My Letter to the Malgudi Man

R.K.Narayan — my comfort place

Radhika Ghosh
2 min readFeb 17, 2022
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/10/rk-narayan-celebrated-google-doodle-only-india

Dear ……..,

I really don’t know how to address you. What should I call someone who has been a friend, a guide, a teacher, an inspiration, and everything that is positive? What all-encompassing name can I use for someone who plays so many roles in my life and that too silently?

When I read your creations, Malgudi doesn’t seem to be a fantasy universe. It seems to be a world brimming with characters with familiar faces and known names.

I love how you touch upon the deepest chords of my heart with the magic wand of your words. I envy and admire your ability to reflect the most complicated emotions into simple and plain language.

Are you a magician? Are you a saint?

I grow with your characters, be it Swami, Savitri or Raju. I absorb their incongruities, frailties and accompany them as they navigate through their worlds, saving and changing a bit of their true selves, one heartbeat at a time.

“Malgudi Days” is my sole gateway to the imaginary world. The world where I could be anything; the world where I could do anything; the world where I could be me.

I love the lucidity in your novels, in your stories. They make me restore my faith in the innocence that the world is currently devoid of. I remain perpetually in awe of the simplicity that your writing is all about.

In you, I find my home. In your creations, I find myself. In your words, I find things that I have always felt, things that I have always desired to convey.

Thank you for the unforgettable stories. Thank you for the memorable characters. And thank you for keeping humanity alive through your creations.

From,

An unnamed disciple

#WriteHere

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