Character Sketch - Raju

Character Sketch – Raju

Introduction:A Complex Character

Raju, popularly known as "Railway Raju" is the central figure in the novel. According to Paul Vergheese, "he is one of the most complex characters of Nararyan. In him we find the craftiness, dishonesty and credulity of Margayya, the flashy bombast of Mr. Sampath, the adventurousness of Mali in The Vendor of Sweets, the romantic excess of Sriram in Waiting for the Mahatma and the mystical leaning of Chandran in The Bachelor of Arts and Srinivas in Mr. Sampath."

An Anti-hero-His Ordinariness

Raju has nothing heroic about him. Rather he is an anti- hero, a typical Narayan figure, a common man with a touch of the uncommon. He is just ordinary, certainly not 'so great', as he is considered to be. He is one of those unformed, shapeless characters, who easily take up the suggestions of others, so much so that it may rightly be said that his personality is the product of other peoples convictions. He is extremely susceptible to the suggestions of others, and this plasticity of response determines his career and ultimate destiny.

A Born Romantic

Raju was born in a lower middle-class family of Malgudi. He was a born romantic, and the panorama of life enchanted him. He took immense delight in men and vehicles, boys and dogs. bullock-cart rides, games and wandering. Romantic curiosity impelled him to know the unknown. However, he was not so good at studies and his father condemned him as "clay headed” and his mother once called him an, "unmitigated loafer" a boy who was good-for-nothing, and who was sure to come to a bad end. When the Railways came to Malgudi, Raju, the romantic, was thrilled, and it was a pleasure for him to stroll on the station watching the trains, as they arrived and departed, and the people they brought to Malgudi. A significant step in his life was taken when his father look a stall on the station and gradually left it to Raju to took after. Raju may not have been a good student, but he was certainly very observant and intelligent, and could acquire much knowledge by glancing at the papers, magazines, periodicals and old books which he stalked, as well as by talking with his customers.

Secret of His Success Knowledge of Human Psychology

From a stall-keeper. Raju gradually drifted into playing the role of a tourist guide. His career was determined by his inability to say 'no' to anybody. It was not in his nature. "If he had the inclination to confess the truth about his abilities and capa- bilities, he would not have invited trouble. He knew his custo- mers by their faces, showed them places of their interest. As a tourists' guide, he knew all places where exactly a particular thing could be obtained or what suited most at a particular moment, whether closetted with a 'monster like Marco, or the divine creature, Rosic, or the ignorant villagers of Mangala. He was always ready with the answer that would suit the occasion or the person. He had the water diviner's instinct and self-confidence. coupled with a delightful nature which came almost always to his rescue. "He is a grotesque character almost fantastic for those who believe in humad industry and cause-effect theory." Says William Walsh in this connection. "Much the most vivid part of Raju's life was lived in public places first the streets, the shop, the railway station; and later, concert halls, jail, the temple. He was always in some sense an institutional figure."

At the station he came to be known as "Railway Raju" and he was sought out by everyone who wanted advice and directions. "It is written on the brow of some," he tells Velan, "that they shall not be left alone. I am one such." "He couldn't be left alone because he was felt to be a naturally public character, one of those who seem hard'y to exist in private. It is a compulsion of such people (we feel we have known them intimately, perhaps because they display something latent in us all today, but grossly, extremely) to respond in the way the audience wants. Raju's answers to his questioners at the railway station bear no relation to conviction or reality but only to the feeling he senses in the questioner. It was inevitable, therefore, that he should become a guide, but a guide with no content in his message, only an attitude determined from outside. As a guide, a projection of his audience, he was a great success.Tourists from all parts insisted on his services. And whatever he did for them he did with a certain detachment, not for any privaterested but simply because they asked him. "Any thing that interested my clients was also my own interest. The question of my own preferences was secondary." He learned as he earned , and its surroundings and also also of human nature. Indeed, throughout his career he shows an amazing understanding of human psychology.

As a Lover

Raju would have remained a tourist guide, but for the arrival of Marco and his fascinating but discontended wife, Rosie. Raju is at once fascinated by her and wins her heart by his sympathy and consideration, as well as by his keen interest in her art. Both of them are born romantics, and it is the coming together of two similar temperaments. Says William Walsh, "She and Raju are two of a kind and they fall in love at once. Not that there is anything headlong or tumultuous about their affair, which strikes one as being as much a crisis of nerves as of passion. Their relationship, both at the beginning and later when she breaks off with Marco and comes to live with Raju, appears to be much more one of feeling than sensuality, a temperamental rather than a passionate union. Sexual passion, in fact, is not a theme which Narayan anywhere develops very convincingly in his work. He seems to think of it as something to private and holy to be allowed to appear publicly in art."

Lack of Passion

In any case, the comparative unimportance of passion between Raju and Rosie looks surprising only at the beginning of the affair. But soon after they begin to live together, which they do in spite of the opposition of Raju's formidable but sympathetic mother, their relationship takes on a different character. From being primarily personal it becomes primarily functional or official." Rosie has great talent as a dancer and with Raju's cager support she applies herself rigorously to develop her art. As she succeeds, as her gift gains recognition, Raju's status changes. He is less the lover and more the manager, trainer and agent. Rosie - or Nalini as she becomes in the theatrical world - blooms into a great artist, and Raju thrives as a successful entrepreneur. They enjoy a period of immense success, and the money, parties, drinks, and acclaim that go with it. "And as one would expect - there is a kind of logic in the reversal - it collapses as suddenly as it came about. Out of some muddled system of motives, a mixture of curiosity, jealousy, goodwill, sheer love of the devious, and the habit of doing things for no adequate reason at all, Raju forges Rosie's signature on a document claiming her jewel-box, which is in her husband's keep- ing. At once Marco, all this time a distant, faintly ominous presence, takes his revenge. Raju is prosecuted, his friends evaporate, his lawyer is a shark, the judge is unsympathetic. He is through the misunderstanding of an idiot boy, in undertaking a total fast as an act of intercession to the gods for rain. "Perhaps 'accidentally' is not the right word, for his own nature is the most positive of the several influences the drought, the plight people, the context of tradition and religion-which force him into of the his predicament. Raju is horrified at the fix he is in." He hoards his remaining scraps of food, but there is not enough for more than day or two. He tells Velan the candid story of his life in a desperate effort to explode the legend about himself. But Velan, who is very much of the stuff that disciples are made of, takes the confession simply as a piece of singular condescension on Raju's part. That he should address Velan at such length is only one more proof of Raju's goodness and humility.

Spiritual Regeneration

Raju finds that he can do nothing but go through with the ritual which also requires him to stand for several hours a day upto his waist in the stream while he prays for rain. Now at last his will matches his receptivity. The inner pattern and the outer events flow together. "If by avoiding food Ishould help the trees bloom, and the grass grow, why not do it thoroughly ?... For the first time in his life he was making a personal effort, for the first time he was learning the thrill of full application, outside money and lover." In this way, spiritual regeneration takes place, and Raju becomes a martyr for the good of others. It is now that he rises above his narrow, selfish individualism and identifies himself with the people of Mangal, and with humanity as a whole. A Rogue, a picaro, is thus transformed or metamarphosed into a saint or saviour. He may or may not have died, but he is certainly re-generate.