<Tr> <Th> Pages </Th> <Td> 241 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> OCLC </Th> <Td> 607661305 </Td> </Tr> <P> Waiting for the Mahatma is a 1955 novel by R.K. Narayan . </P> <P> Sriram is a high school graduate who lives with his grandmother in Malgudi, the fictional Southern Indian town in which much of Narayan's fiction takes place . Sriram is attracted to Bharati, a girl of his age who is active in Mahatma Gandhi's Quit India movement, and he becomes an activist himself . He then gets involved with anti-British extremists, causing much grief to his grandmother . Sriram's underground activity takes place in the countryside, an area alien to him, and the misunderstandings with the locals provide the book's best comic moments . After spending some time in jail, Sriram is reunited with Bharati, and the story ends with their engagement amidst the tragedy of India's partition in 1947 . </P>

Who is the author of waiting for the mahatma book