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The essays written at various
times indicate his growth as well as concerns as a writer.
The essays have
been divided into four sections. The first group of essays cover
the period upto the 1950s. The second comprises the essays
written from the 1950s to the 1970s. The next section presents
pieces from the 1970s to the 1990s and is titled "Later
Essays". All of Narayan’s essays on the subject of
writing have been clubbed together in the last section "The
world of the writer".
To go back to
the 1930s and read about life’s little ironies happening in a
slow paced small town of South India, I think, will be too much
of a drag for the fastforward remote-oriented and computer-mouse
next generation. But a time comes when one feels like getting
disconnected from the day-to-day happenings, telecast at all
hours of the day and one feels like reading something not too
heavy. That is the time for RKN to make an entry, of course,
this time with his non-fiction, non-Malgudi characters.
All the essays
in the first section are from his weekly column in a Madras
daily and he managed to fill this column for nearly 20 years
without a break. These essays showcase his ability to charmingly
etch the characteristics of the world around him. The topics he
covers are as diverse as allergy, humour, sychophancy,
importance of waste paper basket, and trains and travellers. One
essay, an all-time favourite of mine, is "Behind one
another". An excerpt.
"It must
be admitted that the queue is a necessity. It is a sign of an
abnormal, confused and congested existence... Even the most
hardened person never likes to be seen standing in a queue. It
is always recommended for others... Everyone hopes that he will
be able to find someone else to do the standing for him. I read
the other day of a Delhi refugee making a living as a stand-in
at the bus-stop for babus in a hurry. Who knows how this will
develop? It may become a specialised job, depending upon one’s
‘standing’ endurance."
RKN draws his
inspiration while writing about sychophancy from a dialogue
between Hamlet and Polonius (Shakespeare’s Hamlet). According
to RKN, the essence of a sychophant’s success lies in his
capacity to remain agreeable under all conditions. Further on,
he says that there is no word such as "sychophantess"
just as there is no such thing as yes-woman.
Narayan’s
jottings about his travels in America when he was in the process
of writing his tour-de-force "The Guide"
appears in full as "My dateless diary". As he journeys
across the vast continent, he is able to see American way of
life at close quarters but he finds himself incapable of
adopting their mannerisms or their free-from-shackles way of
living. One incident stands out from his very first days in New
York. At a self-service cafeteria he goes to take his breakfast
and when he approached the coffee counter and was asked,
"black or white?" "Neither", replied Narayan.
"What do you mean?. To this Narayan said, "I want it
neither, black nor white, but brown, which ought to be the
colour of honest coffee, that’s how we make it in South India
where devotees of perfection in coffee assemble from all over
the world."
Narayan’s
opinion about America and Americans holds good even today.
"Americans
have always displayed great hospitality to a writer who is
humorous at their expense; but they hate to be hated...Within
the country itself there are small prides and prejudices which
one must fully appreciate if one is to understand the country
and its people. The test of a visitor’s understanding is his
sharing of local prejudices."
Americans
"hate to be hated" that was in 1950s. In 2001 and
after September 11, things are not the same. Americans have now
a new villain to loathe and fear. Of late, Americans love to
personalise their rage: Saddam, Khomeini, Mussoloni, Hitler and
now Osama bin Laden. In interactions with groups of students
Narayan comes to know how his work is dissected in the far off
America, much more than in India, the country of his birth and
the locale of his fictional exercises.
Essays written
in the 50s, the 60s and the 70s speak of various aspects of
Narayan’s engagement with post-independence India. The
tell-all titles reveal Narayan’s areas of interest — the
election game, red-tape culture, Hindi enthusiasts, castes: old
and new. And something personal too — looking one’s age, a
picture of years. In the centenary year of the postcard (1979)
he talks of the plus points in writing letters on a postcard.
"The chief merit of a car is that it circulates in an open
society. No secrets are possible... It is pilfer-proof. Nobody
has any use for a used postcard."
The section
"Later essays" provide a rare glimpse into Narayan’s
private world. In this section there are some longer essays
which RKN wrote on topics which were significant to him at that
point of time. RKN’s educational outlook, his funny
encounters, table talk, permitted laughter and his meeting Ved
Mehta, the writer, and also his meeting with Indira Gandhi et
al, form the core of this section.
In the section
"The world of the writer" his oft-quoted essays on the
making of the film "The Guide" and his great
disappointment at the hands of the film crew — director,
actor, locale of the novel which was shifted from South India to
the picturesque Rajasthan, etc. The second essay is on his not
getting the Nobel Prize for Literature, though he was one of the
hot contenders conveys his anger and angst. These two essays
along with "The problems of the Indian writer" bring
out the mindset of the then aged writer.
RKN became a
household name only after the making of the film "The
Guide" based on his Sahitya Akademi Award Winning novel of
the same name. "Mr Sampath" made according to his
instructions in Madras never got him countrywide recognition.
RKN became touchy and fussy about it. No writer bothers as much
as RKN did when his novel or story is adapted in a film.
Tennessee Williams even allowed the great Hollywood film and
stage director Elia Kazan to change the ending of his plays for
stage or cinematic effect in the sixties of last century. Nearer
home, Ruskin Bond, I think, never bothered about anything when
his novel "The Flight of the Pigeons" was made into a
movie by the cine actor Shashi Kapoor.
The essays hold a certain
flavour for the senior citizens now, or for those readers who
have grown up with the growth of RKN as a novelist of world
repute in the past twenty odd years or so.
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Throughout
his career he wrote non-fiction partly to eke out a living by
doing a regular column for a Madras daily. RKN’s interest in
the short essay, he calls it discursive essay, led him to
comment on just about every thing of the world around him.
Over the years the short subjective essay became Narayan’s
forte and it was the perfect platform for his keen observation
and anecdotal narrative.
