Waiting for the Mahatma - Wikipedia Waiting for the Mahatma Waiting for the Mahatma First edition Author R.K. Narayan Country India Language English Publisher Michigan State University Press Publication date 1955 Media type Print ( Hardback & Paperback ) Pages 241 OCLC 607661305 Waiting for the Mahatma is a 1955 novel by R.K. Narayan. Plot summary 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. Waiting for the Mahatma is written in Narayan 's gentle comic style. An unusual feature of this novel is the participation of Gandhi as a character. His revolutionary ideas and practices are contrasted with the views of traditionalists such as the town 's notables and Sriram 's grandmother. This note of ambivalence towards the freedom movement may be due to Narayan 's needing to reassure his mainly British audience. The political struggle serves as a background to Sriram and Bharati 's unconventional romance which is concluded outside either 's family circle. This is one of Narayan 's most successful novels, where much happens behind the facade of the low key storytelling. References Jump up ^ `` Waiting for the Mahatma ''. OCLC Worldcat. Retrieved 1 April 2014. Jump up ^ Mann, Harveen ( October 2000 ). `` '' The Magic Idyll of Antiquated India `` : Patriarchal Nationalism in R.K. Narayan 's Fiction ''. ARIEL : A Review of International English Literature. 31 ( 4 ) : 59 -- 75. access - date = requires url = ( help ) Jump up ^ Aikant, Satish C. ( 2007 ). `` Colonial Ambivalence in R.K. Narayan 's Waiting for the Mahatma ''. The Journal of Commonwealth Literature. 42 : 89 -- 100. doi : 10.1177 / 0021989407078595. R.K. Narayan Novels Swami and Friends The Bachelor of Arts The Dark Room The English Teacher Mr. Sampath -- The Printer of Malgudi The Financial Expert Waiting for the Mahatma The Guide The Man - Eater of Malgudi The Vendor of Sweets The Painter of Signs A Tiger for Malgudi Talkative Man The World of Nagaraj Grandmother 's Tale Collections Malgudi Days An Astrologer 's Day and Other Short Stories Lawley Road and Other Stories A Horse and Two Goats and Other Stories Under the Banyan Tree and Other Stories The Grandmother 's Tale and Selected Stories Non-fiction Next Sunday My Dateless Diary My Days Reluctant Guru The Emerald Route A Writer 's Nightmare Mythology Gods, Demons and Others The Ramayana The Mahabharata Screen adaptations Guide Malgudi Days Banker Margayya Mr. Sampat ( 1952 ) Mr. Sampath ( 1972 ) Related articles Malgudi Indian Thought Publications Miss Malini This article about a 1950s novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article 's talk page. This article about mass media in India is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Waiting_for_the_Mahatma&oldid=779179982 '' Categories : 1955 novels Novels by R.K. Narayan Novels set in India Books published by university presses 1950s novel stubs India media stubs Hidden categories : Pages using citations with accessdate and no URL Pages to import images to Wikidata All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from April 2014 All stub articles Talk About Wikipedia বাংলা हिन्दी ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Edit links This page was last edited on 7 May 2017, at 13 : 30. About Wikipedia

Question: who is the author of waiting for the mahatma book
Answer: R. K. Narayan