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The Financial Expert
In The Financial Expert , R. K. Narayan once again transports readers to the southern Indian town of Malgudi. This story centers around the life and pursuits of Margayya, a man of many hopes but few resources, who spends his time under the banyan tree offering expert financial advice to those willing to pay for his knowledge. Margayya's rags-to-riches story brings forth the rich imagery of Indian life with the absorbing details and vivid storytelling that are Narayan's trademarks.
"The novels of R. K. Narayan are the best I have read in any language for a long time."—Amit Roy, Daily Telegraph
"The experience of reading one of his novels is . . . comparable to one's first reaction to the great Russian the fresh realization of the common humanity of all peoples."—Margaret Parton, New York Herald Tribune Book Review
"The hardest of all things for a novelist to communicate is the extraordinary ordinariness of most human happiness. . . . Jane Austen, Soseki, a few bring it off. Narayan is one of them."—Francis King, Spectator
"The novels of R. K. Narayan are the best I have read in any language for a long time."—Amit Roy, Daily Telegraph
"The experience of reading one of his novels is . . . comparable to one's first reaction to the great Russian the fresh realization of the common humanity of all peoples."—Margaret Parton, New York Herald Tribune Book Review
"The hardest of all things for a novelist to communicate is the extraordinary ordinariness of most human happiness. . . . Jane Austen, Soseki, a few bring it off. Narayan is one of them."—Francis King, Spectator
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1951
74 people are currently reading
1143 people want to read
About the author
R.K. Narayan
143 books1,930 followersR. K. Narayan is among the best known and most widely read Indian novelists who wrote in English.
R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.
In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.
Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.
-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk
R.K. Narayan was born in Madras, South India, in 1906, and educated there and at Maharaja's College in Mysore. His first novel, Swami and Friends and its successor, The Bachelor of Arts, are both set in the enchanting fictional territory of Malgudi and are only two out of the twelve novels he based there. In 1958 Narayan's work The Guide won him the National Prize of the Indian Literary Academy, his country's highest literary honor.
In addition to his novels, Narayan has authored five collections of short stories, including A Horse and Two Goats, Malguidi Days, and Under the Banyan Tree, two travel books, two volumes of essays, a volume of memoirs, and the re-told legends Gods, Demons and Others, The Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. In 1980 he was awarded the A.C. Benson Medal by the Royal Society of Literature and in 1982 he was made an Honorary Member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.
Most of Narayan's work, starting with his first novel Swami and Friends (1935), captures many Indian traits while retaining a unique identity of its own. He was sometimes compared to the American writer William Faulkner, whose novels were also grounded in a compassionate humanism and celebrated the humour and energy of ordinary life.
Narayan who lived till age of ninety-four, died in 2001. He wrote for more than fifty years, and published until he was eighty seven. He wrote fourteen novels, five volumes of short stories, a number of travelogues and collections of non-fiction, condensed versions of Indian epics in English, and the memoir My Days.
-Wikipedia & Amazon.co.uk
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December 10, 2019
(Contains spoilers although the Editor’s Preface and Author’s Introduction tell us the plot of the book.)
A story from India in the 1950’s. Margayya is a petty moneylender conducting his business under a tree outside a bank in south India. He helps local folks, many of whom are illiterate, to fill out bank forms. Meanwhile he personally lends out small amounts and collects debts. The bank people treat him with contempt and try to chase him away. He has a wife and one son, but he’s dissatisfied with his life and feels he was cut out for better things. His only enjoyment in life is the time he spends with his son each evening. He spoils him.
Margayya goes to a priest who sets him on a praying and fasting ritual to the goddess of wealth. It works. He runs into a sociologist who gives him a copy of a semi-pornographic book called “Bed Relations.” He hooks up with a publisher to print it as “Domestic Harmony” and he makes a ton of money, becoming one of the wealthiest men in the small town. He gets appointed or elected to important position such as the equivalent of the school board.
Meanwhile his son is maturing. He’s a terrible student but his father’s political connections help him stay in school even though he can’t pass the exams. But the main character’s pressure on his son forces his son to run away from home. At one point the boy’s parents are even told he had died.
Margayya’s mind has always been obsessed with the financial concept of interest and now he becomes obsessed with making money; so much so that he hardly eats or sleeps. He gets back into money-lending big-time and confiscates property when people can’t pay their loans on time. Even that is not enough. He starts lending money to wealthy people in a Ponzi scheme that comes crashing down due to actions by his son and the man who wrote the book. Margayya comes full circle. Now seriously ill, he’s impoverished again, doting on his grandson and dreaming of re-establishing his original small-scale lending business outside the bank.
A good read but I felt it to be a little slow or dragged out in places (about 250 pages).
The author (1906-2001) published a number of novels, many short stories and some non-fiction works. He was championed by Graham Greene who acted as his agent for his first few books. John Updike compared his work to Charles Dickens. Like Hardy’s Wessex or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha, the author invented a fictional town, Malgudi, in which he set many of his novels.
Top photo: India street scene early 1960's from i.pinimg.com/originals
Museum in Madras dedicated to the author from Wikipedia
India postage stamp honoring the author from philaindia.info
A story from India in the 1950’s. Margayya is a petty moneylender conducting his business under a tree outside a bank in south India. He helps local folks, many of whom are illiterate, to fill out bank forms. Meanwhile he personally lends out small amounts and collects debts. The bank people treat him with contempt and try to chase him away. He has a wife and one son, but he’s dissatisfied with his life and feels he was cut out for better things. His only enjoyment in life is the time he spends with his son each evening. He spoils him.
Margayya goes to a priest who sets him on a praying and fasting ritual to the goddess of wealth. It works. He runs into a sociologist who gives him a copy of a semi-pornographic book called “Bed Relations.” He hooks up with a publisher to print it as “Domestic Harmony” and he makes a ton of money, becoming one of the wealthiest men in the small town. He gets appointed or elected to important position such as the equivalent of the school board.
Meanwhile his son is maturing. He’s a terrible student but his father’s political connections help him stay in school even though he can’t pass the exams. But the main character’s pressure on his son forces his son to run away from home. At one point the boy’s parents are even told he had died.
Margayya’s mind has always been obsessed with the financial concept of interest and now he becomes obsessed with making money; so much so that he hardly eats or sleeps. He gets back into money-lending big-time and confiscates property when people can’t pay their loans on time. Even that is not enough. He starts lending money to wealthy people in a Ponzi scheme that comes crashing down due to actions by his son and the man who wrote the book. Margayya comes full circle. Now seriously ill, he’s impoverished again, doting on his grandson and dreaming of re-establishing his original small-scale lending business outside the bank.
A good read but I felt it to be a little slow or dragged out in places (about 250 pages).
The author (1906-2001) published a number of novels, many short stories and some non-fiction works. He was championed by Graham Greene who acted as his agent for his first few books. John Updike compared his work to Charles Dickens. Like Hardy’s Wessex or Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha, the author invented a fictional town, Malgudi, in which he set many of his novels.
Top photo: India street scene early 1960's from i.pinimg.com/originals
Museum in Madras dedicated to the author from Wikipedia
India postage stamp honoring the author from philaindia.info
February 5, 2024
(Note – this may be a little tiny bit spoilerish)
THE WAY THINGS WERE IN INDIA IN THE 1940s
1. A guy will spend years writing a long book about sexual health in marriage, knowing that it will be a big hit when published, and when he meets a total stranger one day he will whimsically sell him his manuscript for whatever cash the guy has in his pockets (a few rupees) and the total stranger will take the manuscript and get it published and become rich and the author will never ask for any royalties, not even when he meets the random guy again later on. And no one will ever mention the total unfairness or borderline insanity of such an occurrence.
