The World of Nagaraj

 If you are looking for something to read not because you want a story line, not because you want to get thrilled and definitely not because you want to be overcome with emotion, 'The World of Nagaraj' might just be the book that you're looking for. No hard feelings, no leaving you with a gap in your heart, no anything. Just the classic story of a man named Nagaraj.

Nagaraj fancies himself a man with a mission, a secret mission at least. It is to write a book on Narada, the celestial sage that spreads mischief. He doesn't know where or how to find the information needed to write his book nor is he very ambitious about it. Nevertheless life is easy-going with his ancestral money and what he gets from passing leisure time as a cashier at his friend's sari centre. He lived in their ancestral house with his mother, wife and no children. Bereft of any children himself, he develops a fondness for his elder brother's son, christened Krishnaji, but generally known as Tim. Everything is happy and well until his brother's son, Tim, gets angry at his father for calling him a donkey and comes to stay at his uncle's (Nagaraj's) place. Nagaraj, being way too fond of his nephew doesn't do the least to persuade him to go back and couldn't be more than delighted at his presence. But this takes a turn when Tim starts having questionable habits and comes home with a foul smell lingering on to him. Not that there is much surprise, but I'll leave the rest for you to find out.

This story, just like many of R.K. Narayanan's stories, is set in Malgudi, a fictious town that is creation of the author himself. It is said from third person perspective but the narration almost never leaves the side of Nagaraj. So it pretty much looks like the protagonist himself is the narrator.  Throughout the book, the story just segues, no hurry included. It has numerous flashbacks and side stories. The entire book almost feels like what the inside of Nagaraj's head would be. Sitting on the pyol, Nagaraj wonders about many things and from what one can gather to be his behaviour, the things mentioned in the book would exactly be what he was thinking at the moment.

As I said, the story is not from the first person's point of view but R.K. Narayanan still managed to give us the beauty of reading it as if it were said by Nagaraj. Whereas for all the excess of side stories, some may feel it to be a bit of a lag and bore but I guess that is what a book as such is supposed to be like. For me, this is the kind of book that I take with me when I feel like I would need a read. 

The worst thing about a very good book is that you can have the experience of reading it for the first time, only once. But when it comes to this book, I somehow miraculously manage to forget the contents. Give it a few months' break and the book is fresh as new. 'The World of Nagaraj' is one of the least popular among R.K. Narayanan's works but owning this particular, not-so-special, piece has proved worthwhile.

- Fathima Naushad