<P> In his first three books, Narayan highlights the problems with certain socially accepted practices . The first book has Narayan focusing on the plight of students, punishments of caning in the classroom, and the associated shame . The concept of horoscope - matching in Hindu marriages and the emotional toll it levies on the bride and groom is covered in the second book . In the third book, Narayan addresses the concept of a wife putting up with her husband's antics and attitudes . </P> <P> Rajam died of typhoid in 1939 . Her death affected Narayan deeply and he remained depressed for a long time; he was also concerned for their daughter Hema, who was only three years old . The bereavement brought about a significant change in his life and was the inspiration behind his next novel, The English Teacher . This book, like his first two books, is autobiographical, but more so, and completes an unintentional thematic trilogy following Swami and Friends and The Bachelor of Arts . In subsequent interviews, Narayan acknowledges that The English Teacher was almost entirely an autobiography, albeit with different names for the characters and the change of setting in Malgudi; he also explains that the emotions detailed in the book reflected his own at the time of Rajam's death . </P> <P> Bolstered by some of his successes, in 1940 Narayan tried his hand at a journal, Indian Thought . With the help of his uncle, a car salesman, Narayan managed to get more than a thousand subscribers in Madras city alone . However, the venture did not last long due to Narayan's inability to manage it, and it ceased publication within a year . His first collection of short stories, Malgudi Days, was published in November 1942, followed by The English Teacher in 1945 . In between, being cut off from England due to the war, Narayan started his own publishing company, naming it (again) Indian Thought Publications; the publishing company was a success and is still active, now managed by his granddaughter . Soon, with a devoted readership stretching from New York to Moscow, Narayan's books started selling well and in 1948 he started building his own house on the outskirts of Mysore; the house was completed in 1953 . Around this period, Narayan wrote the screenplay for the Gemini Studios film Miss Malini (1947), which remained the only screenplay by him that was successfully adapted into a feature film . </P> <P> After The English Teacher, Narayan's writings took a more imaginative and creative external style compared to the semi-autobiographical tone of the earlier novels . His next effort, Mr. Sampath, was the first book exhibiting this modified approach . However, it still draws from some of his own experiences, particularly the aspect of starting his own journal; he also makes a marked movement away from his earlier novels by intermixing biographical events . Soon after, he published The Financial Expert, considered to be his masterpiece and hailed as one of the most original works of fiction in 1951 . The inspiration for the novel was a true story about a financial genius, Margayya, related to him by his brother . The next novel, Waiting for the Mahatma, loosely based on a fictional visit to Malgudi by Mahatma Gandhi, deals with the protagonist's romantic feelings for a woman, when he attends the discourses of the visiting Mahatma . The woman, named Bharti, is a loose parody of Bharati, the personification of India and the focus of Gandhi's discourses . While the novel includes significant references to the Indian independence movement, the focus is on the life of the ordinary individual, narrated with Narayan's usual dose of irony . </P>

Description of villages in the writings of rk narayan