2. A 15 year old son will run away from his family because of a fight with his annoying father, and the parents, realising he has gone, will fall into despair, weeping and wailing, but they will never think of asking the police to find their son. In fact they will not make even the feeblest attempt to trace him. It seems registering a teenager as a missing person is not something anyone would do.
3. After the income from the sex book dies down, the guy thinks hmmm I need a job, I know, I will become a financial expert and get everyone to lend me their cash. How can I do this? Of course! I will offer my customers 25% interest when the bank only offers 5%! So this is an offer the whole town of Malgudi cannot refuse and they shower our guy with all their stashed cash caches and lo! they get their 25% and everything is peachy. How this guy is able to do such a thing, what he does with all the money to be able to afford such a Himalayan altitude of interest, is not explained. Maybe it was only ever a Ponzi scheme. Who knows. Maybe R K Narayan didn’t quite know either.
4. Everybody’s fortunes randomly rise and fall as if they were the playthings of gods who were high as kites on lsd.
This is the 6th RK Narayan novel I have read and I think that’s enough. The two best ones were The Dark Room and The Painter of Signs. I have concluded that he is a little bit hit or miss. But he is a very affable, friendly writer.
THE WAY THINGS WERE IN INDIA IN THE 1940s
1. A guy will spend years writing a long book about sexual health in marriage, knowing that it will be a big hit when published, and when he meets a total stranger one day he will whimsically sell him his manuscript for whatever cash the guy has in his pockets (a few rupees) and the total stranger will take the manuscript and get it published and become rich and the author will never ask for any royalties, not even when he meets the random guy again later on. And no one will ever mention the total unfairness or borderline insanity of such an occurrence.
2. A 15 year old son will run away from his family because of a fight with his annoying father, and the parents, realising he has gone, will fall into despair, weeping and wailing, but they will never think of asking the police to find their son. In fact they will not make even the feeblest attempt to trace him. It seems registering a teenager as a missing person is not something anyone would do.
3. After the income from the sex book dies down, the guy thinks hmmm I need a job, I know, I will become a financial expert and get everyone to lend me their cash. How can I do this? Of course! I will offer my customers 25% interest when the bank only offers 5%! So this is an offer the whole town of Malgudi cannot refuse and they shower our guy with all their stashed cash caches and lo! they get their 25% and everything is peachy. How this guy is able to do such a thing, what he does with all the money to be able to afford such a Himalayan altitude of interest, is not explained. Maybe it was only ever a Ponzi scheme. Who knows. Maybe R K Narayan didn’t quite know either.
4. Everybody’s fortunes randomly rise and fall as if they were the playthings of gods who were high as kites on lsd.
This is the 6th RK Narayan novel I have read and I think that’s enough. The two best ones were The Dark Room and The Painter of Signs. I have concluded that he is a little bit hit or miss. But he is a very affable, friendly writer.
August 5, 2019
The first book R.K. Narayan wrote which is not autobiographical in nature and hence an interesting read. The plot deals with lapses in the organised banking sector and the unscrupulous world of the money lenders. The story line has many ups and downs and grips your attention. The climax makes you ponder how to exactly place the protagonist. Overall a good and intense read
December 31, 2017
Lovely book.
Review tomorrow.
Review tomorrow.
December 4, 2023
An interesting character based , short novel about Margayya, an individual money lender and banker. He is married and has a son, Balu. Balu is not clever and quite lazy. He is spoiled by his parents.
The novel describes Indian life in a poor suburb. When Margayya thinks of marrying his son, horoscopes need to be obtained of the son and the young woman Balu is to marry. If the horoscopes show the couple are not suited, then the person who does the horoscopes will advise the parents that the marriage should not happen. The marriage is arranged between the parents.
Initially Margayya is involved in minor financial transactions where he sits in the shade of a banyan tree, helping people take out loans from the Co-operative bank situated opposite the banyan tree. Margayya’s business is all recorded in a notebook which disappears when his son Balu throws Margayya’s accounts book down a drain.
Margayya becomes a book seller and later a banker. He is a unique individual who cares for his wife and dotes on his son, Balu. Margayya is a loner. He is quite a complex character.
An entertaining, sometimes humorous novel.
This book was first published in 1952.
The novel describes Indian life in a poor suburb. When Margayya thinks of marrying his son, horoscopes need to be obtained of the son and the young woman Balu is to marry. If the horoscopes show the couple are not suited, then the person who does the horoscopes will advise the parents that the marriage should not happen. The marriage is arranged between the parents.
Initially Margayya is involved in minor financial transactions where he sits in the shade of a banyan tree, helping people take out loans from the Co-operative bank situated opposite the banyan tree. Margayya’s business is all recorded in a notebook which disappears when his son Balu throws Margayya’s accounts book down a drain.
Margayya becomes a book seller and later a banker. He is a unique individual who cares for his wife and dotes on his son, Balu. Margayya is a loner. He is quite a complex character.
An entertaining, sometimes humorous novel.
This book was first published in 1952.
November 1, 2018
Great climax with a Ponzi scheme going awry.
January 19, 2018
I am not quite sure why I am rating this book 3 because I enjoyed the book immensely. Narayan's wit and humor is evident here in his story about the travails of a 'financial expert.' It is typical of Narayan to comment on the Indian societal mores where anyone can become an 'expert' on anything. His social acumen and insight remains outstanding.
Maybe, having just read a few of Narayan's novels by now, I yearn perhaps for a bolder stroke. I know that is wishful thinking - Narayan wrote very well on what was most familiar to him. The book made me chuckle in a few places, and as always, if you are keen enough, you can observe the darker, philosophical overtones that mark his writing. This is a little gem. Just that I don't know where to place it among all his other works.
Maybe, having just read a few of Narayan's novels by now, I yearn perhaps for a bolder stroke. I know that is wishful thinking - Narayan wrote very well on what was most familiar to him. The book made me chuckle in a few places, and as always, if you are keen enough, you can observe the darker, philosophical overtones that mark his writing. This is a little gem. Just that I don't know where to place it among all his other works.
February 27, 2021
The book is beautiful in so many ways.
Even today, you will find a couple of families in innumerable towns of India living this story.
For those who are the audience to these gossips, it is a beautiful and captivating narrative to the entire picture.
The author's brilliance shines in confronting with those angles of relationships between father-son, husband-wife, which are muted within us.
Even today, you will find a couple of families in innumerable towns of India living this story.
For those who are the audience to these gossips, it is a beautiful and captivating narrative to the entire picture.
The author's brilliance shines in confronting with those angles of relationships between father-son, husband-wife, which are muted within us.
May 9, 2013
After watching a TV series based on Malgudi Days, I decided to give this book a try. But It beat crap out of my course books at being dull.
The story drags without much happening and then suddenly it ends with as much logic as it started. When Narayan had been scribbling the boring story for around six months, it got to the nerves of his wife and one morning she said, "Hey you old man! Finish this crap or else no breakfast for you". So obeyed R.K.
A village financial adviser(the protagonist) enterprises to earn big buck but finds himself in deep water. So at the end, he gives up and realizes that happiness has nothing to do with wealth.
The only character I liked in the book is his son and he very rightly stays away from the vapid story line for most of the time. Something more about him could have given the book much needed taste.
The story drags without much happening and then suddenly it ends with as much logic as it started. When Narayan had been scribbling the boring story for around six months, it got to the nerves of his wife and one morning she said, "Hey you old man! Finish this crap or else no breakfast for you". So obeyed R.K.
