A TIGER FOR MALGUDI

summary of A Tiger for Malgudi.

Ans. A Tiger for Malgudi is a 1984 novel by Indian author R. K. Narayan, written from the
perspective of a tiger named Raja, who recounts his life, up to and including his uneventful
elderly life in an exhibit in the Malgudi zoo Raja speaks nostalgically about his memories of
the wild before being captured by humans, while acknowledging the meditative life his
carceral existence now affords. Through its personification of Raja, the novel validates the
experiences and emotions of animals who are too often neglected by their captors,
promoting cultures of non-violence between humans and animals.

The novel begins as Raja remembers his early life. He was born in the Indian jungle Growing
quickly, he seized his rightful place at the top of the food chain. He recalls the other
creatures of the jungle feared him Raja lived most of his young life in the broad swath of
jungle called the Mempi Range. He was not an indiscriminate killer or despotic ruler, but
was surely a dominant and occasionally ruthless one: he punishes those animals who deny
him respect, and feasts on other animals liberally. At the same time, he has compassion for
certain creatures. One day, Raja's sense of supremacy is undermined when a female tiger
challenges his arrogance. They fight and are an equal match, nearly killing each other. A
wise jackal inspires them to speak to each other rather than fight. Obeying his words, they
surprisingly become friends, then become mates and bear children.

One day, Raja's three cubs are tragically killed by a group of hunters. He seeks revenge by
stalking human villages and eating their livestock but is captured by a man called "Captain"
who runs a traveling circus. Captain and his wife, Rita, train Raja to perform stunts. In the
sturt that comes to be Raja's most famous, he drinks milk alongside a goat. The stunt goes
awry one day when Raja embraces his predatory impulse and kills the goat. Enraged,
Captain takes him out of the show.

Madan, a film director, comes to Captain asking to feature Raja in film. They strike a deal,
but Captain delays for so long that he irritate Madan. Finally, they start filming. In one
scene, Raja is to stage a fak fight with the strongman Jaggu. Jaggu, afraid of Raju, almost
backs out filming. In one attempt to film, Raja upsets Captain, who electrocutes him with a
cattle prod. The rod does not subdue Raja as intended; the tiger retaliates by killing Captain.
The film set erupts into chaos, and Raja flees.

Raja makes it to the city of Malgudi. He roams throughout the city, terrifying its denizens.
Yet, Raja has given up using violence to influence humans and hopes only to be free again.
Nevertheless, deeply curious. about humans, he visits many cafes and businesses. He even
visits a school after following a group of children. He falls asleep in the headmaster's office;
when he wakes, the principal and other staff are cowering and call for help.
Alphonse appears with a gun but doesn't dare to enter the office. A spiritual leader known
only as "the Master" also appears, attempting to placate the people assembled outside the
office door. Alphonse drinks too much rum before attempting his rescue mission for the
headmaster. He passes out, and the Master enters the office instead. Raja is surprised that
he is able to understand the Master's speech, unlike other humans. The Master orders Raja
to leave calmly with him, and he complies, amazing the onlookers.

Raja and the Master travel throughout India spreading a philosophy of non-violence. They
travel into the mountains and live for a while in a cave. There, they are visited by many
people who want to emulate the Master. One day, a woman appears and demands that the
Master returns to her and their children, whom he abandoned. The Master replies that he is
now a different person, just as Raja is no longer a violent beast. Disheartened, the woman
returns to the city.

Raja becomes an old tiger. He finds it more difficult to hunt and protect himself. To help his
friend along, the Master invites a zookeeper from Malgudi to their cave. The zookeeper
offers to take care of Raja and proves to be friendly and compassionate. The Master gives
Raja a final assignment: to move into the zoo and make children happy. The zoo will also
render hunting unnecessary, enabling a non-violent life for him. Now two old friends, Raja
and the Master part ways. The Master tells him that their spirits will meet again, when their
bodies are no longer necessary. A Tiger for Malgudi ends with this philosophical union
between man and animal, suggesting that all creatures can and should strive for peace.

Analyse the various aspects of Narayan's prose style as reflected in A Tiger

for Malgudi.

