The Guide by R. K. Narayan

The Guide is an entertaining story overflowing with love, deceit and faith, and was written by one of the most famous of Indian writers, R. K. Narayan.

Summary Of The book

The Guide by R. K. Narayan is the story about Railway Raju, a tourist guide who meets and falls in love with Rosie, the beautiful dancer who is married to Marco, an archaeologist. They soon become entangled in an adulterous affair, which on becoming known to Marco leads to him going away to Madras, leaving Rosie behind. Raju and Rosie collaborate, and make Rosie a successful dancer. Soon, they make a lot of money together. However, it all goes wrong when Raju uses illicit means to get some of Rosie’s jewellery from Marco. Raju is sent to jail for two years for this act.

On his subsequent release, Raju falls into a peculiar situation where he is catapulted as a holy saint due to a mere coincidence. Soon, he becomes famous among many villagers and receives immense adulation and comfort from them. But what happens when he is asked to solve a severe problem faced by the villagers? Will Raju be able to live up to his pious image?

The plot oscillates between the first and third person narrative throughout the novel, with the former telling us about the young and spirited Raju and the latter telling us the story about Raju the saint. The novel is one of Narayan’s most famous works and won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1960. The Guide has also been made into a film.

About R. K. Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami, or, as he is more widely known, R. K. Narayan, was a famous Indian writer. He was famous for his simple writing style which portrayed the realities of Indian society.

Some of his works are Swami and Friends, The English Teacher, Mr. Sampath, The Vendor of Sweets, Next Sunday, A Writer’s Nightmare, The Writerly Life, Malgudi Days, A Horse and Two Goats and The Grandmother’s Tale and Selected Stories.

R. K. Narayan was born in Madras. After studying at various schools he went to the Maharaja College of Mysore. He wrote his first book, Swami and Friends in 1930, which met with initial rejections from many publishers. It was ultimately published in 1935, when the famous writer Graham Greene recommended the book to his own publisher. Narayan has also worked for various periodicals such as The Justice, The Hindu and The Atlantic. He started his own publishing company called Indian Thought Publications, which is still active today. He has also translated The Ramayana and The Mahabharata into the English language. Narayan was the recipient of various awards such as Padma Vibhushan, and the AC Benson Medal from the Royal Society of Literature. He was also a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. He died in 2001, at the age of 94.