"The English Teacher" by R.K. Narayan

Krishnan is an English Lecturer in a college. He is married to Susila and has a infant daughter Leela. The Story begins with Krishnan in a Hostel. He rents out a house for the arrival of his wife and daughter. There ensues days of peace and happiness. They yearn for a house of their own. They go around looking for the same.

Susila falls sick with Typhoid. But is wrongly diagnosed and treated. After months of nurture and care she passes away. Krishnan is devastated. Leela is told that her mother has been taken to the hospital. Inspite of pressure from the family he decides to keep Leela with him rather than sending her off with the grand parents.

He is sorrowful of his loss but keeps doing his best for Leela with the help of an old maid servant. Soon he meets a person who can converse with spirits and gets messages from his wife. During this time he also starts sending Leela to school. He becomes the friend of the headmaster. The Headmaster believes that the company of children is the best remedy for any problem.

Together with the headmaster and the transcendental experience. He begins to heal. He sends Leela off with the grandparents, resigns his job and decides to join the school.

The story as such is not remarkable but just takes one through the everyday life of a person.

"The Dark Room" by R.K Narayan

Ramani and Savitri are a happy couple with three children - Babu, Sumathi and Kamala. Ramani is doing well in life managing a Insurance Company for the whole district. Savitri's only concern are her family and running of the household. She adores her children especially her son Babu. She never opposes her husband. Ramani is rather strict with his son. This is the only cause of concern that Savitri has. Everytime she has such a disagreement she sulks to a dark room and stops interacting or taking food, this is the only form of protest she knows.

Ramani is asked by his Insurance company to recruit a woman employee. He is fascinated by one of the candidates and goes out of the way to secure the job and accommodation for this lady Shanta Bai. His Fascination soon turns to infatuation he spends most evenings with her and neglects his family. His extra marital affair becomes the talk of the town.

Savitri begins to hear the rumors. She is extremely devoted to her husband and does not want to believe the same. But later she is convinced so she decides to talk to him. The Husband and Wife argue, he says he would not desert the other woman. Savitri walks out of the house. She tries to drown herself, but is rescued. She seeks refuge in a nearby village. She decides she has no voice or self respect because she is dependent on others even for her basic needs.

She begins to do small job to be independent but soon the thought of her children will not let her continue. She goes back home to find her husband still neglecting the household. She stays at home for the children, ignoring her husbands infidelities. Ramani is happy that Savitri is back. He continues as before as though nothing had ever happened. Savitri ends up with the feeling of a Dark Room inside of her.

The book has been beautifully written. Always to the point and with a clear view of the story.

"The Bachelor of Arts" by R.K. Narayan

The Bachelor of Arts is the story of Chandran. There are 4 parts in the book.

The 1st Part deals with Chandran's College life during his BA days. He is a average student but is known for his debating skills. His Friendships, Historical Club organizing and his planning and preparation for the exam are all part of this.

In the 2nd Part he is a graduate, but decides to wait for a year and then go to England for further studies. Friends move away for Further education or jobs. Chandran falls in love with a young girl Malathi. He does not believe in customs but has to comply and let his parents arrange the wedding. But the alliance is discarded because of Astrological issues. Chandran is heart broken.

In the 3rd Part he is desolate and depressed. He goes to Chennai for a change of air. But this increases his depression, he becomes a mendicant, disconnects with his family and wanders around. But at the end of 8 months of a swamis life - he realizes he is fooling himself and all the people. He decides to come back home

In the 4th Part he comes back home to realize that his separation had made his mother and father older, quieter and sorrowful. He decides to mend his ways. He falls back into his old routine of books. He tries to locate some old friends. He changes his mind about his further studies to take a Newspaper agency. His Father supports him through all his whims. his mother again seeks alliances for him. But his Father is worried if this should trouble him further. With encouragement from his friend he decides to go ahead with an alliance and see the girl. It is love at first sight. He is married in a month and turns out to be a dotting husband.

The book did not hold much charm for me.

"Swami and Friends" by R.K. Narayan

Swami and Friends is an everyday story set in the last century South India. These stories almost feels like my fathers narration of his childhood events.

