‘It was Monday morning. Swaminathan was reluctant to open his eyes . . . He shuddered at the very thought of school . . .’ R.K. Narayan’s classic stories about the adventures of a boy named Swami and his friends Rajam and Mani, in a sleepy and picturesque South Indian town called Malgudi, have regaled both young and old for years. Swami’s days are full of action. When he is not creating a ruckus in the classroom or preparing, in his inimitable way, for exams, he’s dreaming about running down the streets of Malgudi with the coachman’s son’s hoop; playing tricks on his grandmother; or stoning the