Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Swami and Friends was the first novel by R. K. Narayan that was published in the year 1935. R. K. Narayan along with Mulk Raj Anand, and Raja Rao was a prominent author of early Indian literature in English. Most of his works s set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. Malgudi is a fictional town that is both mythical and mundane and thus it becomes a place that is no place in reality yet it can be any town, any place in India.
Swami and Friends was the first part of a trilogy whose sequels were The Bachelor of Arts, published in 1937, and The English Teacher, published in 1945. The major themes of Swami and Friends include teenage, child psychology, authority, innocence, oppression and escape, colonial domination, friendship, belonging, and competition. Swami and Friends was the first work of R. K. Narayan that got published with the help of his friend Graham Greene who recommended his book to publishers. The initial title of the novel was Swami the Tate, which indicated the excellent skills of Swami as a cricket player, an allrounder batsman, and bowler much like Maurice Tate, the English cricketer. However, the title was changed to Swami and Friend considering the earlier success of Rudyard Kipling’s Stalky & Co.
Characters of Swami and Friends
Swami or Swaminathan is the main character of the novel. He is a 10 years old school-going boy who is a bit lazy and doesn’t like studying much. He is innocent and honest but doesn’t mind telling lies to his father or friends. He is a good friend and a good cricketer. He is popular among his friends which include Mani, Somu, Shankar, and Samuel or Pea. Mani lives with his poor widowed mother. He is strongly built and is also known as ‘Mighty good-for-nothing.’ He often bullies his classmates but he is not good at studies. Somu is the monitor of Swami’s class. He is confident and tries to impose his authority. Swami calls him the ‘uncle of the class.’ Shankar is a very studious and brilliant boy in Swami’s class. Swami admires Shankar’s intellect and often takes his help. However, Shankar leaves Malgudi as his father is transferred to another town. Samuel is the only Christian boy in the class who is short in height and thus, Swami and his friends call him the Pea (Matar). Rajam is the new boy in the class and is the son of the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Malgudi. He is a rich boy who fluently speaks English like a European kid. Being the son of the DSP, he gets more attention at school. He is fearless, witty, and authoritative. Initially, Swami feels threatened by Rajam as he loses his popularity but soon he develops a friendship with Rajam and becomes his fan so much so that his older friends start chiding him as ‘Rajam’s tail.’ Swami develops an inferiority complex. When Rajam visits Swami’s house, Swami lies to Rajam, saying that the room they were seated in was his room and not his father’s when the opposite was true. Rajam sees past Swami’s sham and yet is gracious enough not to ridicule him in his dwelling. Swami and his four old friends do a great job of seeing the positives of their differences but struggle to see the good in Rajam. Mani especially has animosity towards Rajam. However, Rajam manages to bring all of them together and be a close friends. Later on, he gives the idea of making a cricket team. He becomes the captain of the Malgudi Cricket Club (M.C.C) whose other members include Swami, Mani, Somu, and Samuel.
Shrinivasan is Swami’s father. He is a lawyer who is a strict and authoritative father. He adores Swami but wishes to work hard. He wishes Swami to study for long hours but Swami is careless about his studies. When all other students including Mani realize the importance of exam and answering an exam paper with all sincerity or at least as well as possible, Swami is careless and is more interested in non-essentials like clips, pins, nibs, exam cardboard pads, etc to buy which he asks money from his father. He is more interested in the summer vacations that would come after exams. He is so careless about his studies that he gets bored with exams and writes answers haphazardly and leaves the examination hall twenty minutes early. Lakshmi is Swami’s mother who is a housewife. She cares for Swami but remains busy with her kitchen chores and nursing Swami’s newly-born younger brother. Swami’s grandmother is an old religious lady who tells stories to Swami and is fond of him. However, Swami feels that both his father and mother are more concerned for his younger brother. Mr. Ebenezar is Swami’s scripture teacher at the Albert Mission School. He is a Christian fanatic and degrades Swami’s religion, Hinduism, and considers Christianity superior to other religions. Later, he is scolded by the headmaster of the school.
Summary of Swami and Friends
The story is set in the 1930s in British Colonial India. Swami is a 10-year-old boy who lives with his father, mother, and grandmother. His father is an authoritative disciplinarian and doesn’t like his son acting lazy. He may appear irritable to Swami at times but he cares for him and wishes him to succeed in his life. Swami has four close friends Mani, Somu, Shankar, and Samuel who are his classmates at Albert Mission School. Often they call Samuel Pea because of his short height and thin figure while Mani is the tallest and strongest among them and is often called Mighty good-for-nothing. Swami is witty and often leads his friends in games. One day, Mr. Ebenezar, Swami’s scripture teacher criticizes and degrades the Hindu religion in the class. All the students including Samuel, who is a Christian don’t like Mr. Ebenezar. As the teacher continues to chide Hindu deities while praising Christianity, Swami stands against him and asks some witty questions that prove otherwise. Mr. Ebenezar gets angry and punishes Swami. Later on, Swami informs his father about the incident and when his father complains about it to the headmaster, he scolds Mr. Ebenezar. While Swami’s friends appreciate Swami for his wittiness, they stress that it was a school matter and he didn’t need to complain to his father about it. At home, Swami feels that his father isn’t caring enough as his father continues to push him to study for long hours and understand the importance of exams. This creates a distance between the father and the son. Lakshmi, his mother cares for Swami but she is often aloof because of housework and as she gives birth to Swami’s younger brother, she gets busier in nursing the newly born child.
