Swami and his Friends , was the first book ,other than relating to academics, that i read in the age of 10. I was in fifth standard when my mother gave me this book , which she had borrowed from her college library. The book was a kannada translation of Swami and his Friends by Sharada prasad . As we know sharada prasad is a very famous and noted personality . He was press secretary to former Prime minister mrs. Indira gandhi.
As a boy in fifth standard i could well identify myself with Swami and experience all his joys and griefs. At that age i was wonder stuck, because swami was thinking like me and reacting to circumstances in the same way in which i was doing. I read this book on and on almost more than 25 times. Every time i finish it , i would restart it again. That is why even today, almost one and half decades later, i remember characters like Mani, Rajam, Shankara, Ebinizer, Vedanayagam and many more.
During later years i read his books like Bachelor of Arts, English Teacher.Now in hindsight i can say that book like Swami and his Friends developed in me a desire to read more and more books , including that of R K NARAYAN.
I pay my sincere tribute to this writer who made very common look like so special.
