[go: up one dir, main page]
Scribd
Upload
2K views1 page

My Days

R.K. Narayan describes his early experiences with infatuation and falling in love as a young man in his autobiography "My Days". He recalls having crushes on many girls regardless of their age, race, or color due to his extensive reading fueling fictional notions of love. After these false starts, he truly falls for a girl he sees drawing water in Coimbatore while staying with his sister. Though able to befriend her father, when he announces his affection obstacles emerge in the form of incompatible horoscopes based on astrology. This leads to a period of gloom for Narayan until an elder recommends their marriage could still take place, which it did months later with a grand Indian wedding

Uploaded by

Gokul Ramachandiran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2K views1 page

My Days

R.K. Narayan describes his early experiences with infatuation and falling in love as a young man in his autobiography "My Days". He recalls having crushes on many girls regardless of their age, race, or color due to his extensive reading fueling fictional notions of love. After these false starts, he truly falls for a girl he sees drawing water in Coimbatore while staying with his sister. Though able to befriend her father, when he announces his affection obstacles emerge in the form of incompatible horoscopes based on astrology. This leads to a period of gloom for Narayan until an elder recommends their marriage could still take place, which it did months later with a grand Indian wedding

Uploaded by

Gokul Ramachandiran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

My Days

- R.K.Narayan

Introduction:

Narayan is one of the three leading figures of early Indian fiction, the other two being
Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao. He had authored over twenty books including his famous
novels, Swami and Friends, The Talkative Man, The English Teacher and The Guide. All these
novels and many others are renowned for having Malgudi, an imagined town in South India, as
their background. He also had won many prestigious awards including the Sahitya Akademi
award

Bouts of Infatuation:

The prescribed text is extracted from his autobiography, My Days, which describes
about his early bouts of infatuation and how he underwent a phase of love sickness as a
young man. With his characteristic quaint humour, he explains his crush on many girls he sets
his eyes on, invariable of colour, age and race. All these happened because of the fictional
notion of love due to his vast reading. He even had an infatuation on an elderly lady doctor
and also for a penfriend in England. After all these false starts, ‘the real thing’ happened at
last when he escorted his sister to Coimbatore.

His Bold Attempt:

Been a freelance writer, while he was staying with his sister, he happened to see a girl
drawing water from the street-tap and immediately he fell in love with her. But the social
customs that prevailed then didn’t allow him to approach her. Yet the elders of the family had
a good rapport with the girl’s father who was also a headmaster of the school in the same
locality. As the headmaster had many interests in common with the writer, it was easy for him
to befriend him and meet regularly. On one memorable evening, in the midst of their chat,
Narayan made a bold announcement of his affection for his daughter.

Obstacles in the form of Horoscope:

Though his approach was an unexpected one, everything including class, community
and caste were of no issues within their family. But there were obstacles in the form of
horoscopes in which the girl’s father was a firm believer. Since their horoscopes were
incompatible, her father expressed his rejection in gentle terms. During this ‘hopeless’ period,
Narayan went through a period of gloom and depression.

Conclusion:

After much discussion, he had been asked to meet an old-man named, Chellappa-sir,
who recommended that their marriage could take place. A few months later, they were
married with all the pomp, show and gifts of an Indian Wedding. Hence, this extract is an
evidence for his humourous narrative style, which opens a window of Indian literature to the
rest of the world.

You might also like