Swami is a young boy of around 10. He and his friends - Mani and Rajam spend their days together in school and loaf around after school. Swami lives with his parents and grandmother. Through the story he gets an addition to the family in the form of his younger brother.

Each little story is funny and brings a smile - 'Monday Morning' is about the struggle of a little boy to complete his homework and confront the Monday Morning Blues. 'Rajam and Mani' is about a new boy Rajam joining the school, Swami begins to like Rajam but does not want to hurt his old friend Mani. Later Rajam, Mani and Swami become inseparable. 'Swamis Grandmother' adores Swami in spite of him ignoring her. 'What is a Tail?' The Boys in the class begin calling Swami as Rajam's Tail. 'Fathers Room' - When Rajam comes home Swami wants to present himself well, so he makes all the necessary arrangements and also presents his fathers room as his room. Needless to say Rajam understands that it is Swamis Fathers room.'A Friend in Need' - Rajam makes peace by bribing the boys who were teasing Swami into becoming friends again. 'A New Arrival' - Swami's brother is born. 'Before the Examinations' - Preparations and the Examinations. 'School Breaks Up' - Vacation time fun of the 3 friends by the river banks. 'The Coachman's Son' - Swami is cheated by a Coachman who promises to multiply Swamis money. The Coachman's son is vicious and frightens and drives Swami and his Friends away. 'In Fathers Presence' - Swamis Father insists on him studying a little even during the vacations. He makes into his fathers good books and so gets to watch his father play tennis at his club. 'Broken Panes' The Freedom movement gets the grip over India, Swami also participates and end up breaking the panes in his school. He stops going to Alberts after that and moves to another school. 'The MCC' Rajam is a big fan of cricket and starts a club. Swami is the best Bowler of the team. 'Granny shows her ignorance' - Granny is ignorant of cricket but Swami tries to teach her the same so that he can boast. 'Before the Match' - Swami has more hours in his new school and so cannot participate in most of the practices. He tries to ask permission of his principal to leave early, asks his teacher and meets his family doctor for a letter, all in vain. He is finally caught and punished by his principal and he runs out of the school. 'Swami Disappears' - Swami concludes he cannot go back to School or Home so he runs away.But on his way he stops at Alberts to inform Rajam. But Rajams talks only of the MCC match, so Swami does not say his actual intentions. 'The Day of the Match' - Swami loses his way and cannot come back for the match. His family is searching for him all over the town. Finally he is rescued by a stranger and delivered to the forest bungalow. 'The Return' - Swami is found and he picked by his family who forgives him. Rajam however cannot forgive him as Swami misses his match and MCC lose. 'Parting Present' - Rajams father is moving to Trichy, by Swami is not informed about it as Rajam hates him now. Swami goes to the Railway station to bade him goodbye with a heavy heart. Swami finds that at parting that Rajam still hates him and may not keep in touch with him.

"Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

Atlas Shrugged has a similar theme to Fountainhead. Here the author classifies people in 2 categories. 1. The Inventors/ Entrepreneurs/ Men of Action who run the economy and the world at large.
2. The Workers/ Social Workers/ Politicians who can give nothing to society if not for Group 1.

The Hero of the story John Galt is an Marvel of a Electrical Engineer and Inventor. He works for the Twentieth Century Motor company. When the new management takes charge they decide on a new payment policy to propagate equality and brotherhood. The policy is that people would be paid based on their need and not on their ability or skill. While the people who are enterprising are asked to work harder for the common good.

This policy brings out the worst in people. They begin to put lesser effort in their work.The shameless ones advertise their needs and bring on additional ones. But the more self respecting people do not get anything and begin to waste away. John Galt recognizes the fault with this idea and revolts, he leaves the company. He meets up with his college friends Francoise (A Copper Mining Giant) and Ragnar (A European Aristocrat)and his Philosophy professor.

They decide that they will show the world how important the people of Group 1 are. They destroy all their achievements so that the people of Group 2 cant use them and begin to convince more people in Group 1 to Revolt. The people in Group 1 include - Industrialists, Musicians, Artists, Bankers, Doctors, Judges etc.

Dagny Taggart is passionate about her railway where she is a VP for Operations. She respects other Men of Action - Hank Rearden who is a self made man with coal, iron mines and steel mills. Ellis Wyatt with his Oil Extractions. And many more manufacturers and entrepreneurs.