A village financial adviser(the protagonist) enterprises to earn big buck but finds himself in deep water. So at the end, he gives up and realizes that happiness has nothing to do with wealth.
The only character I liked in the book is his son and he very rightly stays away from the vapid story line for most of the time. Something more about him could have given the book much needed taste.
May 25, 2015
A very good story set during the late 1930's and into the 1940's. Another of R.K. Narayan's tales set in his fictional town of Malgudi, India. Through Narayan's wonderful witty prose, we get to know Margayya, the "financial expert", his family and all of their many problems. Malgudi is a very ordinary town filled with ordinary people. Margayya is really just looking to make a quick buck lakh rupee with as little work as possible. He really is very devious and shady. He enjoys advising people in all matters because to him, everything boils down to a money problem. Margayya always has his own interests frontmost in his mind. This is a story about his search for wealth and the effect it has on him, his family and his friends. Good story telling. In the end,
October 7, 2021
#Re-read:
An exceptionally well-constructed novel, in five parts, along the lines of the five Acts of an Elizabethan drama, this novel recounts the story of the rise and fall of Margayya, the financial expert.
Margayya begins his career as an inconsequential money-lender doing his business under a banyan tree, in front of the Central Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank in Malgudi. He helps the shareholders of the bank to borrow money at a small interest and lends it to the deprived at a highest interest.
In the process he makes some money for himself. The secretary of the bank and Arul Doss, the peon, seize from his box the loan application forms he has managed to get from the bank through its share-holders; treat him with disdain; and threaten to take action against him. This sets him on the path of improving his position.
When Balu, his spoilt child, throws his account book, containing all the entries of his transactions with his clients, into the gutter, it becomes impossible for Margayya to recommence his old practice.
He shows his horoscope to an astrologer and is assured that a good time is coming for him, if only he did puja to Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. The puja is done for forty days, with ash from a red lotus and ghee made out of milk from a gray cow. Margayya goes through the puja and at the end of it is full of hopes of a prosperous career.
Old Dr. Pal, who sells him the MS of a book on Bed Life, for whatever ready cash Margayya’s purse contains, assures him that the book renamed Domestic Harmony will sell in tens of thousands if only he can find a publisher. Madan Lal, “a man from the North”, reads the MS and agrees to print and publish it on at 50—50 partnership basis. The book is at once popular and Margayya’s fortune is made.
Margayya is again ruined through his son, Balu. He had put him to school in great style, getting the blessings of his brother and sister-in-law next door.
His wealth had enabled him to become the Secretary of the School Managing Committee, with all that this meant in terms of power in comparison with the Headmaster and the School Staff. He had engaged a private tutor for his son and instructed him to thrash the boy whenever necessary.
But Balu is not good in his studies. He cannot pass his S.S.L.C. He attempts to persuade him to take the examination a second time. The result is that Balu seizes the school leaving certificate book, tears it into four quarters and throws them into the gutter, now the same gutter which closed its dark waters over Margayya’s real account book and carries away the School Certificate book. Then he runs away from home.
A few days later there is a letter from Madras telling Margayya that his son is dead. The brother’s family instantaneously comes to his help, though Margayya feels he can do without their help and wonders whether this will change the existing relationship between them.
He leaves for Madras, discovers through the good offices of a fellow traveller—police inspector in plain clothes—that his son is not really dead, traces the boy and brings him home.
He wants to marry him to a girl named Brinda, the daughter of the owner of a tea-estate in Mempi Hills. When a Pundit, after an honest study, declares that the horoscopes of Balu and Brinda do not match, he is curtly dismissed with a fee of one rupee.
Another astrologer, whom Dr. Pal finds, gives it in writing that the two horoscopes match perfectly—and is paid Rs. 75 for his pains. “Money can dictate the very stars in their courses.”
Balu and his wife are helped to set up an establishment of their own in Lawley Extension. Margayya, wishing to draw Dr. Pal away from his son, seeks his help in attracting deposits from Black Marketeers on the promise of an interest of 20%. “If I get Rs. 20,000 deposit each day and pay Rs. 15,000 in interest I have still Rs. 5,000 a day left in my hands as my own”, Margayya calculates.
Margayya grows rich. It is now necessary for him to have a car. Every nook and corner of his house is stuffed with sacks full of currency notes. He is on the right side of the police, contributes to the War Fund when driven to do so, and works day and night with his accounts and money bags, though his wife is unhappy at his straining himself so much.
One day Margayya visits his son in Lawley Extension. He finds Brinda and her child. The girl cannot hold back her tears, while narrating Balu’s nocturnal activities. When Margayya gets out of the house, he finds a car halting in front of it, out of which emerges Balu. His companions are Dr. Pal and a couple of women of the town.
The enraged father pulls Dr. Pal out of the car beats him and dismisses the two women with condescension. The next day Dr. Pal with a bandaged face whispers to all and sundry that things are not going well with Margayya’s concerns. Hundreds of people come to Margayya and ask for their deposits.
All the accumulated wealth is disbursed; still hundreds of people cannot be satisfied. The run on the bank leads to Margayya’s filing an insolvency petition.
And thus like a house of cards the wealth Margayya had accumulated is blown away. He advises his son to take his place under the banyan tree with the old box; and when he says. “How can I go and sit there? What will people say?“ he replies, “Very well, then. 1 will do it”.
The theme of the novel is lust for money, but Margayya is no monster of greed and wickedness.
R.K. Narayan has succeeded in humanizing him and showing that despite his yearn for money, he is a human being like the rest of us.
This novel, Narayan’s sixth one, is truly his masterpiece. Margayya, the hero is probably Narayan greatest single comic creation.
An exceptionally well-constructed novel, in five parts, along the lines of the five Acts of an Elizabethan drama, this novel recounts the story of the rise and fall of Margayya, the financial expert.
Margayya begins his career as an inconsequential money-lender doing his business under a banyan tree, in front of the Central Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank in Malgudi. He helps the shareholders of the bank to borrow money at a small interest and lends it to the deprived at a highest interest.
In the process he makes some money for himself. The secretary of the bank and Arul Doss, the peon, seize from his box the loan application forms he has managed to get from the bank through its share-holders; treat him with disdain; and threaten to take action against him. This sets him on the path of improving his position.
When Balu, his spoilt child, throws his account book, containing all the entries of his transactions with his clients, into the gutter, it becomes impossible for Margayya to recommence his old practice.
He shows his horoscope to an astrologer and is assured that a good time is coming for him, if only he did puja to Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth. The puja is done for forty days, with ash from a red lotus and ghee made out of milk from a gray cow. Margayya goes through the puja and at the end of it is full of hopes of a prosperous career.
Old Dr. Pal, who sells him the MS of a book on Bed Life, for whatever ready cash Margayya’s purse contains, assures him that the book renamed Domestic Harmony will sell in tens of thousands if only he can find a publisher. Madan Lal, “a man from the North”, reads the MS and agrees to print and publish it on at 50—50 partnership basis. The book is at once popular and Margayya’s fortune is made.
Margayya is again ruined through his son, Balu. He had put him to school in great style, getting the blessings of his brother and sister-in-law next door.
His wealth had enabled him to become the Secretary of the School Managing Committee, with all that this meant in terms of power in comparison with the Headmaster and the School Staff. He had engaged a private tutor for his son and instructed him to thrash the boy whenever necessary.
