Nostalgia

I have a liking for Indian stuff in English. Anything to do with something that I can relate to, always has interested me.I guess this is a very natural thing. No doubt I used to devour all those books-Secret seven,Nancy Drew, Hardy boys et cetera(RK style!), but there was a strange enjoyment whenever I read R K Narayan. These days I am just refreshing the joy by reading and re-reading some of his books. The characters in his novels always seem so familiar. Swami doing his assignments always reminds me of myself. I used to write "pages of handwriting" on monday morning, before hurrying off to school!There has been one other writer(or rather a columnist) whose writings have similar effect on me. He is V Gangadhar who writes a column called "slice of life" in The Hindu's sunday editions. I have always looked forward for his columns. I remember reading his articles ever since I was in school. Even now he writes, but I dont get to see it every sunday, I sometimes even miss his column.Their writings carry the same familiarity. I seem to know these people personally! The people,their ways,their mentality,dishes,clothes all these that one gets to read in their works all seem so down to earth, so ordinary, so mundane.Gangadhar opens his life and experiences to the readers. I know so many things about him and his tastes by merely reading his articles. There is a sense of deja vu.And ofcourse Keshav's cartoons bring all these characters in his articles to life. Just like Laxman's does to RK's novels. Wow what a similarity! These could also have helped my young mind to imagine these things better and enjoy them.