Waiting For The Mahatma

In the novels of R. K. Narayan (1906-2001), the forefather of modern Indian fiction, human-scale hopes and epiphanies express the promise of a nation as it awakens to its place in the world. In Waiting for the Mahatma, a young drifter meets the most beautiful girl he has ever seen–an adherent of Mahatma Gandhi–and commits himself to Gandhi’s Quit India campaign, a decision that will test the integrity of his ideals against the strength of his passions. This novel, written after India's independence, is a masterpiece of social comedy, rich in local color and abounding in affectionate humor and generosity of spirit.

‘The best of R.K. Narayan’s enchanting novels’—The New Yorker Raju, a corrupt tourist guide, together with his lover, the dancer Rosie, leads a prosperous life before he is thrown into prison. After release he rests on the steps of an abandoned temple when a peasant passing by mistakes him for a holy man. Slowly, almost reluctantly, he begins to play the part, acting as a spiritual guide to the village community. Raju’s holiness is put to the test when a drought strikes the village, and he is asked to fast for twelve days to summon the rains. Set in Narayan’s fictional town, Malgudi, The Guide is the greatest of his comedies of self-deception. ‘A brilliant accomplishment … Narayan is the compassionate man who can write of human life as comedy’—The New York Times Book Review ‘Narayan is such a natural writer, so true to his experience and emotions’—V.S. Naipaul

Indian English Literature Has Established Its Credentials All Over The World. Still Some Pointed Posers Concerning The Impact Of Multiculturality And The Choice Of English As A Medium On The Warp And Woof Of Indian English Literature Have To Be Confronted And Analysed Threadbare Not Merely In Theory But Also Through The Elucidation Of Some Key Texts From This Perspective. The Present Volume Is Devoted To This Critical Endeavour.The Volume Comprises Scholarly Studies Of The Works Of Kamala Das, Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao, Arun Joshi, Amitav Ghosh, Rohinton Mistry, Shobha De, Anita Desai And Arundhati Roy. The Theoretical Framework Pertains To The Multiculturality And The Critical Implications Of The Choice Of Medium In Indian English Literature.An Indispensable Source Of Fresh And Innovative Insight Into Indian English Literature. A Useful Supplement To The Existing Studies Of Indian Literature. A Fresh Perspective For Students, Teachers, Researchers Working In Literary Theory, Fiction Studies, Stylistics And Sociology Of Literature.

Ved Mehta's brilliant Mahatma Gandhi and his Apostles provides an unparalleled portrait of the man who lead India out of its colonial past and into its modern form. Travelling all over India and the rest of the world, Mehta gives a nuanced and complex, yet vividly alive, portrait of Gandhi and of those men and women who were inspired by his actions.

R.K. Narayan And His Social Perspective Deals With The Caste-Ridden Hindu Society Which Narayan Presents In His Novels. His Characters Are Fatalists With Explicit Faith In The Invisible. The Book Presents Their Half¬Hearted Attempts At Self-Assertion. However, Their So-Called Sentimentalism Does Not Bear Fruit And They Fall Back To Their Former Position Accepting Defeat In Life.The Book Brings Out Vividly Narayan S Atti¬Tude To Life, His Firm Grip Of Hindu Ethos Of Which He Is The Product, And His Failure To Come Out Of It, Though The West Wind Has Blown Much Of Its Dust.However Detached He Sounds Himself To The Readers, His True Spirit Finds Vivid Expression In The Book. At Any Rate R.K. Narayan Is A Thoroughly Indian Novelist Par Excellence, And The Aspect Is Hardly To Be Overlooked.