conccntralron nn I he "heels and

therr mn,cmcnt I o ha1e a 11heel is realh fantaslrc accordrn!! tn ~" .11111 !Irs ''\ c-:
 89

consuming passion f(ll the cycle wheel turned him mad In his passionate quest for the

wheel, he colllL'S across a l'<lachrllall, 11ho appcmed to he very sympalhelic lowards Swami

and his desired hoop The coachman readily agree wilh Swami that "existence was difficult

without a hoop" ( 18).

The coachman was very tlmny and lighthearted in responding to Swami with an

abnormal pretended sincetity towards Swami The coachman gives a practical solution. If

Swami would get five rupees, the coachman ptomised to get a wheel for him. That was

certainly a huge sum which Swaminalhan can never procure When he said the same thing

to the coachman, he gives an aliernalive proposal If only Swami gels him just stx

pies, the coachman assured that afler resorling to a mysterious alchemical process, he

would turn those six pies into six rupees He even said that he can turn them into golden

coins also The mesmerising talk of the coachman lets Swami to fall into a hectic activity

of securing six pies for himself

He first asked his father to give him six pies. His father did not oblige him. Then,

as usual he approaches his grand mother, who also said that she too did not have any

money with her By way of showing a mock consent for her husband's deny, the grand·

mother directed Swami's molhcr to pay him six pies Bul Swami's mother too said "no"

for the six pies tnspitc of the li1ct thai his demand was only fur six pies, nobody took his

demand seriously They brushed him aside, as well as his request for six pies This

infurated S\1ami

There allcr ''hat all he docs exposes his innocent stupiditv His only rapport is in

the liod. 11hom he suppose. 11ould grand all prayers. if made sincerely lt ts then that he

tahc~ PUt an crnpt\ bP~ from the pra1cr tnom. frlls rt \lith a hlllc hll pf ,and and lc'"
 90

leaves, and hides it in a g10und, underneath a tree in the courtyard Then he prayed God to

twn the sand and leave< into si.x pies Aller sorrretimc he dugs the box out and found

nothing really changed The sand ami leaves are intact lie become terribly angry and had

a mind to have a revolt against God. But the fear of God's becoming angry with him,

brought him to a submissive path

All this suggests that R K Narayanostudy of the psychology of children is complete

in all respects lnfact, the "wheel' episode in Swami and Friends, is a direct lifting from his

own autobiography Narayan himself, as a child, was extremly fascinated with the cycle-

wheel, with which he played during the vacations.

The story of Swami does not end here It takes many mock-heroic turn, producing

a hillarious low comedy. When he contacts Mani and asked him to urgently give six pies,

Mani also said that he had no money Somehow, Swami manages to procure the said

amount to the coachman, noto11ce but three times There onwards the coachman became

un-eontactable for Swami In the whole episode,there is an interesting point as to how the

simplicity, gullibility and idioacy of children, very ollen gets exploited by the low class

slum-dwellers. These slum-dwellers, to which class the coachman belonged, are highly

independable, as responsible members of the society They resort to cheating the innocent

children also They are more or less of a the modern proriterate category The coachman

simply cheated Swami.

The act of the coachman became highly mortrt\ in~ and uncontainable for S" a1111

Presently, he nurtures a serious desire to take rCICI1!lC upon the C(lachman lie \\CI\1 tc>

Rajam and asked him to lend him 'a policeman' It I' S""m'·' c·hddr'h n1:11111e 1 ,f '''·'II:,,,
 91

of Swami, there is substance that all children invariably fear policemen But quite

itnnicnlly, Swmni's !:til dt'llliiiHilin a polit't'lllilll dt·t·s nol gel any posilivc solulioll J(u him.

Children do not understand that the policeman is a law and order maintaining agent in a

given society He is not meant to be used as a personal or private course, of any particular

person But somehow. Swami is confirmed in himself that the coachman cheated him

Therefore, he should be handed over lo the police Rajam was not in the position to give

him a policeman, but Iiley make a serious plan to get back eighteen pies from the

coachman They wanted to kidnap the coachman's son and take ramson from the

coachman

They secretly go to the coachman's house The coachman was not there. The

coachman's son was very much in the house, but than he could not come out. It order to

get the people around themselves, they make another stupid plan R~·am
and Swami start
( /~ ~,

fighting amongst themselves It is only a mock fight The sudden idea came into the mind

of Rajam. He start accussing Swaminathan in a mock-heroic manner that he had taken

eighteen paisa and would not return. That was the plot to get coachman's son out so that