But Balu is not good in his studies. He cannot pass his S.S.L.C. He attempts to persuade him to take the examination a second time. The result is that Balu seizes the school leaving certificate book, tears it into four quarters and throws them into the gutter, now the same gutter which closed its dark waters over Margayya’s real account book and carries away the School Certificate book. Then he runs away from home.
A few days later there is a letter from Madras telling Margayya that his son is dead. The brother’s family instantaneously comes to his help, though Margayya feels he can do without their help and wonders whether this will change the existing relationship between them.
He leaves for Madras, discovers through the good offices of a fellow traveller—police inspector in plain clothes—that his son is not really dead, traces the boy and brings him home.
He wants to marry him to a girl named Brinda, the daughter of the owner of a tea-estate in Mempi Hills. When a Pundit, after an honest study, declares that the horoscopes of Balu and Brinda do not match, he is curtly dismissed with a fee of one rupee.
Another astrologer, whom Dr. Pal finds, gives it in writing that the two horoscopes match perfectly—and is paid Rs. 75 for his pains. “Money can dictate the very stars in their courses.”
Balu and his wife are helped to set up an establishment of their own in Lawley Extension. Margayya, wishing to draw Dr. Pal away from his son, seeks his help in attracting deposits from Black Marketeers on the promise of an interest of 20%. “If I get Rs. 20,000 deposit each day and pay Rs. 15,000 in interest I have still Rs. 5,000 a day left in my hands as my own”, Margayya calculates.
Margayya grows rich. It is now necessary for him to have a car. Every nook and corner of his house is stuffed with sacks full of currency notes. He is on the right side of the police, contributes to the War Fund when driven to do so, and works day and night with his accounts and money bags, though his wife is unhappy at his straining himself so much.
One day Margayya visits his son in Lawley Extension. He finds Brinda and her child. The girl cannot hold back her tears, while narrating Balu’s nocturnal activities. When Margayya gets out of the house, he finds a car halting in front of it, out of which emerges Balu. His companions are Dr. Pal and a couple of women of the town.
The enraged father pulls Dr. Pal out of the car beats him and dismisses the two women with condescension. The next day Dr. Pal with a bandaged face whispers to all and sundry that things are not going well with Margayya’s concerns. Hundreds of people come to Margayya and ask for their deposits.
All the accumulated wealth is disbursed; still hundreds of people cannot be satisfied. The run on the bank leads to Margayya’s filing an insolvency petition.
And thus like a house of cards the wealth Margayya had accumulated is blown away. He advises his son to take his place under the banyan tree with the old box; and when he says. “How can I go and sit there? What will people say?“ he replies, “Very well, then. 1 will do it”.
The theme of the novel is lust for money, but Margayya is no monster of greed and wickedness.
R.K. Narayan has succeeded in humanizing him and showing that despite his yearn for money, he is a human being like the rest of us.
This novel, Narayan’s sixth one, is truly his masterpiece. Margayya, the hero is probably Narayan greatest single comic creation.
July 13, 2013
The Master story teller comes out with yet another classic book here. Infact it is one of the best that I have read so far. I am surprised that it has not been made into a movie yet because it has all ingradients to entertain us.
Coming to the story, it tells us about the time in British India when they established community banks to encourage a habit of thrift and to create a system of orderly loans. They did this specially to empower the poor people(which was majority of the population that time)who were constantly in debt to loan sharks. However, this banking system was bureaucratically cumbersome and ordinary working folks weren’t really much interested in thrift. The traditional loan-shark system was outrageously unfair to the poor, but it did give them some way to go beyond the hopelessness of their lives, if only for those special occasions of a family wedding or funeral.
Thus, with the seemingly well-intentioned community banks in place, but with the killing bureaucracy making them nearly useless, there sprang up a new group – the financial advisors. These were individuals who just set up an “office” on the street under any big tree! They were at least basically literate and knew a bit about how the banks worked. They also had stacks of the various forms people had to fill out for loans or other bank dealings. They would fill out the forms and guide the people along the path to get them through the bank’s systems. They often preferred to encourage their clients to just forget about the banks and all their forms and bureaucracy and to deal with the them, the financial advisors, who would lend money without much paper work. The novel was inspired by one of these street smart “financial advisors.”
The book has all shades right from funny to completely tragic and keeps us glued till the end. There is one particular incident which literally made me fall of my chair! There is this land lord who is being requested by all his tenants from a long time to put "wires and bulbs" as the electricity has come to Malgudi by now and this guy is a big miser so he keeps it hanging for quite long and then finally when he realises that stories won't work any more then he comes up with a killing line "I have ordered it directly with General Electricals so that we get the best quality so it will come through sea and hence will take some time" which that time used to be months as the only mode was water ways!
A must read for all Narayan fans :-)
Coming to the story, it tells us about the time in British India when they established community banks to encourage a habit of thrift and to create a system of orderly loans. They did this specially to empower the poor people(which was majority of the population that time)who were constantly in debt to loan sharks. However, this banking system was bureaucratically cumbersome and ordinary working folks weren’t really much interested in thrift. The traditional loan-shark system was outrageously unfair to the poor, but it did give them some way to go beyond the hopelessness of their lives, if only for those special occasions of a family wedding or funeral.
Thus, with the seemingly well-intentioned community banks in place, but with the killing bureaucracy making them nearly useless, there sprang up a new group – the financial advisors. These were individuals who just set up an “office” on the street under any big tree! They were at least basically literate and knew a bit about how the banks worked. They also had stacks of the various forms people had to fill out for loans or other bank dealings. They would fill out the forms and guide the people along the path to get them through the bank’s systems. They often preferred to encourage their clients to just forget about the banks and all their forms and bureaucracy and to deal with the them, the financial advisors, who would lend money without much paper work. The novel was inspired by one of these street smart “financial advisors.”
The book has all shades right from funny to completely tragic and keeps us glued till the end. There is one particular incident which literally made me fall of my chair! There is this land lord who is being requested by all his tenants from a long time to put "wires and bulbs" as the electricity has come to Malgudi by now and this guy is a big miser so he keeps it hanging for quite long and then finally when he realises that stories won't work any more then he comes up with a killing line "I have ordered it directly with General Electricals so that we get the best quality so it will come through sea and hence will take some time" which that time used to be months as the only mode was water ways!
A must read for all Narayan fans :-)
May 29, 2014
First thought - this book is made to be read in English. I had a French copy and I believe that I have missed the spirit of it.
Nevertheless I consider it as an incredible portrait of a man in the Indian society, or even, I will go further, any traditional eastern society. All the battle between the internal hesitations, very human feelings and the need of being accepted by the people around who have literaly nothing to do with you. All the hypocrisy of the socity and many many other problems which come with the money... Makes me think of the Dreiser's fictions... but instead of NY and London we are in a small city in India. People are the same everywhere.
One thing which made me really laugh is the passage of the "philosopher"-personage who speaks about English language problem in India. He was very mad about the fact that you need to write/speak in English to be read/heard in all reagions. Well the paradox is that this book itself is written in English. So does anybody see the link with the author? I really hope that this philosopher was not his autoportrait ...
Nevertheless I consider it as an incredible portrait of a man in the Indian society, or even, I will go further, any traditional eastern society. All the battle between the internal hesitations, very human feelings and the need of being accepted by the people around who have literaly nothing to do with you. All the hypocrisy of the socity and many many other problems which come with the money... Makes me think of the Dreiser's fictions... but instead of NY and London we are in a small city in India. People are the same everywhere.
One thing which made me really laugh is the passage of the "philosopher"-personage who speaks about English language problem in India. He was very mad about the fact that you need to write/speak in English to be read/heard in all reagions. Well the paradox is that this book itself is written in English. So does anybody see the link with the author? I really hope that this philosopher was not his autoportrait ...
