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R.K. Narayan in Yadavagir.outlookindia.com
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| R.K. Narayan's house, Mysuru.business-standard.com |
The two-story bungalow on 15, Vivekananda Road in Yadavagiri, Mysuru, is a tourist spot for those who like the English literature. The late R. K. Narayan (original name: Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami), the famous English short story writer of yesteryears had spent his time churning out interesting stories in a simple language and gained popularity among the Indian elite. This bungalow in a well-developed neighborhood in Mysuru before 2015 stood forsaken and uncared; only house in a shambles in this locality. It was here Narayan had spent much of his life 38 long years before shifting over to Chennai, TN. Incidentally, there are around 200 heritage structure in and around Mysuru.
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| R.K Narayan's house, Mysuru, his favorite room. thetalesofatraveler.com |
In order to save the crumbling bungalow and from demolition the Karnataka government acquired the property from a developer and declared it a heritage site under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act; thanks to the timely intervention of the Commissioner of the Mysore City Corporation, K.S. Raykar, and the house was saved form total demolition. R K Narayan, finished two of his important works here - The Financial Expert (1952) and Waiting for the Mahatma (1955). His earlier works included Swami and Friends (1935), The English Teacher (1945) and Mr Sampath (1948).
This five-bedroom house played an important role in Naranayan's literary work. His favorite room on the first floor had a cot, a walnut table and an easy chair from where he visualized his imaginary village -Malgudi. being fond of Carnatic music and Veena, it is quite surprising that he used to play veena along with his friend Mysore Doreswamy Iyengar, a great expert in Veena.
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| Location map. Mysuru (Mysore) city, Karnataka jatland.com |
When a memorial was planned by the city for the English writer, there was objection from a small section of people. However, Sri C G Betsurmath, the commissioner of the Mysore City Corporation who took charge in 2014, said, "All that doesn't matter. He is an integral part of Mysuru's history and we should preserve that". Built in 1952, Narayan lived in the house for decades before moving over to Chennai in the 1990s while in Mysuru, he never lost interest in strolls across adavgiri and Vonti Koppal.. His quiet and leisurely strolls helped him walk into the world of fiction and his favorite fictional place is Malgudi. This village is the venue in many of his fictional stories numbering about 32. In 2001 he died in Chennai. .
Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs S. Suresh Kumar, on his visit to Shakespeare's birth place Stratford-upon -Avon, got the inspiration and wanted the Indian write's bungalow on the lines of Stratford.The ministr said, "I will make RKN's house a source of inspiration to all…and with the flavour of Malgudi.” The restoration was done by the Kannada and Culture Department that was designated the nodal agency. In the middle of 2016, RKN's house was converted into a museum. His memorabilia will include his medals, paces of furniture, books from his personal library, etc.
