The Guide

Title: The Guide

Author : R.K.Narayan

Main Characters: Raju, Raju’s father, Raju’s mother, Rosie, Marco, Raju’s uncle, Guffar and Velan.

Description of one of the main characters: Rosie is a temple dancer. She maries a rich man, whom Raju calls Macro. She is an idiot. She tells Raju to help her stage programmes asks him to borrow money from his friends and makes him bankrupt. She starts living in Raju’s house and best dancer but she is very cunning.

Whom I like and why: I like Raju’s uncle. He is a very strict man. He likes and respects his relatives, especially his sisters, vey much. When Rosie sends out Raju’s mother, Raju’s uncle comes and takes her away to his own house.

Whom I dislike and why: I dislike Rosie. She is the trouble maker in the whole story. She is a she-devil.

Setting/theme of the story: Raju gets out from jail. He was sent to jain for borrowing too much money and for not being able to return it back. He comes to an unknown village. A man named Velan thinks he is a sadhu and starts worshipping him. The villagers give him a place in the temple to stay. They provide food for Raju. They come to him with many problems. He tells them something and by fluke the problem gets solved. He starts giving discourses and teaches small children bhajans. He also tells the villagers about the importance of education and asks the teacher of that village to gather all boys and teach them. Soon Raju believes himself to be sadhu and also starts living smoothly when suddenly the rains stop. The village becomes dry. Cows and other animals start dying. The villagers come to Raju, thinking he is a sadhu, and plead to him to bless the village so that the rains come. Raju tells them that he will fast for 12 days and that on the 12^th day the rains will come. He starts fasting and after a day or two starts starving. He calls Velan, his friend and confides to him that he is not a sadhu but is just a prisoner released from jail. He tells Velan why he went to jail.

This is Raju’s story:

Raju had a shop which sold old books, magazines, biscuits and other things in the Malgudi Railway station. He was interested more in travelling and showing visitors around Malgudi. So, he left his old profession and became a guide. He showed many people around Malgudi. Then one day he met a man named Marco and his wife Rosie who was a dancer. Marco requested Raju to be his guide. Raju accepted and showed Marco all around Malgudi. Rosie danced all day. She asked Raju if he would help her dance in public shows so that could earn money and as a guide, Raju readily accepted. Marco suddenly left Rosie and went off. Rosie moved into Raju’s house and made Raju borrow money. She asked Raju to fix a mandapam for her "Arangetram". She did not spend a single penny but made Raju borrow and spend. Then one day, she sent Raju’s mother away from the house. Raju’s uncle collected her and dwent back to his own house with his sister. Raju got involved into cases in the court for not paying back the people he borrowed money from. He was put in jail.

After hearing the story Velan still calls him as “swami” and still believed that if he requests God, God would give rains to the village. Raju continues to fast. He becomes very weak. He stops walking, talking, doing things normally. On the 12^th day he steps in the bank of the river to finish his fasting and at the momment rain comes pouring from the sky, and Raju lies down forever.

Part I enjoyed the most: I enjoyed the part when Raju racks his brains, trying to remember the stories his mother had told, for the discourse he has to give.