August 16, 2007
Narayan belongs with Dostoevsky and Chekhov as writers who at once capture both the intimate peculiarities of their fellow countrymen and the common ordinariness of all human lives. Here he returns again to fictional Malgudi, with a tale of a money lender and his son that might be called ‘The Prodigal Father’. Narayan’s sly yet gentle irony and his elliptical dialogue are both put to superb use.
October 4, 2016
بین کاسب کارها هم مثل سیاست مداران بیشترین ترس آن است که به چیزی متعهد شوند
September 12, 2021
Books like PG Wodehouse’s for example age very well despite the fact that the idyllic world that they are set in and societal norms that they refer to are completely unrecognisable today. And that is due to the romanticisation of any situation and the ample use of humour. I have always viewed RK Narayan as an Indian version of Wodehouse with his semi-rural South Indian locales, quaint characters and understated and wry humour. His world of Swamy, for example, has provided endless delight to me and I’m sure to generations of readers. However, The Financial Expert, frankly, was somewhat disappointing — the plot was too simplistic and the humour rare to find!
This book, like most of his other stories, is based in the fictional town of Malgudi in southern India with the characters and their milieu being similar to his usual ones. Margayya (literally the person who shows the way) is the resident financial expert who helps the villagers inveigle loans from the local co-operative bank but aspires for more wealth and respect from his fellow citizens. His journey towards that goal forms the crux of the novel and his long-suffering wife, his spoilt son Balu, and Dr. Pal, a bohemian author, play important roles in that journey.
Narayan has managed to imbue his central character of Margayya with multiple facets to his nature — greedy, miserly, pompous, sensitive, self-righteous yet one who appears simple at his core. His relationship with his wife is the one that Narayan has captured the best, he’s usually dismissive of her yet tender on occasions. Parts of the plot, like his engagement with his clients, his conflict with the co-operative bank officials, his encounter with the local priest, his hunt for a red lotus and his experience as a publisher have subtle humour and irony and are a delight to read. His writing is simple (perhaps a bit too simple at parts) and easy to read. However, the story and the writing does drag on for a significant part of the book. The beginning of the book is extremely promising with Margayya doling out advice to his customers under a banyan tree outside the co-operative bank but the narrative surprise peters out in the second half of the book.
Surprisingly, while this movie was adapted for an award-winning Kannada movie, it has not been recreated in any of the mainstream languages. Malgudi Days, Narayan’s collection of short stories, was made into an absolutely delightful TV show back in 1986. I will hope that the same is done with The Financial Expert!
Pros: Subtle humour, quaint characters and milieu
Cons: Second half was simplistic and dragged
PS: Please visit http://ananthabookreviews.blogspot.com for other book reviews
This book, like most of his other stories, is based in the fictional town of Malgudi in southern India with the characters and their milieu being similar to his usual ones. Margayya (literally the person who shows the way) is the resident financial expert who helps the villagers inveigle loans from the local co-operative bank but aspires for more wealth and respect from his fellow citizens. His journey towards that goal forms the crux of the novel and his long-suffering wife, his spoilt son Balu, and Dr. Pal, a bohemian author, play important roles in that journey.
Narayan has managed to imbue his central character of Margayya with multiple facets to his nature — greedy, miserly, pompous, sensitive, self-righteous yet one who appears simple at his core. His relationship with his wife is the one that Narayan has captured the best, he’s usually dismissive of her yet tender on occasions. Parts of the plot, like his engagement with his clients, his conflict with the co-operative bank officials, his encounter with the local priest, his hunt for a red lotus and his experience as a publisher have subtle humour and irony and are a delight to read. His writing is simple (perhaps a bit too simple at parts) and easy to read. However, the story and the writing does drag on for a significant part of the book. The beginning of the book is extremely promising with Margayya doling out advice to his customers under a banyan tree outside the co-operative bank but the narrative surprise peters out in the second half of the book.
Surprisingly, while this movie was adapted for an award-winning Kannada movie, it has not been recreated in any of the mainstream languages. Malgudi Days, Narayan’s collection of short stories, was made into an absolutely delightful TV show back in 1986. I will hope that the same is done with The Financial Expert!
Pros: Subtle humour, quaint characters and milieu
Cons: Second half was simplistic and dragged
PS: Please visit http://ananthabookreviews.blogspot.com for other book reviews
August 5, 2019
This is the first time I've read a book from Indian author R.K. Narayan. Although this book was first published in 1957, the sub-themes of financial fraud and bank loan burdens are still very much of actuality today and a global phenomenon. Thus, readers from all over the world can enjoy reading this book.
In this book, the author analyzes closely the tight relationship between money and the leading character, from his early poor beginning as a "financial consultant" to peasants in need of bank loans from a local bank to his late age, as a big shot self made "banker". This book is a denounciation of banking as a tool to drown peasant into more loans until they lose everything. The story follows the financial consultat, who desires money at all cost and through all means necessary. The story shows the close connection between money and every aspect of life of an individual: personal, religion, family, education, prestige.... Whether poor or rich, there is not getting out of the vicious circle of money.
I could have rated the novel 5 stars, but there are a few things that I just couldn't understand or didn't appreciate. Several times, the author jumped from one period to a next one of Nargayya's life without transition skipping important phases, which could have been of interest. I also didn't understand the role of a secondary character Doctor Pal, who suddenly appears in Nargayya's life 3 times. The second time seems irrational to me what Doctor pal gave "freely" to Nargayya, which helped the latter to become rich.
In this book, the author analyzes closely the tight relationship between money and the leading character, from his early poor beginning as a "financial consultant" to peasants in need of bank loans from a local bank to his late age, as a big shot self made "banker". This book is a denounciation of banking as a tool to drown peasant into more loans until they lose everything. The story follows the financial consultat, who desires money at all cost and through all means necessary. The story shows the close connection between money and every aspect of life of an individual: personal, religion, family, education, prestige.... Whether poor or rich, there is not getting out of the vicious circle of money.
I could have rated the novel 5 stars, but there are a few things that I just couldn't understand or didn't appreciate. Several times, the author jumped from one period to a next one of Nargayya's life without transition skipping important phases, which could have been of interest. I also didn't understand the role of a secondary character Doctor Pal, who suddenly appears in Nargayya's life 3 times. The second time seems irrational to me what Doctor pal gave "freely" to Nargayya, which helped the latter to become rich.
March 20, 2023
An intriguing, thought provoking book. Unlike the other books of RKN, this book leaves the reader with a tinge of melancholy & despair. The reader traverses the life journey of “Margayya” i.e. the one who should give the direction, but also the one who loses the same repeatedly throughout the story.
The high caliber writing is quite evident in the importance attached to seemingly innocuous objects like an accounts book, a tree, a car and the most unexpectedly important one of all, gutter. Fate in the form of his son repeatedly changes the narrative, which is bound to make the readers think on the overall cosmic play of the same. Perhaps, “prarbdha” could be considered as a plausible reason for the unexpected turn of events.
Every character is richly etched and well described. Ultimately, one would be drawn to the age old adage “ಹಳೆ ಬೇರು ಹೊಸ ಚಿಗುರು“ at the very end of the novel. While the concept and relevance in the current financial atmosphere can’t be ruled out, it is definitely not an easy read as compared to Vendor of Sweets.
Interesting, Intriguing read.
