Everyone has heard of 'The Guide' as an iconic movie that remains one of the finest movies ever made in the history of Indian cinemas. However not many know that this movie was an equally popular novel by R.K. Narayan, the remarkable Indian author who created the beloved Malgudi Days. The Guide too is set up in the same fictional town of Malgudi, geographically located in southern India.

The protagonist of The Guide is Raju, an owner of a shop on the Malgudi railway station; Raju's part time job is to be a guide and show places to the tourists visiting Malgudi. His innate understanding of needs of his clients makes him a very popular guide thus earning him the name Railway Raju. Tourists from all over the world come to Malgudi in search of Railway Raju. One day a history scholar named Marco comes in search of Raju along with his young wife Rosie. Marco is a typical emotionless, old man who only loves spending time in his caves completing his research while neglecting his young wife. Rosie is a dreamy young girl who loves dance. She belonged to a Devdasi family (Devdasi is a tradition of a village bride or sacred prostitution in India. In southern India, Devdasis lived near temple complexes, learnt and performed Bharatnatyam dance and were forbidden to marry since they were considered to be wedded to the deity of the temple.)

Marco, a respectable scholar agreed to marry Rosie, thus giving  her a legitimate social status. But, in order to marry Marco she had to leave dance. When Marco is busy studying the caves, Rosie spends time with Raju the guide and they both have an affair. Raju encourages her to take up dancing again. Rosie decides to walk on Marco and start living with Raju. After facing oppositions from villagers, his own family and friends, Raju is abandoned by everyone as he chooses to fall for a 'fallen woman' who was married. However, Rosie manages to become a famous dancer under the name of Nalini and Raju becomes her manager who sets up events. Nalini's dance brings them fame and wealth that leads Raju into vices like gambling and alcohol addiction. Raju becomes insecure and jealous, which leads him to take an extreme step. He is jailed for embezzlement and fraud. Years later when he is out of the prison he goes to a neighboring village and is mistaken for a holy man. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the villagers assume that Raju the holy man is fasting until the drought in the village goes away.

The book starts when Raju is out of the prison and everything else works as a flashback because of which none of the other characters are as well defined as Raju is because it is Raju's story from his own perspective. The book and the movie are two different works, the book is subtle and the movie dramatic. The Raju of the movie seems to be a genuinely transformed human while the Raju in the book seems to be a sleazy fraud. Rosie is not much different in both the versions, although in the book she appears to be stronger as she proves that she needs no one, nor Marco and nor Raju if she has her dance. Marco sadly is shown as a clichéd abusive, cheating husband in the movie. The book's version of Marco is of a cold, pragmatic individual who has no times for emotional frivolities. Adultery still remains a touchy subject in a family oriented society like India and at that time when the movie was made, it was difficult to justify a woman cheating on her husband because her emotional needs were unfulfilled. Since movies are intended for the masses unlike books that target educated individuals, there is a need for movies to be akin to the general ideologies of the people. With books, there is more scope to rebel.

The theme of both the book and the movie includes a transformation. The guide is a metaphor for a spiritual guide who shows the path. The story is Raju's transformation from a literal guide to a metaphorical one. The Indian way of spirituality is unique because everyone has a chance of salvation. Despite whatever your bad deeds, you still have a final chance of redeeming yourself. Raju's life is filled with many wrongs. He seduces a married woman by taking advantage of the discord in her martial life, he lies to gain his own ends, and he mistreats Rosie and on countless occasions, takes advantage of her innocence. Raju is far from an ideal man; in fact he is the opposite of it. He does everything that mustn't be done and makes many mistakes. What R.K Narayan aims to tell from this story is that the perfect man, worshipped by all is not an unattainable ideal nor is it a bestowed honour. Spirituality is often co-linked with alchemy or metamorphosis; often spirituality is the process of man becoming a god. This unique philosophy is probably only found in Indian books and the only story that captures the essence of this beautiful ideal is The Guide. 

