Sunday book pick: In ‘The Vendor of Sweets’, a Gandhian is put to the test in postcolonial Malgudi

“Once a Satyagrahi, always a Satyagrahi. If one was not acting for truth against the British, one was acting for truth in some other matter, in personal affairs, in all sorts of things. His training was always there, but somehow had dimmed inexpicably.”

If there’s an author that immediately comes to my mind for “comfort reading”, it is the iconic RK Narayan. There are few destinations as familiar to the Indian literary traveller as Malgudi, the eccentric, warm-hearted South Indian town where there’s a story in every gully.

Narayan’s 1967 novel, The Vendor of Sweets, takes the reader back to Malgudi. This time, we meet Jagan, a Bhagavad Gita-reading, Gandhi-abiding, fastidious vendor of sweetmeats who is suggested to have the most successful confectionery business in the town. Jagan is 55 and his wife has been dead for some time. His only son Mali lives in his own world. Jagan’s time is occupied at the shop, ensuring he sells only the best, purest sweets to his customers.

A Satyagrahi out of water

Independent India has little use for a Satyagrahi but for Jagan it is a way of life. He has given up salt and sugar, wears only khadi, and spins the charkha for an hour every day. His free time is...

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