His stories are funny, yet sad and extremely endearing. Narayan is low on melodrama and high on humour (scarce and getting scarcer in Indian writing) and irony. The postman, the sweeper, the driver, the shepherd the little village boy.
The TV series are a faithful rendering of stories from Malgudi Days, Under The Banyan Tree and Lawley Road. The 23-minute film (35mm) adaptations (the English version is 26 minutes) of Narayan's stories are so good, "touching the heart more than the head", as someone in the preview audience last fortnight remarked, that it is a wonder nobody thought of it before. Laxman, has immortalised Malgudi further in his drawings which are used in the titles of the series. Narayan's younger brother, cartoonist R.K. When puzzled motorists stop, they are often told that Lawley was the man who built Agumbe." In fact, Agumbe also has a new, working fountain, courtesy the unit. An old woman even came up to us when she saw Lawley and said that it was good that the British had come back. They certainly have a sense of humour. Says the series' Director Shankar Nag: "We had the streets at our disposal. Not only have Malgudi station, Malgudi hotel, Malgudi bank, and plain Malgudi signs on the main road come up in blue and red - causing some motorists believing themselves in Malgudi to take a few U-turns - but the people of Agumbe comprise half the cast of the series. Agumbe and its people will never be quite the same again. Narayan's little world ingrained in the minds of his readers the world over has been superimposed on Agumbe for Malgudi Days, a TV series which is based on his short stories and novels and will shortly be telecast.
Mr Lawley, 18 ft tall with his pedestal and Rs 28,000 worth of plaster of Paris, lords it over Agumbe, a once-prosperous town in the middle of vibrant green forest country near Udipi.
It has been made, recreated for television.