Narayan, IR named the train connecting the city where he lived and Bangalore as Malgudi Express. The name is a Portmanteau of two localities in Bangalore - Malleswaram and Basavanagudi. MAL+GUDI. Interestingly the RSA of this train connects his birth place and the city where he lived.
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R K Narayan was an ardent railfan, who loved to travel by 3rd class and take little known routes to explore many rail lines, since information was scarce as to where the rail networks were spread during his times. He loved to travel by train not just as a railfan but also as a keen observer of people, who he would use as characters in his stories.
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Many of his stories have IR related elements. The red-tapism of IR. Numerous confusing jargon of railways like UP trains, DOWN trains. Old bogies used as station buildings at remote places. The solid teak wood tables and benches, which he loved so much that he included it in a story, where the protagonist fights off a tiger by hiding below these sturdy tables. He also included many stations and trains in his stories like Bangalore-Madras Express (current day 12610), the only train to Delhi from South during his time - GT. Stations like Egmore, Katpadi, Trichinopoly (today's TPJ), Bangalore, Mysore, Bezawada (today's BZA).
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His characters too were intricately linked to IR, so much so that, the opening sequence of his first story started with Malgudi station, the station his brother R. K. Laxman immortalised with his pencil sketch.
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He was well known to westerners who loved his writing and he changed their perception of India from the racist, imperialistic image portrayed by British writers/Hollywood movies. But he really became a household name in India in the 1980s, after the Legendary Genius Late. Shri. Shankar Nag (the bearded person on the left in pic 3) directed his stories for DD as "Malgudi Days".
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Here is a tip for those who would like to visit his home in Mysuru, which has now been turned into a heritage building and a museum dedicated to him, thanks to Karnataka Government:
/blog/post/2801843 .
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