R.K. Narayan was an Indian writer who received prestigious literary awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1958 and the Padma Bhushan in 1964. Many of his famous works like Swami and His Friends, The English Teacher, and Malgudi Days are set in the fictional town of Malgudi. The document also provides definitions for words like obtrusive, perjure, wail, snub, loaf, and languor and prompts imagining a letter written by the father of the character Swami.