they might abduct him

On the contrary all the slum-dwcllcts gathered around them. It is matter of

scandalous partime for Ihem When Rajam declared in a typical voice as to what should be

done to this cheat, called Swami, the coachman's son readily said that he should be handed

over to the police II is at lhat moment they got an opportunit\ to abduct the coachman·~

son They wanted to lure him \\ith a top When the\ rC\ t'l' cd the lop on palm of thl

coachman's son. he felt \Cry glad Rapm ptopo,cd tint 1t l'PIIid b,, h1' 11 <•nh ht· (<'!lll"
 92

along with them The coachman's son on the other hand took the top and ran into his own

house 11om where he would not conre nut

As a result Swami lost his eighteen pie.s, which he considers as two annas out of

his own deficiency in mathematical calculations, and also the top The slum-dwellers in a

unified manner, puts the street-dogs aller them Rajam and Swami ran home, there

onwards, Swami's passion for the wheel automatically windid So this kind of idyllic

pictures of life of children and their world gives R K Narayan a unique place amongst the

tiction writers

N. Child Aware of Bitter Realities of Life

There arc many schizoid problems that lie behind today's culture. But for the few

lively moments that Raman( of "The Hungry Child" ) spend with the child in the 'mela',

his whole life is spend in the complex schizoid manner by way of often remembering his

ditched love affair The word 'schizoid' is defined as follows in the Chamber's Dictionary.

Schizoid (skit'zoid, skid'zoid copr Eidosfl·om showing qualities of a schizofranic

personality, such as social behaviour, introversion, tendency to fantasy, but without

definite mental disorder, as schizoid person).

Most of the characters of R K Narayan are such schizoid personalities conducting

their life in the childhood of their minds Davrd llolbroof.eir1 his,"Crcativity in Children's

Writing and Contemproary Culture", ol1ers a fine description of a schizoid, savs

Holbrooke:

"The child to the logic of sciii?Oid moralrmcr"''il '' c:l\c·n ,r; ,·,,tt1j'k' dc:: 11 11,.,

W R D Fairbairn in Psychoanalytical Studic> of 111" !\ ,, ·'. r. r · '.' 1 .,.

'Schi70id Factors in the Pc!'onalit1·· ·1 he 'Ch .. : . .•

 because it has fitiled him he has ncve1 had the love due to him, so he ICcls umcllected, and

psychically unh01 11 1\e,·:III'L' love is"' d:lllgclol!s to hin1,i11 consequence he decides that he

must try to live by hate he sufleiS a taboo on weakness and opts f'or 'st1ength'. Hate is

not the opposite of' love, v.hich is indi!le1ence hate is the attempt to compel the other to

give what is due, and ICJllcscnls a ICVCisal of' all those qualities which belong to love"

(359-360)

It is interesting to note, that inspite of abnormal const1ains in play, as well as in

domestic life, the child characters of R K Narayan cannot be called schizoid. The:t are

certainly in irrational moves and movements in their lives which may appear sometimes as

schizoid aclivilies '''" example, !he hcc11c tlials of Swami in the act of doubling up the

coins, and the contingent tragic dimensions in his acquiring a hoop, Balu's (The Financial

Expert) distruction of his fathc1's ledger in ils utmost wanted moments, and the
" .
mischievous manner of the child (The Hungry Child) in rocking the bench on its ricketty

uneven legs, may appear as schizoid activities But then they are not. They are such

symbolic expressions of their inner contextual frustrations But these symbolic and

suggestive actions of the child's character, inspite of the fact that they are insufferable,

they just offer a relative mymatic behaviourial pattern of the emotionally charged acts and

activities of the grown-ups In an elder, if he resorts to such absurd phenomenonal actions,

they 1evcal his schiwid petsonalitv But in chilthen they just stand as relative mymatic

actions, and their message lies in such activities of children being pl<llftrl correctives for

the sc1ious and dangerous manner f(n the gllmn-ups pc1 suading thc1r Ji, cs Agam. 111

\\lllds ofllolblool..c "!·or one thing. the vel\ ab!ltt\ t11 u'c l:mguagc. ''mhnh and cult!llc
 94

A child devch,ps his ar 1 nf Irving by way of practising 'unconsciously or tabtis', by

way of subjecting it In exacting allcntions and description (About Sw<uni and Friends).

Swami and Friends is lire nH1sl irnporl<lfll novel of R K Narayan, in which we get a

comprehensive view of the pains and pleasures of an average boy in the school, as well as

in the house.