Meanwhile, a new student Rajam joins the Albert Mission School in Swami’s class. He is the son of the new DSP of Malgudi who came from Madras. Rajam is rich, intelligent, and fluent in English. Being the son of DSP he gains the limelight. Swami and his friends don’t like Rajam much. Swami feels an inferiority complex as he cannot match Rajam with his charm, good English, and richness. Yet, Swami finds himself attracted to Rajam and gradually develops a friendship with Rajam. Swami’s old friends start ignoring Swami and calling him Rajam’s Tail. Mani hates Rajam and warns Swami to remain away from Rajam. It isn’t until the three boys confront each other that they realize they have a lot in common, and become fast friends. However, the other three friends remain away from Swami. One day, Rajam invites Swami, Mani, and the other three friends to his home and offers them cakes and new toys if they agree to become friends again. The six boys forget their differences and become a pack of friends.
Swami is intelligent and witty but he is lazy and careless towards his studies and exams. His father warns him that if he won’t study well, he will flunk and will be forced to study with his juniors. Swami convinces his father that he will study well but most of his time is spent on games.
It is a time when Gandhi’s non-cooperative movement is at its peak. A popular leader of Malgudi is arrested in Bombay to oppose which people in Malgudi announce a protest march. Swami hears his father discuss the matter and feels the nationalist fervor. The next day, when he is feeling a bit lazy and wishes to avoid school, his father forces him to go to school. As he goes to school, he sees a crowd shouting slogans against colonial rulers and in support of Gandhi and Gauri Shankar, the leader who was recently arrested. Swami is swept by the crowd and joins them. He feels as if he is giving his bits to the nationalist cause. The DSP decides to quash the protest violently and policemen start beating the protestors with batons. As the crowd responds by throwing stones at police, Swami too picks up a rock and throws it toward his school, and runs back home.
The next day, the school headmaster enquires about the incident and Swami disrespectfully shouts that he doesn’t care for the school and runs away. He is punished for his actions. Not only is Swami forced to switch to a more strict school, but Rajam, being the son of the DSP, is hurt by the actions of his friend, making their friendship unstable.
Swami’s new school The Board High School is an indigenous school and hence, it is not as reputed as Albert Mission School. It is a stricter school with rigorous school studies and extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Attendance is compulsory and the homework and classwork surpass that of Albert Mission School. The Albert Mission School shows the complacency of the Colonial government. Despite being more reputed, that school had little to do with the advancement of students while the teachers openly engaged in trying to proselytize students. The Board High School represents the upcoming wave of Indianized schools with their rigorous school studies and extracurricular and co-curricular activities to mainly prove that even indigenous schools could be run as well as British schools. Swami realizes that his life was much easier at Albert High School but he is forced to learn the rigorous ways and take charge of his life and studies. In a sense, it proves to be better for him though he feels suffocated. His main grumble is that he lost his friends and Rajam is angry with him. Mani softens Rajam’s attitude towards Swami and then Rajam plans to create Malgudi Cricket Club. Swami is a good cricket player and is often called Malgudi’s Tate by his friends. He decides to help Rajam in establishing his cricket club. The two boys are intensely passionate about the team, but tensions rise as Swami’s strict school and intense workload get in the way of his commitment to the club. Rajam threatens to never speak to Swami again if he misses the match of the year against a competing club Young Men’s Union (YMU).
Despite his best efforts, Swami is forbidden by his strict headmaster from leaving early to go to his daily practices. In a rage, Swami throws his headmaster’s cane out of the window. Then, he thinks that his father Srinivasan, would not tolerate his dismissal even from this school in a matter of a few months. Thus, Swami resolutely decides to run away from home. He takes a naive decision, thinking that even though he was running away from home, he would be able to return somehow to the Y.M.U. vs. M.C.C. cricket match happening in one and a half-day. While fleeing, he becomes lost and wanders until he is rescued. Meanwhile, Lakshmi goes berserk, creates a funeral atmosphere in the house, and stops eating until Swami returns. When Swami learns this, he feels elated that his younger infant brother was sidelined in his place of him, at least in this singular instance in his life. While he was missing, Shrinivasan blames himself for being too harsh and aloof to Swami’s concerns. Thus, during the disappearance, the prime thought in his mind is not that Swami has had an accident or been kidnapped but that he must have committed suicide due to harassment.
He has missed the M.C.C. match he swore to go to. Already knowing his best friend may never speak to him again, Swami finds out from his friend Mani that Rajam is leaving the next morning to move to a new city with his family. Swami tries to mend his friendship with Rajam by giving him his favorite book Anderson’s Fairy Tales. This is Swami’s pathetic and simplistic gesture to at least keep his memory fresh in the mind of his friend, who meant so much to him. Swami fails to realize that Rajam would never read Anderson because he is too old and well-read for reading fairy tales.
In a desperate attempt to make amends, Swami rushes to the train station the next morning with a book he intends to give to Rajam as a way to make peace. He nearly misses the train’s departure and looks at his best friend through the window, who still refuses to speak to him. Mani must hand him the book, as he would not take it from Swami. The story ends as the train pulls away. Swami is left wondering if his friend will write and if he is forgiven. The writer leaves the reader with the same question. However, it doesn’t matter. Rajam came like a tornado into the lives of Swami and the rest of his friends and changed them forever, raising their standards about studies, friendship, and good behavior. Swami has a better sense and attitude towards life, friendship, studies, and the importance of exams. He understands his father, mother, and younger brother better now.
So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the history of Indian English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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