The high caliber writing is quite evident in the importance attached to seemingly innocuous objects like an accounts book, a tree, a car and the most unexpectedly important one of all, gutter. Fate in the form of his son repeatedly changes the narrative, which is bound to make the readers think on the overall cosmic play of the same. Perhaps, “prarbdha” could be considered as a plausible reason for the unexpected turn of events.
Every character is richly etched and well described. Ultimately, one would be drawn to the age old adage “ಹಳೆ ಬೇರು ಹೊಸ ಚಿಗುರು“ at the very end of the novel. While the concept and relevance in the current financial atmosphere can’t be ruled out, it is definitely not an easy read as compared to Vendor of Sweets.
Interesting, Intriguing read.
May 6, 2021
It is about a guy who starts out by helping rural ppl fill forms for their banking needs n what he does in his life. Typical RK Narayan. Brimming with irony abt the absurdity of our many pursuits in life. I don't know know the chronology like if this book was written before his other books or this followed his other books. Coz in his other books the advancing of plot happens gradually by small events but here it is done in big leaps and the humour was missing. In that way you could say it has the kind of trajectory of The Guide. The ending was fantastic. I would recommend it if you like his writing.
March 7, 2025
The protagonist of this book is Margayya, and the story is set in the Indian pre-independence era in the fictional town of Malgudi.
Margayya is an independent moneylender who has in his lifetime always prioritised money and ways of making more money.
His character is quite complex, and the secondary characters too have their own behavioural tendencies which are presented in raw format. For me, this makes the book more interesting. A lot of it is open to interpretation and also open to make the reader ponder over how certain humans behave and the consequences that the actions or the lack thereof stemming from these behaviours lead to.
I am giving it a solid 4-star!
Margayya is an independent moneylender who has in his lifetime always prioritised money and ways of making more money.
His character is quite complex, and the secondary characters too have their own behavioural tendencies which are presented in raw format. For me, this makes the book more interesting. A lot of it is open to interpretation and also open to make the reader ponder over how certain humans behave and the consequences that the actions or the lack thereof stemming from these behaviours lead to.
I am giving it a solid 4-star!
September 16, 2025
Reads like a chapter from CBSE english textbooks. Interesting story of a man going from rags to riches and back to rags. Portrays a typical patriarchal household in pre-independence india, with the man being the primary breadwinner. We see Margayya continuously hustling to build money and status that comes with it. Margayya is the embodiment of a middle aged man trying to provide for his kids to the best of his ability. We see the common fatherly emotions in Margayya towards his only child which goes from reprimanding to leniency and finally a scuffle that ends Margayya’s reputation.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 23, 2022
Book Review: The Financial Expert
I took a long time to complete RK Narayan’s ‘ The Financial Expert’ partly because I was busy at work, and secondly, I have developed this new habit of reading tidbits. It did not help in this case, as the book was written in four parts, and each part jumped forward almost imperceptibly.
Finally, I finished the second half of the book in two sittings, and I fell into a depression. The book which starts off with perky humor ends in poignant satire in the end.
I am an investment banker, an author, and poet, and a father all rolled into one. The protagonist Margayya is a debt broker and moneylender, becomes rich by selling a book, and struggles with his identity as a father. You can figure out why the book suddenly became a reference frame for me.
So much for the harrowing experience, but that does not take away the genius of the author.
The Cover and Title:
Amazon Book cover of ‘The Financial Expert’.
The book cover is expressive. The black coated, dhoti-clad Margayya, sitting under the banyan tree ( accentuated by the fallen green banyan leaves), and his open trunk with the pen, ink bottle, forms, and stamp. The borrower’s hand handing over money to the stretched hand of Margayya, with another bundle on his lap and the stamp pad nearby, shows the detailing of the cover design.
The title ‘The Financial Expert’ is so on the dot that there is not a page that does not talk about the money lending business of Margayya, except where Margayya becomes a desperate father dealing with the idiosyncrasies and shenanigans of his son Balu.
From being the road-side lender below the road-side banyan tree to becoming the ‘richest money lender’ in the country, to the final scene, back to the trunk containing the pen, paper, ink bottle, forms, and stamp, it is a full circle of rising and fall of the financial expert.
The Plot:
The story is set in Malgudi, that little town that has been the world that RK Narayan so meticulously created. It is a world of its own, timeless yet tied up with colonial times.
Margayya is a petty moneylender who has nefarious ways to squeeze the ordinary folk who come to the Co-operative Society Bank for a loan, penny-for-the-pound. He makes money at every turn, in the process earning the wrath of the Secretary of the Bank. An encounter with the Secretary leads to the seizure of the bank loan application forms.
This puts him on a path that connects him to a priest, who advises him to propitiate Goddess Lakshmi. After 40 days of closed-door rituals that make him slim and fit, he learns that piety does not necessarily fill his pockets. He is down to the last rupee. It is when he meets Dr. Pal, a self-styled sociologist. Dr. Pal strikes a deal with Margayya for Rs 25, and asks him to print and sell the book about ‘fornication’. Disappointed at first, Margayya reluctantly takes the book to the printer Mr. Lal, who renames the title as ‘Domestic Harmony’ and prints the book. The royalties earned from the book put enough dough in Margayya’s pocket.
At some point, Margayya gives away his rights to the book to the stunned Lal and sets upon a path of money lending. Lending to desperate borrowers at exorbitant rates, he takes collateral including lands afar. He deducts the first term interest and then rotates it with another borrower. Many default and Margayya is flush with cash and collateral.
Margayya’s downfall comes with his dull and incompetent son, Balu. Balu is a reluctant student and finds his way to fix his teachers both in school and home tuition. Despite obvious signs and complaints, Margayya pushes him to take up S.S.L.C ( today’s tenth grade), which the boy fails miserably. More than that, the boy becomes obstinate and sullen, defying Margayya’s wishes and exhortations, and leaves their home.
The disappearance of Balu breaks his mother down. After a short family drama involving his brother and neighbors, Margayya reluctantly leaves for Madras ( Chennai today) to search for his son. An Inspector who he encounters in the third-class compartment of the train helps track Balu. After a lot of cajoling, Balu returns home, only to be treated with care and caution, only to be spoiled more. Balu gets up late, goes out, smokes, and gets wasted. Neither parent has the courage to take on or admonish the spoiled youth.
With the help of his accountant Sastri, Margayya gets Balu married to a demure girl called Brinda and sets them up in a separate house in Lawley Extension. Meanwhile, Margayya brings Dr. Pal, his long-time friend into his business and lets him handle everything except cash. A few months later, Balu visits him and asks for his share of ancestral property.
It dawns on Margayya that Dr. Pal and Balu have become friends and Dr. Pal has contributed to Balu’s decline further. Angered by this discovery, Margayya rushes to Balu’s house. Told by Brinda about Balu’s nocturnal activities, Margayya gets worked up and assaults Dr.Pal who had just returned with Balu along with two ‘cinema’ girls in their Baby Astin car.
Dr. Pal goes around claiming victim to Margayya’s violent assault, while there is a rush to Margayya’s office and home by depositors to return their deposits forthwith. This results in emptying of all cash at his home and Margayya files for insolvency.
At last, Margayya and his son Balu come back to the old banyan tree from where it all started. Balu is reluctant to start, but Margayya says he would start all over.
Ordinary Characters, Extraordinary Story:
Some pieces stand out. Each character is ordinary — Margayya, his wife, Balu ( both in his childhood and spoiled youth), Brinda, Dr. Pal, the priest, the Secretary, and Arul Das of the Co-operative Bank, the Inspector… but the way they come in and leave after the scene is extraordinary storytelling.
