Book Review  

Grandmother's tale by RK Narayanan .
Acc. No.: 08420
Review posted by Amrita of 8-B.

The main characters are: Narayan (the narrator), Bala and Viswa
Grandmothers tale, one of Narayana's finest works, is the story of his great-grandmother who lived in the later period of the East India Company. Bala the central character, was married at the early age of seven to Viswa a boy of ten. One day, he just left, bidding her good bye, joing a group of pilgrimage going to Pandaripur. Years go by and there is no trace of him. Bala, now a young women finds life extremely difficult with the entire agraharam goosiping about her husband's fate. She leaves home, determined to find him. The arduous journey she undertakes to Poona, her success in locatting Viswa and persuading him to return to the south and their long, happy life in Kumbakonam, where five children are born to them, Bala's death and eventually Viswa's death due to poisoning by his cook form rest of the narrative. The delineation of bala from an innocent school girl to a firm, determined, aggressive young woman and finally to a quiet, docile, orthadox hindu wife is fascinating. This story is nice but not that much.

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