Rk Narayan

Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayan,popularly known as RK Narayan,was born in 1906 in Madras(India).As is the custom in south India,'R' in his name stands for Rasipuram,the name of the village to which his family belonged.though his family originally belonged to Rasipuram,long before Narayan's birth it had moved to Madrasand it was here in 1906 that RK Narayan was born.soon after his birth his father got a job as a teacher in Mysore and the family shifted to Mysore.while his brothers and sisters went with the parents to Mysore RK Narayan,was left in the custody of his grandmother.It was only later that he shifted and settled in Mysore. It is a bit surprising that one of the most successful indo-anglian writers was not a good student.he failed both in high school and the intermediate examinations and could get his degree only when he was twenty four years old.however Narayan graduated in 1930 from the Maharaja College,Mysore.soon afterwards he took up a job.first,as a clerk in Mysore Sectretariat and then took up a job of a teacher in a village school.he was not satisfied with both these professions and so gave them up.he then decided to devote all his time to writing though he did not expect to make money out of it.In 1935 he met a young girl of eighteen(her name was Rajam)with whom he fell in love at first sight.he was then married to her.An astrologer had predicted that if he married Rajam he would either become a widower or a polygamist.though the girl did not know English, she was a constant source of inspiration to him.the couple was blessed with a daughter whom they loved dearly.Narayan experienced a jolt when Rajam died in 1939 because of typhoid,only five years after their marriage.her death was a shattering experience for the young writer.his grief and sufferings find expressions in