Editing R. K. Narayan (section)

==Legacy==
[[File:R.K.Narayanan Museum.jpg|thumb|R. K. Narayan Museum, Mysore]]
Narayan's greatest achievement was making India accessible to the outside world through his literature. He is regarded as one of the three leading English language Indian fiction writers, along with [[Raja Rao]] and [[Mulk Raj Anand]]. He gave his readers something to look forward to with Malgudi and its residents<ref name="Outlook - Deshpande" /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231843|title=Raja Rao (1908–2006)|date=11 July 2006|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=8 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612063815/http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231843|archive-date=12 June 2011}}</ref> and is considered to be one of the best novelists India has ever produced. He brought small-town India to his audience in a manner that was both believable and experiential. Malgudi was not just a fictional town in India, but one teeming with characters, each with their own idiosyncrasies and attitudes, making the situation as familiar to the reader as if it were their own backyard.<ref name="RKN 1906-2001"/><ref name="Obituary - The Independent">{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-5170950.html|title=Obituary: R. K. Narayan|last=Robinson|first=Andrew|date=14 May 2001|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|access-date=12 July 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105220248/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-5170950.html|archive-date=5 November 2012}}</ref> In 2014, [[Google]] commemorated Narayan's 108th birthday by featuring a [[Google Doodle|doodle]] showing him behind a copy of [[Malgudi Days (book)|''Malgudi Days'']].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Flood|first1=Alison|title=RK Narayan celebrated in a Google doodle – but only in India|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/10/rk-narayan-celebrated-google-doodle-only-india|access-date=16 December 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=10 October 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102083232/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/10/rk-narayan-celebrated-google-doodle-only-india|archive-date=2 January 2015}}</ref>

{{blockquote|"Whom next shall I meet in Malgudi? That is the thought that comes to me when I close a novel of Mr Narayan's. I do not wait for another novel. I wait to go out of my door into those loved and shabby streets and see with excitement and a certainty of pleasure a stranger approaching, past the bank, the cinema, the haircutting saloon, a stranger who will greet me I know with some unexpected and revealing phrase that will open a door on to yet another human existence."|Graham Greene<ref name="Outlook - Ribeiro">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211647|title=Transparently Magical|last=Rangel-Ribeiro|first=Victor|date=May 15, 2001|magazine=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]]|access-date=5 September 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612173028/http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?211647|archive-date=12 June 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>}}

In mid-2016, Narayan's former home in Mysore was converted to a museum in his honour. The original structure was built in 1952. The house and surrounding land were acquired by real estate contractors to raze down and build an apartment complex in its stead, but citizens groups and the [[Mysore City Corporation]] stepped in to repurchase the building and land and then restore it, subsequently converting it to a museum. The museum admission is free of charge and it is open between 10.00 am and 5.00 pm except on Tuesdays.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/08/09/at-the-new-r-k-narayan-museum-in-mysore-remembering-my-early-i/|title=At The New R. K. Narayan Museum In Mysore, Remembering My Early Impatience With His Books|last=Ghoshal|first=Somak|date=9 August 2016|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|access-date=29 December 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230001709/http://www.huffingtonpost.in/2016/08/09/at-the-new-r-k-narayan-museum-in-mysore-remembering-my-early-i/|archive-date=30 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/A-guide-to-the-R.K.-Narayan-museum/article14555358.ece|title=A guide to the R. K. Narayan museum|last=Rao|first=Mahesh|date=7 August 2016|work=[[The Hindu]]|access-date=29 December 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303134921/http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/A-guide-to-the-R.K.-Narayan-museum/article14555358.ece|archive-date=3 March 2018}}</ref>

On 8 November 2019, his book ''Swami and Friends'' was chosen as one of [[BBC]]'s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/arundhati-r-k-narayan-rushdie-make-it-to-bbcs-100-novels-that-shaped-our-world-list/article29906523.ece|title=Arundhati, R K Narayan, Rushdie make it to BBC's 100 'Novels That Shaped Our World' list|newspaper=The Hindu|date=7 November 2019|via=www.thehindu.com|access-date=7 November 2019|archive-date=13 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613145954/https://www.thehindu.com/books/arundhati-r-k-narayan-rushdie-make-it-to-bbcs-100-novels-that-shaped-our-world-list/article29906523.ece|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/494P41NCbVYHlY319VwGbxp/explore-the-list-of-100-novels-that-shaped-our-world |title=Explore the list of 100 Novels That Shaped Our World |access-date=30 December 2020 |archive-date=6 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106073234/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/494P41NCbVYHlY319VwGbxp/explore-the-list-of-100-novels-that-shaped-our-world |url-status=live }}</ref>