Summary
Swaminathan is a lazy schoolboy who lives with his father, mother, and grandmother in Malgudi. He attends the Albert Mission School, situated near the river Sarayu, with his friends Samuel, Sankar, Somu, and Mani— a serial repeater and Swami's closest friend. Swami, who is from an orthodox Brahmin family, has his religious beliefs frequently questioned and ridiculed by the fanatical Scriptures teacher Mr. Ebenezar. When an indignant Swami once naively asks how Jesus, being a God, could consume wine and meat, Ebenezar violently pulls his left ear. His father writes an angry letter of complaint to the headmaster, and Ebenezar is reprimanded.
The arrival of a new student, Rajam—the son of a wealthy police superintendent—threatens Mani's popularity, leaving Swami caught between his loyalty to an old friend and an attraction to an exciting new acquaintance. After an initial rivalry, Mani and Rajam reconcile, and the three boys form a close friend group. Swami brings Rajam to his house and introduces him to his grandmother.
Protests, part of Gandhi's Non-Cooperation movement, erupt through the town. Swami, who is swept up in nationalist fervour and boyish adventurism, participates in the protests, burning his cap—which he mistakenly thinks is foreign made—in a Swadeshi bonfire. In a similar protest in front of his own school, he breaks the window of the headmaster's room. Rajam's father leads a violent crackdown of the protest. The next day, a distressed Swami runs away from the school after the headmaster vows to punish participating students. He is subsequently expelled from Albert Mission and is compelled to enroll in the stricter and more rigorous Board High School.
Inspired by the Marylebone Cricket Club, Rajam and Swami decide to create their own—the 'Malgudi Cricket Club' (MCC)—gathering friends together for practice after school, in which Swami is chronically tardy due to his relatively late-afternoon dismissal from Board High School. With a match scheduled, Swami pleads with his new headmaster to allow him to leave class early; he refuses. An undeterred Swami is caught committing truancy after asking a doctor to write a note of absence and is beaten and expelled by the headmaster.
Now expelled from two schools, and fearing his father's wrath at home, Swami runs away from town. Becoming lost and hungry, Swami regrets his decision. Meanwhile, Swami's father attempts to locate his missing son. Swami is discovered by a man carrying a cart who promptly contacts his parents. Swami's relief at returning home turns to dismay when his friends report that they have lost their cricket game, and Rajam declares the end of their friendship.
One night, Mani informs Swami that Rajam and his family are relocating to Trichinopoly. Swami wakes up early the next day to attempt to reconcile and bid his farewell to Rajam, gifting him a copy of Hans Christen Anderson's Fairy Tales. He asks Rajam, as the train speeds away, if he would ever return, but his reply is drowned out by the sound of the locomotive. Swami weeps, wondering if Rajam would ever think of him again. Mani assures Swami that Rajam will write to him, which Swami doubts. Mani claims that he had given Swami's address to Rajam, but is unable to recollect it when Swami questions him.
Publication
Swami and Friends is the first novel written by Sir R. K Narayan. [2] It was published through the intervention of a friend and neighbour, "Kittu" Purna, who was studying at Oxford. Through him, Graham Greene came into contact with Narayan's work, became especially interested in it and took it upon himself to place the book with a reputable English publisher, Hamish Hamilton. [3] Graham Greene was responsible for the title Swami and Friends, changing it from Narayan's Swami, the Tate, suggesting that it would have the advantage of having some resemblance to Rudyard Kipling's Stalky & Co. [4]
Greene arranged the details of the contract and remained closely involved until the novel was published. Narayan's indebtedness to Greene is inscribed on the front endpaper of a copy of Swami and Friends Narayan presented to Greene: "But for you, Swami should be in the bottom of Thames now". [4]
