The tiger for Malgudi by R K Narayan

Edition Details:
Format : Paperback
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Indian Thought Publications
ISBN 9788185986111

First Sentence:
I have no idea of the extent of this zoo.

Raja is old now but he has lived a colorful life. He was born in a Mempi forest near Malgudi where he spent the intial years of his life. He formed a family there and lost them. He worked in a circus next and then performed for the film crew. Then he became a disciple of an ascetic with whom he has been till now. That ascetic became his master and gave him spritual guidance. Now that Raja is old and was sent to the zoo he has all the time in the world.

He wants to tell his story.

How did he lose his family?

How did he end up in circus? How did he came out of it?

When and how did his association with the ascetic began?  And how did his association change him?

Major Characters:
Raja : The tiger. The protagonist that tells the story.
Captain: Owner of the Grand Malgudi Circus.
Dadhaji – Mentor of Captain
Rita – Captain’s Wife
Madhusudhan aka Madan- He was a film director who wanted to take Raja in a film
Jaggu – The actor who was to play hero in the movie
Alphonse – The poacher that was being called for killing tiger when he entered the school
Ramu and Shekhar – The kids in school that were assisting Alphonse

The Tiger for Malgudi is definitely different from the other works of his. He mentions in the introduction that he got the idea of writing this book when he read an article in a newspaper. The article was about an ascetic who used to roam with a tiger in Kumbh Mela. He used to claim that the tiger was his younger brother in his previous birth and that’s why it didn’t harm him.

This piece of news interested Narayan and he decided to tell the story of a tiger who lived with an ascetic and how did he came to be with him. He has obviously changed the basic premise and the relation between the tiger and the ascetic and has made it more spiritual in nature.

I liked the story. It was fun to see the story from tiger’s point of view. The way he describes his relationship with other animal and the humans he came in contact with were sometimes innocent and sometimes outright funny. I enjoyed reading them.The characteristic Narayan humor is there. I liked that Malgudi is there is the book and i loved reading the school scene. I don’t know how did i feel about his going against his nature and shunning violence completely. It was really weird for me and i haven’t yet decided whether i liked that part or not.

I liked most of the book except one thing. When the book started i wanted to read about Raja’s experiences with the ascetic. I had expected them to cover much of the book but that is not so. I was looking forward to reading them but i felt a kind of a little disappointed that they were confined to few pages at the last.

I think that particular part (Raja’s life with ascetic) should have occupied more space in the book.

If you like a book for a plot then i think you would feel disappointed. This book is like a life most often predictable but funny none the less. If you are a fan of Narayan then you should definitely check this one out. If you haven’t read his other work then you can give it a go. But if you don’t find this to your taste then remember it’s not the usual Narayan work. Do check his other works which are great.