The Government keeps coming up with restrictions on Production, Competition and Ownership on Group 1 to please Group 2. But actually this also makes the lives of Group 2 worse as Factories begin to close. Dagny struggles through them but keeps her railroad alive at all costs. John Galt convinces people in Group 1 to quit and join his people in a secret valley where they have self sufficient lives with advanced technology.

The Government Rules keep increasing and all the people in Group 1 quit. The country falls to pieces with infighting, unrest and weapons of mass destruction being used by the warring factions. Finally when everything is destroyed - John Galt decides to bring his people out into the world to create a community by his rules.

The book is readable except for the 3 hour speech by John Galt which converts to 30 pages. The best part of the book is the part where a tramp who used to be a worker with the Twentieth Century Motor company meets Dagny and gives his view of why the company failed. It says so much more than the speech of John Galt.

The hard part to digest is that the people of Group 1 are shown as picture perfect and the Group 2 as total misfits while mostly we find a mix of good and bad in varying degrees in all kinds of people.

"The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand

Howard Roark is designed by the author to be "perfect" in her sense of the meaning. At the beginning of the book he is a student of Architecture, he already is a perfectionist and has a style of his own. He does not believe in borrowing on any other established architectural designs. He designs buildings based on the land where it is to be built, the requirement and maximum efficiency of design. He will not add unnecessary decorations to the buildings.

Most people cannot relate with him and hate him. Here the author tries tries to classify people in 2 categories. The Egotists - who are creators, inventors, ambitious, self sufficient, proud and the best people on earth and The Second Handers - who copy ideas, live on other peoples appreciation and opinion and believe that the Egotist are selfish and sinful.

Here she introduces Peter Keating as a Senior of Roark who is the topper of the Institute. But comes for all his projects to Roark for approval, inspiration or correction. Peters mother detests Roark, she is the guiding force in Peters life.

Peter and Roark move to New York to get started on their careers. Peter starts with a famous architects group headed by - Guy Francon. He slyly ensures that all the good people in the firm are thrown out one by one and he establishes himself. He also presents his most amiable side to Guy Francon and becomes his favorite. Roark starts off with Henry Cameron who is also an individualist and matches Roark style. Cameron has lost all his business and spends his days wastefully. This pair understand and appreciate each other. They set off to revive their business. But all customers insist on copying existing architectural forms.

Cameron is driven out of business. Peter mocks Roark and offers him a job. Roark decides to accept a job in construction but not in doing borrowed designs. He is kicked out of work because of his ideals time and again but he manages to build a home, a gas station and a store for like minded people. Associations and individuals alike ignore him and his work. He does not mind menial jobs but will not do second hand designing.

A stormy romance ensures between Dominique Francon and Roark. Dominique who would not fall for Peter who wanted her to get the Francon partnership. Roark gets occasional work with the Enright housing project & a hotel. He makes a few like minded friends also along the way.

Ellsworth Toohey appears a saint. But is a sadist who likes breaking people down and ruling over their spirits. He is popular being a art critic, a socialite, a newspaper columnist. He wins instant approval with people like Peter. He preaches selflessness and makes people lose their individualism and rush to him for any small concern. This is his power. He uses all his resources to popularize mediocre people thus destroying excellence in all fields.

He makes it his mission to break Roark with a commission of building a temple. He does not break in spite of the public outbursts and pressure. Dominique wants to punish herself and the world for Roark. She marries Peter Keating. Peter destroys his life by his multiple choices of marriage, landing commissions and becomes a hollow man.

Gail Waynand a multi- millionaire and publishing giant marries Dominique. But she slowly discovers that he is a man of ideals too. He becomes a close friend of Roark. Soon another war on ideals of design come up and Howard ends up blowing up a housing project to prove the point. A public storm ensures where Howard and Dominique unite and stand by their ideals but Waynand fails. As a mark of repentance he closes down the newspaper. But he cannot face Roark as his guilt shows Roark as the man he could have been.

The Fountainhead turns out to be a very long book. With me not being able to understand the motive behind few of the decisions and actions of the characters.