Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Venkatesh, yes, I also understood your mail as saying Kalki had the
book translated for Ananda vikatan (by someone). Incidentally, you may
have read `Gods, demons and others' - by RKN - a nice translation of
Indian mythological stories. So one can imagine a wry translation of
PS by him....
Reg. previous posts about RKN's Kannada roots - there are still some
stories, such as `Horse and two goats' that one feels could have only
happened in a Tamil village. One wonders reading those stories (like
Kalki) why he didn't write in Tamil. But RKN has a huge fan following
all over the world - I have a Canadian colleague (not of Indian
origin!) who always carries a copy of Swami and friends in her
handbag.. She says she feels Malgudi is like a second home....So maybe
it is good RKN wrote in English after all! In fact, PS is also getting
popular among non-Tamil Indians after the translation.

As an American who has read both RKN and Laxman,
I'd say they both have a gentleness that is totally
lacking in American humour & fiction.
RKN was
my introduction to South India; his books helped me
to feel at home when I finally visited TN & KARN in '86.
. . .and Laxman's 'everyman' with his bemused
expression made sense of what otherwise would
have been almost incomprehensible political jokes.
There's a very funny essay by RKN when he gets
trapped in a large London bathtub, he's over 80,
and can't climb out.
Kathie B.
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Yes the guide is a great story, I will maintain that
Narayan was definitely a better story writer than
Kalki for his simplicity in plot and total lack of
cliches or coincidental situations. Kalki has a
tendency to go over board with coincidences sometimes,
in Thyaga Bhoomi for example the father does not
recognize the daughter, a very unreal situation. Alai
Osai is full of people finding one another on streets
in big cities, hiding here and there and lot of stuff
that is very unbelievable. But I don't believe Narayan
had any patience for the complexity and historical
relevance of PS and other novels Kalki wrote.

Narayan's malgudi and other stories have a mix of
tamil and kannada culture, same as he was.
Swaminathan, Rajam etc are not kannada names. The
village can be karnataka or tamil naadu or any part of
india with some minor variances. Narayan was never
given to debates on regional identity and language but
if prompted he would gently assert that he was a
'mysorean', which was the word for kannadiga in those
days.

Kathie, really nice to hear that!! I have often
wondered at the fascination non indians have for his
writing, i can understand English people perhaps since
British culture is so part of what he wrote too, but
american is so different!! It indeed speaks highly of
the simplicity and universal appeal of his writing.

And what better treat than to visit India after
reading his work! There are only two perspectives a
foreigner 'gets' India, particularly a westerner, from
what I have seen - one is the spiritual seeking
perspective, and second, simply put is RK Narayan's
perspective!!

Malathi

Hi
somebody should do ( if they havent already) a pHd thesis on the
female charecters of kalki

a half finished manuscript of "Kalkiyin kaviyathalaivikaL" lies on
my table. if i couldnt finish it for one book fair then it comes only
for the next i guess.

when we see his life kalki did not have the opportunity to move with
many women to base his charecters on real people. thats what most
novelists do i think.
his mother we can see a version in kethariyin thaayar.
M.S we can see in veenai bavani and even sivakaami to a certain
extent.
most of his other charecters came out of the churnings of his
creative mind.
of course we can find common threads but what is appreciable is the
variety.
we have princesses, flesh eating kaapaalkais, lawyers, air hostesses,
singers, dancers. a literal supermarket.
venketesh