R.K Narayan - UNDER THE BANYAN TREE( Chapter- At the portal )

R.K Narayan - UNDER THE BANYAN TREE
( Chapter- At the portal ) Explanation

1. RNB GLOBAL UNIVERSITY BCA 1 st SEMESTER ABILITY & SKILL ENHANCEMENT SUBMITTED TO : - Ms. Shalini Joshi SUBMITTED BY : - Tanishq Soni 1 R.K Narayan - UNDER THE BANYAN TREE ( Chapter- At the portal )

2. INTRODUCTION 1.) Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanswami,( R.K. Narayan) R.K . Narayan, was born in Madras on October 10, 1906. 2.) His father, an educator, who travelled frequently, and his mother was ill most of the time . 3.) Narayan was raised in Madras by his maternal grandmother. He studied for eight years in Christian Mission School . 4.) Narayan moved to Mysore to live with his family when his father was transferred to the Maharajah's Collegiate High School . 2

3. 3 1.) After completing high school, Narayan failed the university entrance examination. 2.) Spent a year at home reading and writing. 3.) He subsequently passed the examination in 1926 and joined  Maharaja College of Mysore. It took Narayan four years to obtain his Bachelor's degree. 4.) Taking a Master's degree (M.A.) killed his interest in literature , he had a job as a school teacher. H owever , he quit in protest when the headmaster of the school asked him to substitute for the physical training master. 5.) In 1933, he got married to Rajam, who lived near his sister's house.

4. 4 BEGINNING OF WRITING 1.) That experience made Narayan realize that the only career for him was in writing, and he decided to stay at home and write novels. 2.) Narayan broke through with the help of his mentor and friend,  Graham Greene, Narayan had sent the manuscript of ” Swami and Friends” which was published in 1935.  3.) The book was semi-autobiography and built upon many incidents from his own childhood.

5. 5 The turning point 1.) Narayan's second novel,  Bachelor of Arts  (1937), marked the beginning of his reputation in England. 2.) Rajam died of typhoid in 1939.Her death affected Narayan deeply and he remained depressed for a long time, he was also concerned for their daughter Hema, who was only three years old. 3.) Brought about a significant change in his life and was the inspiration behind his next novel,  The English Teacher.

6. His Books 1 .) The Dark Room  (1938), 2 .) The English Teacher (1945), 3 .) Mr. Sampath (1948) , 4 .) Waiting for the Mahatma (1955) , 5 .) The Guide (1958) , 6 .) The Man-eater of Malgudi (1961) , 7 .) The Vendor of Sweets (1967) , 8 .) Malgudi Days (1982), 9.) And The Grandmother's Tale (1993) established Narayan's reputation. 6

7. Achievements 1.)  He won the National prize of the Indian Literacy Academy. 2.) In 1965 he won the National Association of Independent Schools award. 3.) He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times, but never won the any. 4.) R.K. Narayan won numerous awards and honors for his works. These include: -> Sahitya Academic Award for The Guide in 1958 . -> Padma Bhushan in 1964. -> AC Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature in 1980. 8.) R.K. Narayan was elected an honorary member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1982. 9.) He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1989. 7

8.  A year before his death, in 2001, he was awarded India's second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. He passed away on May 13,2001 8

9. 9 ( Chapter- At the portal )

10. 10 This chapter (At The Portal) is a story of two squirrels. One a mother and other one’s a ten day old baby squirrel who is out for second time. Once in a evening he had a committee meeting to go to , but remain unattempt because of those two squirrels who were going back to their home which was on the other side of the university wall , probably a niche in the veranda roof of the registrar’s office. The squirrel home was to be reached through a decorative porthole in the wall which was at the height of two feet from surface. The problem was that the mother could jump right from the road and pass through while the youngster could not do anything more than run to the wall and look up at the hole.

11. 11 T he mother hopped up and gone other side presuming that she is being followed by her baby. The baby squirrel did no more than standing beside the wall and waited for a miracle to happen and take him to other side. After some time mother come and said ”still there !” baby said “ I can’t jump”, Mother comes murmured and motivates to jump and jumped off that hole and run out of sight again. This happened dozens of time then she cried-”do you want to stay out tonight ?” “I can’t help it” he replied. Dusk was falling, an owl was hooting somewhere, birds wheeling, scene becoming non safe. Dogs barking, school youngsters returning back. The baby asked if you will carry him like before. She said “this day is not that day! And if he fits in her jaws , she would not wait for your suggestion“.

12. 12 Now, mother asked the last time and baby replied “I can’t jump, I am not coming”. Then the mother didn’t wait to hear the full sentence. She quietly turn around and jumped to the other side leaving her baby. Then also he did several attempts to reach to the hole, but failed. After being failed, he quietly run to the nearest tree and climb to top branch & call his mother but she didn’t listen. After seeing this situation R.K Narayan thought of complaining to authorities of that university to reduce the height of portholes.

13. 13 THANK YOU