It is hard to treat Margayya as the protagonist or the hero. He stands out as a greedy man, going to lengths to see the money.
Money was man’s greatest need like air or food. People went to horrifying lengths for its sake, like collecting rent on a dead body — it left him admiring the power and dynamism of money, its capacity to make people do strange deeds.
His walk after the tryst with the secretary is the most memorable part of the book.
Margayya’s conflicts as a husband and a businessman, and a loving but ambitious father stand out. He exudes hope at one time and melts in disappointment at another. Like how he tells his wife, Meena.
No more torn mats and dirty, greasy sarees for you. . . . And those people (he indicated the next house) will have to wonder and burst their hearts with envy.
Balu and Dr. Pal turn out to be their nemesis. The growth of Balu’s character again shines.
Balu devoted himself to the art of cultivating leisure. He was never in a hurry to get out of bed. At about nine o’clock, his father came to his bedside and in general reminded him; had you not better getup before the coffee gets too stale? . . . [While he was away from the house, his] mother waited for him interminably. . . . Sometimes he came home very late.
Margayya’s aspiration to climb the social ladder through wealth, and give his son a start — getting him convent educated, possibly sending him to England for further studies, perhaps to become a doctor, all falls apart as the prodigal son and the ambitious father gets into crosshairs.
A beautiful and extraordinary story about ordinary characters in colonial India. A must-read.
~Ashok Subramanian
I took a long time to complete RK Narayan’s ‘ The Financial Expert’ partly because I was busy at work, and secondly, I have developed this new habit of reading tidbits. It did not help in this case, as the book was written in four parts, and each part jumped forward almost imperceptibly.
Finally, I finished the second half of the book in two sittings, and I fell into a depression. The book which starts off with perky humor ends in poignant satire in the end.
I am an investment banker, an author, and poet, and a father all rolled into one. The protagonist Margayya is a debt broker and moneylender, becomes rich by selling a book, and struggles with his identity as a father. You can figure out why the book suddenly became a reference frame for me.
So much for the harrowing experience, but that does not take away the genius of the author.
The Cover and Title:
Amazon Book cover of ‘The Financial Expert’.
The book cover is expressive. The black coated, dhoti-clad Margayya, sitting under the banyan tree ( accentuated by the fallen green banyan leaves), and his open trunk with the pen, ink bottle, forms, and stamp. The borrower’s hand handing over money to the stretched hand of Margayya, with another bundle on his lap and the stamp pad nearby, shows the detailing of the cover design.
The title ‘The Financial Expert’ is so on the dot that there is not a page that does not talk about the money lending business of Margayya, except where Margayya becomes a desperate father dealing with the idiosyncrasies and shenanigans of his son Balu.
From being the road-side lender below the road-side banyan tree to becoming the ‘richest money lender’ in the country, to the final scene, back to the trunk containing the pen, paper, ink bottle, forms, and stamp, it is a full circle of rising and fall of the financial expert.
The Plot:
The story is set in Malgudi, that little town that has been the world that RK Narayan so meticulously created. It is a world of its own, timeless yet tied up with colonial times.
Margayya is a petty moneylender who has nefarious ways to squeeze the ordinary folk who come to the Co-operative Society Bank for a loan, penny-for-the-pound. He makes money at every turn, in the process earning the wrath of the Secretary of the Bank. An encounter with the Secretary leads to the seizure of the bank loan application forms.
This puts him on a path that connects him to a priest, who advises him to propitiate Goddess Lakshmi. After 40 days of closed-door rituals that make him slim and fit, he learns that piety does not necessarily fill his pockets. He is down to the last rupee. It is when he meets Dr. Pal, a self-styled sociologist. Dr. Pal strikes a deal with Margayya for Rs 25, and asks him to print and sell the book about ‘fornication’. Disappointed at first, Margayya reluctantly takes the book to the printer Mr. Lal, who renames the title as ‘Domestic Harmony’ and prints the book. The royalties earned from the book put enough dough in Margayya’s pocket.
At some point, Margayya gives away his rights to the book to the stunned Lal and sets upon a path of money lending. Lending to desperate borrowers at exorbitant rates, he takes collateral including lands afar. He deducts the first term interest and then rotates it with another borrower. Many default and Margayya is flush with cash and collateral.
Margayya’s downfall comes with his dull and incompetent son, Balu. Balu is a reluctant student and finds his way to fix his teachers both in school and home tuition. Despite obvious signs and complaints, Margayya pushes him to take up S.S.L.C ( today’s tenth grade), which the boy fails miserably. More than that, the boy becomes obstinate and sullen, defying Margayya’s wishes and exhortations, and leaves their home.
The disappearance of Balu breaks his mother down. After a short family drama involving his brother and neighbors, Margayya reluctantly leaves for Madras ( Chennai today) to search for his son. An Inspector who he encounters in the third-class compartment of the train helps track Balu. After a lot of cajoling, Balu returns home, only to be treated with care and caution, only to be spoiled more. Balu gets up late, goes out, smokes, and gets wasted. Neither parent has the courage to take on or admonish the spoiled youth.
With the help of his accountant Sastri, Margayya gets Balu married to a demure girl called Brinda and sets them up in a separate house in Lawley Extension. Meanwhile, Margayya brings Dr. Pal, his long-time friend into his business and lets him handle everything except cash. A few months later, Balu visits him and asks for his share of ancestral property.
It dawns on Margayya that Dr. Pal and Balu have become friends and Dr. Pal has contributed to Balu’s decline further. Angered by this discovery, Margayya rushes to Balu’s house. Told by Brinda about Balu’s nocturnal activities, Margayya gets worked up and assaults Dr.Pal who had just returned with Balu along with two ‘cinema’ girls in their Baby Astin car.
Dr. Pal goes around claiming victim to Margayya’s violent assault, while there is a rush to Margayya’s office and home by depositors to return their deposits forthwith. This results in emptying of all cash at his home and Margayya files for insolvency.
At last, Margayya and his son Balu come back to the old banyan tree from where it all started. Balu is reluctant to start, but Margayya says he would start all over.
Ordinary Characters, Extraordinary Story:
Some pieces stand out. Each character is ordinary — Margayya, his wife, Balu ( both in his childhood and spoiled youth), Brinda, Dr. Pal, the priest, the Secretary, and Arul Das of the Co-operative Bank, the Inspector… but the way they come in and leave after the scene is extraordinary storytelling.
It is hard to treat Margayya as the protagonist or the hero. He stands out as a greedy man, going to lengths to see the money.
Money was man’s greatest need like air or food. People went to horrifying lengths for its sake, like collecting rent on a dead body — it left him admiring the power and dynamism of money, its capacity to make people do strange deeds.
His walk after the tryst with the secretary is the most memorable part of the book.
Margayya’s conflicts as a husband and a businessman, and a loving but ambitious father stand out. He exudes hope at one time and melts in disappointment at another. Like how he tells his wife, Meena.
No more torn mats and dirty, greasy sarees for you. . . . And those people (he indicated the next house) will have to wonder and burst their hearts with envy.
Balu and Dr. Pal turn out to be their nemesis. The growth of Balu’s character again shines.
Balu devoted himself to the art of cultivating leisure. He was never in a hurry to get out of bed. At about nine o’clock, his father came to his bedside and in general reminded him; had you not better getup before the coffee gets too stale? . . . [While he was away from the house, his] mother waited for him interminably. . . . Sometimes he came home very late.
Margayya’s aspiration to climb the social ladder through wealth, and give his son a start — getting him convent educated, possibly sending him to England for further studies, perhaps to become a doctor, all falls apart as the prodigal son and the ambitious father gets into crosshairs.
