The Guide
Author: R.K Narayan
The guide is the magnificent tale of how, a life of profuse romance ended up in tragedy, despair and detention, furnishes a wise human being – a real guide who compassionately advice and nullify the endless charades of the common man’s life. The great words of wisdom from Swami Vivekanantha fits well here;
Raju a successful tourist guide of Malgudi falls in love with the alluringly beautiful dancer Rosie. He channels all his energy to fulfill Rosie’s dream-to become a famed dance- by relentlessly working for the cause almost forgetting his old talents and occupation as a tourist guide. His life slowly turns to turmoil of forgetfulness, a languorous whirl around the magnetic dancing beauty. Around the stages, in the role of a manager, he dispatches his conversational ‘guidely’ skills. But suddenly a grave mistake ends him behind bars owning to a complaint filed by Rosie’s former husband (whom Raju sarcastically calls ‘Marco polo’, referring to his attire). While Rosie continues in her dancing career to fulfill the financial needs to run Raju’s case in court. Raju , after his term in detention , takes refuge in an old riverside temple in the rural village of Mangal. The villagers take him for a saint and start consulting him for solutions for their daily life problems. With his ‘problem-solver-instincts’ which helped him to build his guide’s career, Raju helps them. He recounts his whole story to his followers on the eve of his fasting in order to appease the rain Gods when a drought hits the village. The structure of the novel is as per Raju’s description of his life to his followers. The simple, yet stylish writing style of RKN works magic. The same reason-the widely accepted format-had made it the most widely read and popular books in Indian English Literature awarding the author the highest honor in India- The Sahitya Academy Award (1961).
Author: R.K Narayan
Publisher:Viking Press
Pages: 220The guide is the magnificent tale of how, a life of profuse romance ended up in tragedy, despair and detention, furnishes a wise human being – a real guide who compassionately advice and nullify the endless charades of the common man’s life. The great words of wisdom from Swami Vivekanantha fits well here;
“if you win you can lead”
“If you lose, you can guide”
Story
Raju a successful tourist guide of Malgudi falls in love with the alluringly beautiful dancer Rosie. He channels all his energy to fulfill Rosie’s dream-to become a famed dance- by relentlessly working for the cause almost forgetting his old talents and occupation as a tourist guide. His life slowly turns to turmoil of forgetfulness, a languorous whirl around the magnetic dancing beauty. Around the stages, in the role of a manager, he dispatches his conversational ‘guidely’ skills. But suddenly a grave mistake ends him behind bars owning to a complaint filed by Rosie’s former husband (whom Raju sarcastically calls ‘Marco polo’, referring to his attire). While Rosie continues in her dancing career to fulfill the financial needs to run Raju’s case in court. Raju , after his term in detention , takes refuge in an old riverside temple in the rural village of Mangal. The villagers take him for a saint and start consulting him for solutions for their daily life problems. With his ‘problem-solver-instincts’ which helped him to build his guide’s career, Raju helps them. He recounts his whole story to his followers on the eve of his fasting in order to appease the rain Gods when a drought hits the village. The structure of the novel is as per Raju’s description of his life to his followers. The simple, yet stylish writing style of RKN works magic. The same reason-the widely accepted format-had made it the most widely read and popular books in Indian English Literature awarding the author the highest honor in India- The Sahitya Academy Award (1961).
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