Ans. The greatest property of Narayan as a descriptive artist is his graceful and simple style.
There are very few Indian writers who are able to handle English with so much purity and
elegance as he does. In both dialogue and narrative he is expert. It is to the ease, the
naturalness and refinement of his prose that we owe a large part of our pleasure in reading
him. The very distinct quality of Narayan's prose style is its transparency and simplicity) It is
straight forward and fred from obscurity and affectation. It is neither dull nor showy, rather
marked with accuracy. Simplicity clarity of his style is due to the result of his use of the very
language of everyday life and his adherence to the accepted patterns of sentence structure
and the diction. His is not an experimental one but a traditional and conservative style) He
rarely uses Hindustani words and phrases in his narrative and so he does not need any
glossary and his English is not jerky. Narayan expression aims at grace and ease rather than
artificial picturesque and glow. He avoids cheap ornaments and rhetoric. He does not crave
for effect. Unlike the Victorian prose writers, Ruskin and Macaulay, he never tests our
patience with purple passages of digression and irrelevant description.

His Indianness
While reading the novel, we notice the Indianness of Narayan with regard to the themes,
motifs, etc. Narayan's work is deeply rooted in the Indian mode of living.

The main theme of the novel-the transformation of a tiger-is typically Indian The motif of a
Guru or Yogi leading his disciple to higher levels is also Indian. In the present novel, Raja, the
tiger, raises himself to the higher levels with the help of a Yogi. There are many references
to Indian concepts and scriptures like Karma, the Bhagvad Gita, etc. Fantasy is always
present in traditional Indian epics and stories like The Ramayan, The Mahabharata, The
Panchatantra and The Jataka Tales. (Fantasy may be defined as something which is hardly
possible in life.)Despite the realistic descriptions of the forest life, the circus life, and the
cinema shooting scenes, fantastic elements like a tiger possessing a soul and who follows
the discourses of a Yogi and elevates himself, are woven into the fabric of the novel.
Narayan, sometimes, uses Indian English expressions such as "all your blessing and co-
operation".

Narrative Techniques
In the novel, Raja, the protagonist, tells his story to the visitors at the zoo. So the mode of
narration is autobiographical. The narrator (Raja) directly appeals to the visitors that he
possesses a soul within the forbidding exterior, and welcomes them to come in and listen to
the story of his life. Then he switches back to the past and narrates the story in the first
person singular (1). The narration moves forward chronologically, each succeeding episode
or event being linked with the previous one. There is no looking backward or forward and
no probing of the subconscious or the unconscious. In the narration, most of the scenes are
'shown'.

Language
Narayan's language is simple and readable) As V. Y. Kantak says, "it can always subtly convey
the flavour of Indian speech in an Indian setting without any of the awkwardness of
translation. He does not attempt to find words equivalent to that delicious Indian
vocabulary of abuse, of bawdry, of endearment". This statement is amply testified by the
description of the Collector's office scene, the school scene, and the domestic squabbles
between Captain and his wife. Indeed, as William Walsh says, "Narayan's language is
beautifully adapted to communicat...an Indian sensibility."
NIGHT OF SCORPION BY NISSIM EZEKIEL
Summary: In "Night of the Scorpion," the speaker tells a story from his childhood in
which his mother was bitten by a scorpion. The poem begins with a simple declaration: "I
remember the night my mother/was stung by a scorpion". The scorpion had entered the
speaker's home because it to hide from the rain. When it bit the speaker's mother, it was
hiding beneath a sack of rice.

The speaker describes the incident in which the scorpion stings his mother without
mentioning his mother at all. Instead, he focuses on the scorpion and what he did
immediately afterward: "Parting with his poison-flash/of diabolic tail in the dark room-/he
risked the rain again". Rather than stick around and look at the scene he had caused, the
scorpion ran back outdoors.

After the speaker's mother was bitten, the speaker notes that poor people went to his
mother's side "like swarms of flies," buzzing with Christianity and hoping to kill one of their
visions of Satan. The peasants look for the scorpion on their hands and knees with lanterns.
Their wish is to find the scorpion quickly because they believe that every movement the
scorpion makes without getting killed affects the speaker's mother: "With every movement
that the scorpion made his poison moved in Mother's/blood, they said".

The peasants begin to share good wishes for the speaker's mother, hoping that the scorpion
will die that night, or at least sit still, that the sins of her past life will be burned away, and
that she may return to an even better life in her next life because of her suffering.

