I watched the film Guide (1965) some 3-4 years ago, and last month I finished the novel on which the film, directed by Vijay Anand, was based. Since a picture speaks a thousand words, I had to spend only three hours on the film, but more than 30 hours on the novel. A shot in a film when described in detail covers many pages. I watched the film while sitting in my rented room on the outskirts of Kolkata. But novel reading brought so many twists and turns. Reading room of my department, in train – while sitting or lying, on my bed, on my friend’s bed, in my room, in my friend’s room, my hostel’s roof, on my department’s roof… I have read the novel as and when I wished.
Novel reading requires patience. Some of my friends read more than 50 pages a day, finishing a novel of 200 pages in three to four days. I read my novels, as I walk and eat. Slowly. At a snail’s pace. The Guide (1958) as a novel was worth all the time. RK Narayan has placed the novel in a small village, named Malgudi. He has used Malgudi, a fictitious village in Karnataka, in most of his works. He once told an interviewer that he is glad that many people do find Malgudi’s realities as the realities of their own village as well.
In this slim volume, Narayan never fails to portray a comprehensive picture of the setting of most places. While the film revolves a lot around the characters Rosie and her romance with Raju, the novel has kept the focus on tribulations of Raju diligently.
The Guide is Raju’s story. He is a tourist guide who is boisterous, extroverted, carefree, colourful, romantic and somewhat greedy. While guiding a married couple, he falls for the wife Rosie. Rosie’s husband is an academic of repute, and remains engrossed in his archeological research so much so that he rarely spends quality time with Rosie. Rosie loves dancing and with Raju’s help becomes a famous dancer of national repute. The two gel up well.
Rosie’s dream of becoming a dancer comes true and Raju earns a lot of money by arranging her dance concerts. All goes well until their lives go downhill when Raju is arrested for forging Rosie’s signature. Raju becomes very possessive of Rosie and wants to separate her from her husband. She despised her husband but never wanted to part ways. It is this ambiguous journey of love-hate which makes Raju feel that Rosie belongs to him and only him. Raju is proven guilty and has to serve several years in prison. It is at this point that the novel really begins and Narayan moves beyond the description of Malgudi, Raju, Rosie and other small characters and subplots. Almost everything and everyone takes a U turn here, mainly the protagonist.
Raju completes his prison term. Now he doesn’t know where to go. Somehow he manages to stay in a temple near a village. Due to his supreme oratory skills, he successfully deceives countrymen into believing that he is a saint. He is now ‘Swamiji’ for Malgudi, and gradually for all the villages nearby. It goes well for a few days till the D-day arrives. The area is facing drought, and a crackpot person convinces the villagers that if their saint fasts for twelve days, it will rain. Raju is shaken by seeing suddenly the whole lot of devotees at his feet and seeking blessings from him. All of them believe in his divinity and now could be seen with hope gleaming in their eyes. Rosie is left behind, and Raju has moved beyond the basal desires of wealth, women and wine. On the twelfth day, it rains. But Raju dies. Swamiji is born.
Raju-Swamiji flip-flops as the saint-sinner in Oscar Wilde’s words: “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” Perhaps each of us are Rajus. Perhaps each of us have a past and a future. Narayan created an omnipresent Malgudi, and Anand an omnipotent Raju.