Hello Young Lovers

Read by Richard Wulf
Length: ~7 hours

It’s always a delight to read Narayan. Malgudi Street, I feel I know it backwards. The vendors, the characters, the food, the little quarrels, the homour. Narayan’s books bring to life the villages and the people of my own favorite country, India.

Waiting for the Mahatma is the tale of Sriran and Bharati, two young people who meet at the beginning of the Indian war for independence. Bharati is passionate and fully committed to the cause. Sriran joins the movement only when he meets Bharati who is campaigning on the streets of his village in southern India.

Bharati will not marry the smitten Syrian until she has Gandhi’s blessing. Syrian is passive and sees the world through bewildered eyes. He’s innocent and seems to be dim-witted, but every now and then he shows spark, but then in the most inappropriate of times. Fortunately much of the time Bharati is around to put him in his place but not always, and when he follows the idea of an older man and tries, against Gandhi’s non-violence decree, to derail a train, he gets himself thrown into prison.

After several years Sryian is freed. It’s another world. Independence has been achieved and there’s the inevitable disorganization. He locates
Bharati who has relocated to Delhi where she lives with other Gandhi followers, caring for children who have been displaced from their families due to the Hindu-Muslim conflict. Gandhi has decreed that the children be given names of flowers, so as not to label them as belonging to any religion, Hindu, Sikh or Muslim, lest they become embroiled in the now bloody conflict. Bharati spins her own cotton, weaves her own cloth. She’s still dedicated to Ghandi and his way of life. Gandhi is busy so the couple must wait patiently for his blessing.

It’s a simple tale elegantly told with love and humor, and the subtle irony one expects from a Narayan story. So much so that the unanticipated ending leaves the reader with a terrible chill.

Narayan is such a beautiful writer. Fortunately he was prolific and his books can be read time over time. They are indeed treasures. Read any you can get your hands on. ( )

Un buen día Ghandi visita la ciudad donde Sriram acaba de cumplir la mayoría de edad. El muchacho se enamora perdidamente de una de las seguidoras del Mahatma y, casi sin quererlo, se encuentra metido en el grupo de discípulos del gran líder independentista. Vamos, que se metió en política siguiendo a una chica, como pasa muchas veces. A partir de ahí las órdenes y las circunstancias le van llevando de acá para allá, casi siempre sin que esté muy convencido de lo que hace pero con la intención de casarse con Bharati. Hasta dará con sus huesos en la cárcel. Cuando consiga por fin reunirse con ella, solo necesitarán la bendición de Ghandi para casarse.

Esta es una novela amable. Aunque el protagonista, al que la narración sigue como una sombra, pueda pasar por situaciones difíciles, todo tiene como un halo de inocencia que, por un lado, hace simpáticos a los personajes y las situaciones, pero por otro les convierte en seres casi irreales. Por eso me queda una sensación como de cuento infantil, de texto volátil y algo simplón, aunque en verdad no lo sea. Porque Narayan aprovecha la historia para hacernos pensar sobre las grandes ideas asociadas a Ghandi (la no violencia, el autosostenimiento, la tranquilidad, etc.) y también sobre otras cuestiones no tan amables, como la disciplina de grupo, el colonialismo (no todo el mundo rechaza a los ingleses, desde luego) o el papel de las castas. Con todo, la impresión final es de demasiada suavidad, quizá. ( )

Sriran is in his early 20's, orphaned, & lives with his Granny. I would call him a "layabout" as he seems to do nothing but what he feels like. While he is literate, he also seems very naive about what is going on--or perhaps he has just been sheltered & spoiled by his Granny. He becomes enamored of a young woman who is involved in Gandhi's movement, & becomes involved himself as a way of being with Bharati. It is obvious he has no dedication, no commitment to anything but just doing what it takes to spend time with her.
He's not a very likeable person. What this novel does provide is a sense of daily life in India in the 1940's for a common person who is not poor. We learn only a little about Gandhi. This book is entirely written from POV of Sriran. ( )

Tale of simple youth and his views as ground level participant of Mahatma Gandhi's satyagrah movement. ( )