Televisionpoint.com Correspondent
If you have watched the serial Malgudi Days, a very famous series in South India television, which is based on R K Narayan's books, you'll know just how popular the series is. And even director Priyadarshan is a big fan of the television programme.

"Malgudi Days was one of the best works on Indian television and I used to watch it regularly without a miss, Though Malamaal Weekly (his latest film) is a completely different concept, in a way it's the closest that I will come to Malgudi Days. I still read the book and feel thoroughly entertained by it." says the director.

Note, R.K. Narayan was born in Madras on 10th October,1906. As the third child of what was to prove a family of eight siblings, he was reared by his maternal grandmother in Madras while the rest of the family resided in princely Mysore State. Narayan began his schooling at Madras including the prestigious Madras Christian College High school ("A short lived glory', as he notes in his autobiography) before being summoned to Mysore by Headmaster father in 1922. The children's interest in English literature was reinforced by their unlimited access to the library in the school of which their father was Headmaster. Narayan died on May 13 2001 after a brief illness.

Malgudi exists only in the mind of the author. It is typical of any small town or village. Habited by timeless characters who could be living anywhere in the world. They are simple folk dealing with their lives in an uniquely engaging, humorous and completely human and humane manner. Malgudi a well known town has become the University of California that actually shows it as a small town in their map of India.