Waiting for the Mahatma

Waiting for the Mahatma is a novel by R.K. Narayan.

Story

Sriram is a highschool graduate who lives with his grandmother in Malgudi, the fictional Southern Indian town in which much of Narayan's fiction takes place. Sriram is attracted to Bharati, a girl his age who is active in Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India movement, and he becomes an activist himself. He than gets involved with anti British terrorists, causing much grief to his grandmother. Sriram's underground activity takes place in the countryside, an area alien to him, and the misunderstandings between him and the locals produce the book's best comic moments. After spending some time in jail Sriram is reunited with Bharati, and the story ends with their engagement amidst the tragedy of India's partition in 1947.

Related Topics:
Mahatma Gandhi - Quit India movement - India's partition in 1947

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Waiting for the Mahatma is written in Narayan's gentle comic style. An unusual feature of this novel is the participation of Gandhi as a character. His revolutionary ideas and practices are contrasted with the views of traditionalists such as the town's notables and Sriram's grandmother. The political struggle serves as a background to Sriram and Bharati's unconventional romance which is concluded outside either's family circle. This is one of Narayan's most successful novels, where much happens behind the façade of the low key storytelling.

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