Swami and Friends tells of the growing up of a ten-year old Indian boy, Swami, in the town of Mulgudi in the 1930s, during the first days of the movement for independence from Britain.
At a time full of contradictions and ambiguities, Swami and his young friends can be enthusiastic nationalists while living lives which are influenced by all things British.
Narayan is perhaps the only writer who has captured in English the very essence of India.