2016-10-10 Mon

R.K. Narayan or Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami is one of the most famous and widely read Indian novelists. He was born on October 10, 1906, in Madras.

R. K. Narayan is considered as one of leading figures of early Indian literature in English. He is credited with the task of making India accessible to the people in foreign countries. R.K. Narayan began his writing career with Swami and Friends in 1935. Most of his work including Swami and Friends is set in the fictional town of Malgudi which captures everything Indian.

R.K. Narayan's writing style was marked by simplicity and subtle humour. He told stories of ordinary people trying to live their simple lives in an ever-changing world. His stories celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.

His work involves novels like: ‘The Guide’, ‘The Financial Man’, ‘Mr. Sampath’, ‘The Dark Room’, ‘The English Teacher’, ‘A Tiger for Malgudi’, etc. He will always be remembered for the invention of Malgudi, a semi-urban fictional town in southern India in which most of his stories were set.

This Grand Old Man of Malgudi won numerous awards for his literary works. These include Sahitya Akademi Award (1958), Padma Bhushan (1964), AC Benson Medal by the British Royal Society of Literature (1980), and Padma Vibhushan (2001). He was also nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's parliament.

India Post too has honoured this literary genius of India on an INR 5 commemorative stamp issued in 2009.