New Delhi: An image of a man reading the book Malguri Days welcomed users to the homepage of Google India as homage to the author on his 108th birth anniversary on Friday.
Regaled by the magic of Malgudi – the fictitious South Indian town created by the master story teller – the doodle paid tribute to its creator R K Narayan.
Narayan’s fictitious creation Malgudi which is often compared to William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County was described as homespun creation and a state of mind by Harish Trivedi, Chairperson, Indian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies.
He once said “one could take Narayan out of Malgudi but not Malgudi out of Narayan”.
Photojournalist T S Satyan, who knew R K Narayan for almost six decades, described Malgudi as a metaphor for Mysore and said there was a thin line of dividing fact (Mysore) from fiction (Malgudi).
His characters from Swami and Friends, Bachelor of Arts, The Guide and scores of other literary works have left an indelible impression on readers.
Malgudi appeared in all the novels and short stories of Narayan. It formed the setting for most of Narayan’s works.  Narayan successfully portrayed Malgudi as a microcosm of India. Malgudi was created – as mentioned in Malgudi Days – by Sir Fredrick Lawley, a fictional British officer in the 19th century by combining and developing a few villages.Â
