R.K. Narayan : The Bachelor

O.K., now I'm totally hooked on Narayan, and may never read another author until I've gone through all 15 of his novels.

Just as with "Swami", he's put me right inside the head of a person of a certain age -- in this case, about 25 -- and of the same time, place, and caste. (South India, 1930's, Brahmin)

But despite how distant those circumstances are from my own, I completely identify with the turbulent, exciting mental world of a young adult, and with the kind of challenges the mind presents (so different from the life and death challenges faced by young people in revolutionary China)

What's especially remarkable, to me, is the endless tolerance and support young Chandran gets from his long suffering parents who seem to be devoted to letting him find his own way. And there's no doubting that he leads a life of privilege, as they are always ready to wire money -- or even make a large investment as requested.
When he finally chooses a career, his uncle has all the connections to move him to the front of the line and get the best opportunity.

All of which he can comfortably take for granted. His only challenge is his own mind, which is so impulsive it made for quite a dramatic story, putting me on the edge of my chair, and leaving me there as the book abruptly ended with him embarking on a career and a marriage, neither of which felt very secure.

Chandran has already shown himself quite capable of throwing everything aside, and
his decision to marry was made by flipping a coin with his friend, the poet.

Brave, intelligent, creative, and highly spirited --- I just don't seem him selling newspaper subscriptions and married to the same woman all his life.

But then -- the novel's abrupt ending seems to emphasize the abrupt change in our hero's life, for it is the first example of him acting to take care of someone else

He is no longer a bachelor, so this story is over.

And though I was always anxious that the smart and high spirited Chandran would disappoint his family and abandon a conventional, comfortable life, on reflection I recall that he was introduced to us as he lead a formal debate on the question of "First, we kill all historians".

He didn't choose that topic or that assertion -- it was given to him - and he pursued it comically/cynically as good advice for a despot. So this exemplifies him doing as he's told - however brilliantly he does it

But we might also remember that the practice of writing history was forcefully carried into Indian civilization by the invading Muslims. Since truth is timeless, Hindu culture had no historians.




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Two of the major events in this story are driven by astrology: the failed betrothal to cute girl #1, and the successful betrothal to cute girl #2. (the author hardly speaks to either one of them, so in this particular story, they are only cute girls.)

His great supporter, without whom he may never have been published, was Graham Greene who speculated in the introduction that this second marriage was enabled by a "dubious, even dishonest horoscope"

But I am doubting that the occupational pride of the astrologer who arranged it would have allowed him to falsify it.

The first betrothal failed because Chandran's chart showed that he wife was destined to die young if he married before the age of 25. He was already 23 at that time, and as I calculate it,after his 8 months of wandering as a holy beggar, would have been old enough to avoid that condition with cute girl #2 if the wedding was delayed by a year. (which it was)

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Graham Greene's introduction also singles out the following passage as an example of the "Indian twang which lends so much charm to his style":



‘Excuse me. I made a vow never to touch alcohol in my life, before my mother,” said Chandran. This affected Kailas profoundly. He remained solemn for a moment and said: “Then don’t. Mother is a sacred object. It is a commodity whose value we don’t realise as long as it is with us. One must lose it to know what a precious possession it is. If I had had my mother I should have studied in a college and become a respectable person. You wouldn’t find me here.
After this where do you think I’m going?”“I don’t know.”
“To the house of a prostitute.” He remained reflective for a moment and said with a sigh: “As long as my mother lived she said every minute ‘Do this don’t do that’. And I remained a good son to her. The moment she died I changed. It is a rare commodity, sir. Mother is a rare commodity.”’


But it also does a succinct job of explaining Brahmin culture to Europeans - and those Europeans seem to be Narayan's target audience. (after all, Greene helped him find a European, not an Indian, publisher.


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