This is R.K. Narayan’s classic chronicle of the adventures of a boy named Swami, and his friends Rajam and Mani, in a sleepy and picturesque South Indian town called Malgudi. Swami’s days are full of action—when he is not creating a ruckus in the classroom or preparing in his inimitable way for exams, he’s trying to acquire a hoop from the coachman’s son to run down the Malgudi streets, playing tricks on his grandmother, or stoning the school windows, inspired by a swadeshi demonstration. But the greatest feat of Swami and his friends lies in putting together a cricket team for the ‘MCC’ (the Malgudi Cricket Club) and challenging the neighbouring Young Men’s Union to a match. Just before the match, however, things go horribly, horribly wrong, and Swami has no option but to run away from home, wanting never to return to Malgudi again . . .

Malgudi Schooldays is a brilliantly evocative and delightfully funny account of the growing-up years from one of the greatest English language writers of our time.