Anjana Basu
We’ve had the Jane Austen Society which turned into a much loved Hollywood film—but then, Jane Austen is Jane Austen. Sita Bhasker’s Rukmini Aunty and the R. K. Narayan Fan Club, one guesses, was inspired by that since it proceeds on similar lines with a cast of characters circling the derelict home of Mysuru’s most famous author—at least as far as the rest of India and parts of the world go—which is now under litigation. From a detour of a tour in American comes transformation for Rukmini Aunty through her niece Janani and her husband.
Rukmini gets her idea from a visit to Mark Twain’s home in Hannibal, Missouri, which has become a tourist attraction. When she and her husband discover that the eyesore of a property that spoils the view from their dream home terrace actually belonged to R.K. Narayan—regardless of the fact that they don’t really know who the writer is—she sets out to form a neighbourhood group determined to save Narayan’s house from demolition.
As the campaign picks up speed, the novel brings in incidents from Narayan’s life—his movements, his years in Mysuru, his death, and the uncertainty surrounding the house he left behind which is the subject of a tug of war between Narayan’s heirs who want to promote the property and the Mysuru Corporation which has suddenly decided to give it heritage status. The litigation is fact, not fiction, and this mix of literary history into the present-day narrative adds charm and layers to the book. One could call it an attempt to revive the interest in Narayan with a younger generation of readers.
The fan club is made up of an eclectic group whose lives—to those familiar with the Malgudi chronicles—subtly echo Narayan’s fictional world. Characters like Swami, a homesick boy from America who stays with his grandmother while his parents are working in Bangalore and who sees Narayan’s old house as a handy hideaway; Nate or Nitya, whose American father insists on honouring a vow made by Nate’s grandmother; Kamini, a political science teacher secretly teaching at her father’s school; and Mukta, an American-Indian woman who trusts horoscopes over dating apps, form a modern conglomeration of Malgudi’s finest. Their stories intersect with the meetings of Rukmini Aunty’s book club which revisits Narayan’s world and work and causes the usual arguments that book clubs do. And of course, this mix of India and America is very today when most young folk living in America only occasionally visit their relatives back home.
Bhaskar’s is a warm, gently funny novel that blends fiction and non-fiction while paying affectionate tribute to Mysuru and its deep links with the literary past and present. Much of the novel’s humour comes from the tangle of whimsical bureaucracies, civic indifference and well-meaning chaos that are typical of India past and present. Bhaskar captures this with a light touch and with clear affection for the city and its people. Mysuru itself emerges as a living presence—a place of book clubs, literary festivals, bilingual conversations, and an enduring respect for writers.
At times, the book can make those who pick it up feel left out, particularly for readers unfamiliar with Mysuru’s neighbourhoods or Narayan’s work. The plot occasionally meanders, favouring atmosphere over narrative pace, but what lends it charm is the wealth of detail rather than any attempts at suspense.
Like Rukmini Aunty herself, Bhaskar’s book has opinions on how things should be, is affectionate, and with a strong sense of place. For readers who enjoy literary nostalgia, gentle satire, and reflections on how cultural memory is preserved, or neglected, the book offers an engaging read and a refresher course into R.K. Narayan.
Rukmini Aunty and the R. K. Narayan Fan Club can be purchased here.
Born in Allahabad, schooled for a time in the UK, Anjana Basu has to date published ten novels and two books of poetry. Her novel Curses in Ivory was published by HarperCollins in 2003. In 2004, she was awarded a Hawthornden Fellowship in Scotland where she worked on her second novel, Black Tongue, published by Roli in 2007. She began writing for children in 2010 when Roli brought out Chinku and the Wolfboy. Her Jim Corbett’s ghost series for TERI deals with big cat conservation for children—the fourth in the series, Hide and Seek Tiger, was published in June 2019. Conspiracy of Aunts, her first adult novel after years, was brought out by Readomania in the same month. Her byline has appeared in Outlook and Outlook Traveller. She has worked on the dialogues for the Amitabh Bachchan starrer The Last Lear, directed by Rituparno Ghosh. Anjana Basu lives and works as an advertising consultant in Calcutta.
