It's Malgudi every where I see...

Talkitive man will have to wait. I have something to share in the meanwhile....

Somebody once reasoned that RKN chose the name Malgudi as a combination of Malleswaram and Basavanagudi. There is no corroborating evidence presented by any credible source yet. However, it is possible. Very much.

I see Central Tiffin Room in Malleswaram. It has a high pedestal on which the proprietor sits and orders around. There are a couple of seats very close to him which he may reserve for his guests with whom he can talk while he works.... This could have easily been Hotel Boardless. However, RKN is the master of taking the most interesting aspects of many places and putting them all together in one imaginary place. According to me, this is one of the reasons for his wide acclaim. Individually, we would have seen/felt each of the parts... Hence the 'whole' does not seem strange at all. You feel that it is exactly the way it should have been.

Nowadays I see Malgudi everywhere... Last two weeks I have been reading only RKN apart from newspapers. This has made me see everything in that shade.

I go to Hotel Ajantha for breakfast. Foreigners looking for moderate accommodation are frequently spotted there. The waiters (those who think they speak good English) often compete to serve them for better TIPs. Thats normal.

From the last three days, a typical Indian gentleman and a European looking lady are having tiffin round about the same time as us. Both of them dress modestly, though trim and tidy. They speak very less to each-other. In their faces they exhibit a rare satisfaction of having successfully completed decades of a healthy inter-racial marriage... It did not like they had any children. They were very happy to be with each other... and for each other. I can guess that guy is a convent educated government officer... Must be a archaeologist or a historian of some sort.. A professor in literature may be. He must have been to Europe on a study tour... The lady must have fallen love with our "tall-dark-handsome" hero and came to India with him. It had to be that way... They would be having a nice bunglow in New Extension Layout... But the question is, 'why is he having breakfast at Boardless?' Is their maid sick? Or has she gone to her village on the pretext of ailing mother. Or is her cow 'Kaveri' giving birth to two calves (siamese twins) is the reason? That must really be a spectacle... people from all the neighbouring villages must have come to see the freak of nature. The village must have been divided in opining whether the creature is a form of God or daemon.... My imagination just can't stop wandering around Malgudi. Reality just fades away to background and gives way to imagination every so easily...


The other day, somebody commented that the knives in office pantry were not sharp enough... I controlled my self not to mention the story of Ranga in "The Edge"...

I see monkeys playing around on Bruntton Road, I can't help looking around for a Sami (of 'The Mute Companions') searching for his partner.

A week ago, a guy from Deccan Herald came to our door step to give us complimentary copies of the newspaper... Wasn't he the Chandran from 'BA - Bachelor of Arts' ?

RKN definitely got his stories from his neighbourhood. Thanks to him, I now see my neighbour hood in a totally different way and try often guess - 'what is the story that this guy is trying to tell?'

PS: I have not yet returned the book.... ;-) Wondering if the book can tell me a story that is not printed in it?