The version of Malgudi Days I have in my possession now is the 1984 version from Penguin Books. The cover certainly looks quite different from the current Penguin Classics version yet somehow, I prefer the cover of the version I have.
Malgudi Days, written by the Indian writer R. K. Narayan, was first published by Indian Thought Publications in 1942. Set in a fictional South Indian town Malgudi, Malgudi Days allowed a glimpse into the daily lives, hopes and aspirations of its inhabitants. Written in a simply understood and humorous way, Malgudi Days can be an easy fiction for reading. Yet as always, once it becomes a text for reading class, the teacher is always able to sieve out the underlying read-between-the-lines issues of each short story in the collection. And as an introduction to South Indian culture, Malgudi Days is quite helpful at that, although the teacher's elaboration of why certain characters behaved in a certain way aided in understanding the stories.
Life in Malgudi, while tough for some of the characters, was certainly exciting for readers. I read the book in one sitting and never thought it out-of-touch without the electronic devices that are omnipresent nowadays.
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