“The Cat Within” - A Short Story by R. K. Narayan. With a Link to The Malgudi Days TV Episode Based on the Story

R. K. Narayan (born 1906 in Chennai, India, died 2001) is one of my favourite writers.  I have read and posted on all his novels and several of his short stories.  Most of his work is set in the community of his creation, Malgudi. India.

Jhumpa Lahari in her introduction to the collection of his short stories she edited, Malgudi Days includes him among the best short story writers of the last century.  I love his prose style.  Lately I have been reading a number of short stories by Sholom Aleicham set in small towns in Eastern Europe.  If you like Sholom Aleichman you will like Narayan, and vice versa.  Both create universality in their small towns.  

My main purpose in this post is to make sure my readers know that 54 episodes of the TV series based on Narayan’s short stories can be viewed on YouTube.  First initiated in 1986 and restarted in 2004, there are 54 episodes, each about 25 minutes.  It looks like about 20 are in English, the rest in Hindi.  On YouTube just search “Malgudi Days, English” to find those episodes.  “The Cat Within” is in English.  It does a great job of bringing the story to life.

As the story opens a landlord hears a terrible sound in his storage building.  One of his tenants is a well known exorcist so he calls him for help.  The portrayal of the story is really perfect.  The clothes and the set design are really well done.  

If you can I suggest you first read the story then watch the video.  If you do not have access to the story, the TV program is a lot of fun.  It follows the storyline very closely.

Please share your experience with Narayan with us.  

Mel u