The symbols present in this book just assert the fact that The Guide is more than a story, it is a philosophy condensed in a story. Like a chemical reaction, this story too has a catalyst who brings forth most of the important events. In this story the catalyst is Rosie. Raju's idyllic life is changed when Rosie enters the story. The first time she appears as a catalyst is when he takes her to see a dancing cobra. The second is when Rosie leaves Marco and comes to Raju's house. The third is when Raju's mother leaves the house, calling Rosie a serpent woman. The fourth and perhaps the biggest one is during the snake dance that Rosie performs when Raju is arrested. Maybe, R.K. Narayan used the symbolism of Rosie and a snake (interestingly another symbol of transformation in spirituality.) to depict major plot changes. Thus, this book for me is a philosophy transformed into fiction.

There is always a debate between what versions of the story one prefers. Strangely, I like the movie version more than the book. I never thought I'd like a movie more than the book it is based on but when the movie is as iconic as Guide, I think an exception is necessary. Although, R.K. Narayan wasn't particularly happy with the movie adaptation probably because of its dramatization, I think the movie had more of an emotional connect. Despite the movie version's few drawbacks I think there were some things in the movie that the book didn't have. Firstly, Dev Anand played a better Raju than any version of Raju the reader could conjure up. Secondly, the ending of the movie was much more impactful than the book and thirdly, the amazing music added a life of its own to the movie. Just this once, I'd go with the movie.

Quotes-

"A man who preferred to dress like a permanent tourist was just what a guide passionately looked for all his life. You may want to ask why I became a guide or when. I was a guide for the same reason as someone else is a signaler, porter, or guard. It is fated thus. Don't laugh at my railway associations. The railways got into my blood very early in life. Engines with their tremendous clanging"

"It seems to me that we generally do not have a correct measure of our own wisdom."

"Dead and decaying things seemed to unloosen his tongue and fire his imagination, rather than things that lived and moved and swung their limbs."

Favorite Character-

It has to be Rosie and Nalini, her later ideal self.  I love Rosie firstly because she is a Bharatnatyam dancer and I could relate with her when she practiced and when she spoke so passionately about dance. She has a soul of an artist and being dreamy by nature and she is often thought to be vulnerable, but when needed her fierce inner strength came out. She takes a decision to leave her life with Marco behind for Raju and for her dance. She is a true artist not only for her dedication but because she kept her art as her foremost priority in her life; choosing dance over Marco and even Raju. She is shown to be humble and devoted to her art that doesn't cause her to get lost among the glitzy fame, where Raju looses. The serpent girl is a unique and beautiful individual. Perhaps, the only problem with Rosie was that she existed in a time that wasn't ready to accept her sublime yet free spirited nature. She is one of those few characters that I love.

Special Note-

What this book taught me was that art is more impactful when it appeals to emotions. If need be, sometimes emotions ought to be dramatized. The book sometimes felt like it tried to avoid divulging deeper into emotional depths of the characters, a flaw which the movie corrected.

***

A/N:

I know it is a long time and I'm sorry for such late updates. I had vertigo and thus was strictly advised by my doctor to not do anything that strains my eyes, using a laptop for writing or using my mobile phone topped the list of what I shouldn't do. But now as I have started recovering, I'm trying to catch up with all the writing I have to do. So I hope you'll be patient until then.

I also plan on including some titles of Indian fiction in Books Beyond Stories as I personally think that there are some beautiful Indian literary pieces that lay obscure as we try and focus on frivolous and soul-less works. I believe that we need to read these books, it is the only way to sustain these works for future otherwise great works may vanish in our technological age. Thus, I request you all to read some quality Indian fiction, specially regional works and the old ones. Also, if you happen to read or know of a good Indian literary work, I'd be pleased to read and review it. Feel  free to comment the titles below.

See you soon with another review.

Love,

Gautami.