R.K. Narayan- the man, who made us all want to pack our bags and move to the fictional town of Malgudi. R. K. Narayan is considered as one of leading figures of early Indian literature in English. He is the one who made India accessible to the people in foreign countries—he gave unfamiliar people a window to peep into Indian culture and sensibilities. His simple and modest writing style is often compared to that of the great American author William Faulkner. Narayan came from a humble south Indian background where he was consistently encouraged to involve himself into literature. Which is why, after finishing his graduation, he decided to stay at home and write. His work involves novels like: ‘The Guide’, ‘The Financial Man’, ‘Mr. Sampath’, ‘The Dark Room’, ‘The English Teacher’, ‘A Tiger for Malgudi’, etc. Although Narayan’s contribution to the Indian literature is beyond description and the way he grabbed foreign audience’s attention for Indian literature is commendable too but he will always be remembered for the invention of Malgudi, a semi-urban fictional town in southern India where most of his stories were set. Narayan won numerous accolades for his literary work: Sahitya Akademi Award, Padma Bhushan, AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature, honorary membership of the American Academy of Arts and Literature, Padma Vibhushan, etc.


As a tribute to this great man of literature, who was among the first Indian English writers to be taken note of by the West, we present a list of 10 of his most iconic quotes to keep you inspired through the day:

  • The difference between a simpleton and an intelligent man, according to the man who is convinced that he is of the latter category, is that the former wholeheartedly accepts all things that he sees and hears while the latter never admits anything except after a most searching scrutiny. He imagines his intelligence to be a sieve of closely woven mesh through which nothing but the finest can pass.
  • Friendship was another illusion like love, though it did not reach the same mad heights. People pretended that they were friends, when the fact was they were brought together by force of circumstances.
  • We always question the bonafides of the man who tells us unpleasant facts.
  • Certain things acquired an evil complexion if phrased, but remained harmless in the mind.
  • 'Life is about making right things and going on...'
  • It is stimulating to live in a society that is not standardised or mechanised, and is free from monotony.
  • No one ever accepts criticism so cheerfully. Neither the man who utters it nor the man who invites it really means it.
  • It seems to me that we generally do not have a correct measure of our own wisdom.
  • You become writer by writing. It is a yoga.
  • Past is gone, present is going, and tomorrow is day after tomorrow’s yesterday. So why worry about anything? God is in all this.

R.K Narayan has left us a great deal of knowledge to use and cruise through life. If only we try to understand, grasp and implement - are we going to see a whole new perspective of living in the Indian society.

“I am up against the system, the whole method & approach of a system of education which makes us morons, cultural morons, but efficient clerks for all your business and administrative offices. This education had reduced us to a nation of morons; we were strangers to our own culture and camp followers of another culture, feeding on leavings & garbage...”