A beautiful and extraordinary story about ordinary characters in colonial India. A must-read.
~Ashok Subramanian
March 17, 2016
This was my first introduction to the nitti-gritties of financial manipulations. It is an accurate account of the money-swindling whirlpool created by the protagonist to keep sucking money in, but as is Karma's calling, his own son proves to be his undoing. Try whatever he might, he is unable to pass on his brains to his son and all his 'hard-earned' black money drowns him in in his self created quagmire instead, the comeuppance to his deeds.
The novel paints a subtle picture of South India, like a backdrop painting , as the novel's setting in the background and you will have to agree, just as each actor has his or her acting style, so does a writer. You cannot have them write the way that would please you. That is manipulative writing. Instead, the classic or, lets say, the true writers are those who leave their own remarkable tastes in your mouth, their style is unique and you will find the flavour returning to you in one way or the other.
Some might find the book a little slow or boring, it is not a fast paced page turner, but if you want a peep into the society, you have to grow with it, like the silent fungi, you shouldn't expect a racy thriller here. No doubt, this is more a comment on society than a document on economics or crime. It is, in fact, a real unwinding of how scams work in rural settings, how gullible the masses are, how money tempts each person in its own way, how efficient are scammers and money bunglers with their financial management. Are they as good managing their own life? This is a question that is to be realized after reading this novel.
The novel paints a subtle picture of South India, like a backdrop painting , as the novel's setting in the background and you will have to agree, just as each actor has his or her acting style, so does a writer. You cannot have them write the way that would please you. That is manipulative writing. Instead, the classic or, lets say, the true writers are those who leave their own remarkable tastes in your mouth, their style is unique and you will find the flavour returning to you in one way or the other.
Some might find the book a little slow or boring, it is not a fast paced page turner, but if you want a peep into the society, you have to grow with it, like the silent fungi, you shouldn't expect a racy thriller here. No doubt, this is more a comment on society than a document on economics or crime. It is, in fact, a real unwinding of how scams work in rural settings, how gullible the masses are, how money tempts each person in its own way, how efficient are scammers and money bunglers with their financial management. Are they as good managing their own life? This is a question that is to be realized after reading this novel.
July 21, 2017
This is a witty and luminous novel set in the backward town of Malgudi in southern India. It is a world created by R. K. Narayan and like Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County it is memorable and filled with characters that come alive on the page. The Financial Expert of the title is a man named Margayya who sits in a public park dispensing advice on economic matters to people who revere him. Throughout the novel the reader is introduced to several characters that may seem to play only a minor role, but in fact, are highly developed—almost without the reader being aware of it. Certainly, the main character, Margayya, is highly developed and the reader is given many insights into his motivations and thoughts. The reader is treated to his travails with the residents of Malgudi and his difficulties within his own family. Other characters in the novel are not so explicitly developed, yet their force cannot be underestimated, nor can their implicit development be ignored. The story-telling ability of R. K. Narayan is grand and with it he enthralled this reader.
September 17, 2014
To start off lightly, this book like any other R.K.Narayan's works will have all the usual characters of Malgudi and those beautiful roads,river,temple etc. But unlike all his works this book was indifferent, as if it had been written out of no purpose at all or with very less inventiveness. As the background is always the same i.e Malgudi, I am happy till there but there is something lacking. And this is only my opinion, I'm in no position to talk of his great work but for me it seemed similar to "The World of Nagaraj".
The plot is mostly the same - an impertinent, unstable son who has the tendency to run away form home and need to be attended for his own good and to be dragged back into his senses, married off etc. I do not want to say that I was disappointed reading this but I am definitely not impressed. Even though this was written before "The world of Nagaraj", I enjoyed Nagaraj more than Margayya. Having said that, Narayan would never miss to incorporate some humor of the naive characters.
The plot is mostly the same - an impertinent, unstable son who has the tendency to run away form home and need to be attended for his own good and to be dragged back into his senses, married off etc. I do not want to say that I was disappointed reading this but I am definitely not impressed. Even though this was written before "The world of Nagaraj", I enjoyed Nagaraj more than Margayya. Having said that, Narayan would never miss to incorporate some humor of the naive characters.
March 16, 2018
One of the very first books on Business and finance coming out of India. If you understand all that this book is trying to convey, it is a treasure of knowledge! Through the story of Margayya we understand money, the value of scale in business, the complicated relationship between thrift and riches, a man's, even a strong man's weakness for his progeny, how trust can lead to a smart man's undoing and above all else, greed - both in ourselves and of others. This book gets far less credit that it should. The core money principles in this book have been talked about by western rich, successful men in their own books that came far AFTER the Financial Expert. RK Narayan was a much smarter man than I thought. He was WAY ahead of his time and The Financial Expert is crown jewel among all his books and generally also I feel among the best finance, business books coming out of India even to date! A must real for all financial chemists out there interested in the alchemy of finance.
July 28, 2013
If one has to know about typical Indian sensibilities one should simply read RK Narayan books. For an Indian, reading through the pages is like himself enacting the story- as at the some point either we have seen this happening or have been a part of it. RK Narayan delves into the Indian common man psyche and presents his story. Financial expert was quirky, funny, engaging and never ever boring. The plot which shows the entire life of the Financial expert- his ups and downs leaves you with a kind
of pleasant feeling- a feeling of a story well said. Another best part of Narayan writing is like his protagonists, the books are for the common man. You seldom need a dictionary for his books and yet the way he writes never falls short of expression and vividness. This is a quality I admire cause whats the point of writing high-flowing words when the reader cannot identify with it.
of pleasant feeling- a feeling of a story well said. Another best part of Narayan writing is like his protagonists, the books are for the common man. You seldom need a dictionary for his books and yet the way he writes never falls short of expression and vividness. This is a quality I admire cause whats the point of writing high-flowing words when the reader cannot identify with it.
November 26, 2016
This is what we all do running behind money. First we think money brings happiness, then money is the happiness and last money is the only thing we left with.
The protagonist wants to give his only son the best of everything, he did everything he could but his son shattered his every dream from failed in higher secondary exam (multiple times year by year) to running from home.
After standing on piles of bundles of money he realized when he had no money he was in peace.
Money is needed for survival but not to bring in peace in life, earn more, progress but do not make it the sole aim of life.
The protagonist wants to give his only son the best of everything, he did everything he could but his son shattered his every dream from failed in higher secondary exam (multiple times year by year) to running from home.
After standing on piles of bundles of money he realized when he had no money he was in peace.
Money is needed for survival but not to bring in peace in life, earn more, progress but do not make it the sole aim of life.
April 30, 2019
This is my first RK Narayan novel.
Overall rating 3.25/5
Story 4/5
Characters 3.5/5
This is a classic example of life, luck, hard work & arrogance.
Each time Margayya experiences a down curve in life, he manages to over come it. He is a father who does anything for his child. His life was a roller coaster ride.
A son who depends on his father for his living, who wastes his father's money . A mother who is helpless.
There is a movie adaptation from this novel in Kannada language "Banker Margayya" , well the movie has won National Award, State Award.
Overall rating 3.25/5
Story 4/5
Characters 3.5/5
This is a classic example of life, luck, hard work & arrogance.
Each time Margayya experiences a down curve in life, he manages to over come it. He is a father who does anything for his child. His life was a roller coaster ride.
A son who depends on his father for his living, who wastes his father's money . A mother who is helpless.
There is a movie adaptation from this novel in Kannada language "Banker Margayya" , well the movie has won National Award, State Award.
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