The peasants continue making wishes for the speaker's mother,wishing that the forces of
evil might be diminished by the speaker's mother's pain. They sat on the floor around the
speaker's mother, hoping that the scorpion's bite would "purify" her, with "the peace of
understanding on each face".

As more people come to visit the speaker's mother, the speaker takes in his surroundings:
"More candles, more lanterns, more neighbours/more insects, and the endless rain". The
speaker's mother, oblivious to it all, spent this time suffering and twisting on a mat.

The speaker turns his attention to his father, who he describes as a "sceptic" and
"rationalist”. The speaker notes that even his father is making an effort to help his mother in
any way that he knows how, which means turning towards that which he wouldn't
otherwise believe: "trying every curse and blessing/powder, mixture, herb and hybrid". The
speaker's father even lit the bite on fire in an attempt to remove the poison.

The speaker's mother suffered for 20 hours. Her only response at the end of it all was her
gratitude that it didn't happen to anyone else in their family: "My mother only said/Thank
God the scorpion picked on me/And spared my children".
LOOKING FOR A COUSIN ON A SWING
BY A.K RAMANUJAN

Summary:

The poem begins with the speaker telling the reader about a young girl. When she was a
child, only "four or five" she would sit with her cousin on a village swing. This was an
important experience for her as the "lunging" motion of the swing and the closeness of her
male cousin made her aware of her own sexuality, even at a very young age.

In the second half of the poem the speaker says that the cousin is older now. She searches
different cities for a similar tree and swing. This alludes to her desire to an innocent, yet
fulfilling, sexual experience, such as that she had when she was a child.

MY GRANDMOTHER’S HOUSE BY KAMALA DAS

Summary: The poem "My Grandmother's House" is a wonderful creation by "Kamala
Das". She has written about the grandmother's house. She also used to live with her
grandmother in that house. When she was young in the house she was very beautiful. Her
grandmother's house was also very decent and comfortable. There she and her
grandmother lived a very happy life.

Everything around that very house was good. But when her grandmother died and the
speaker lived in another place, the house became in bad condition. Everywhere that house
became in pitiable condition. Bushes grew around when the speaker went there to see the
house. When she reached there she was warmly welcomed. She saw her house damaged. A
strong feeling caught her mind. Everything was changed when she went there but still she
was proud because when she reached there she was received warmly which she got at
stranger's door.

In this poem, Kamala Das, the speaker explained in her autobiography as to how she lived
when she was too young.
THE LOST CHILD BY MULK RAJ ANAND

The Lost Child' is a famous story by Mulk Raj Anand. In this story the narrator narrates a
story of a boy who went to a fair with his parents.

Summary:
Many people including men, women and children in new clothes in a happy mood were
going to join the fair. The boy was very happy and excited. He demanded the sweets and
toys displayed in the shops. He felt attracted towards many things so he lagged behind time
and again. When the boy demanded a toy, his father looked at him red-eyed in his familiar
tyrant's way. The boy tried to catch the dragon-flies in the mustard field on the way and
again was left behind. Then his parents called him again. Then his parents took rest for a
while under a banyan tree and after some time they reached the fair. The boy lost his mind
in the whirlpool of the fair. Then he suddenly listened to the loud voice of a sweet seller and
slowly murmured 'I want that Burfi'. But he did not do so for fear of his father. He also
eagerly watched gulmohur flower, balloons.

Then the boy boldly requested his parents to let him have a ride on a roundabout and
turned back to look them. But to his surprise no sign of them was there. A full, deep cry rose
within his dry throat and with a sudden jerk of his body he ran from where he stood, crying
in real fear: 'Mother, Father'. Now the boy had been separated from his parents. The poor
child struggled to make his way between the feet of people but was knocked to and fro by
their brutal movements. He might have been trampled under feet, had he not shrieked at
the highest pitch of his voice: 'Mother, Father'. The boy was not able to find his parents
anywhere.

A kind-hearted man lifted up the boy in his arms and tried his best to console the boy. That
man took the boy to a flower- seller, balloon seller, snake-charmer, juggler and for joy-ride
also. But the boy had no interest in all these things except his parents. He cried and sobbed,
"I want my mother, I want my father!"