Another on my Syllabus.

1. SHORT STORY
•Short Story is a Brief Work of Prose Fiction.
•All the Elements of a Novel are applicable to the Short
Story.
•The Short Story is a New Literary Genre, a genre of
the 20th Century, a genre which became popular over the
last 150 years.

2. THE MARTYR’S
CORNER
- R.K. Narayan

3. R.K. NARAYAN
• R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer, best
known for his works set in the fictional
South Indian town of Malgudi.
• He is one of three leading figures of
early Indian literature in
English (alongside Mulk Raj Anand
and Raja Rao), and is credited with bringing
the genre to the rest of the world.
• R.K. Narayan has won many awards which
include the Padma Vibhushan, Sahitya
Akademi Award, AC Benson Medal.
• This first novel was Swami and Friends, in
which he first created the fictional town of
Malgudi, which remained in all his works.

4. Summary of the Story
•Rama was a food vendor who used to sell his items at a fixed corner in the market
place which happened to be very lucky for him.
•He too was very popular amongst his customers.
•Daily after 8 in the evening he reached the place with a load of his stuff in a big tray on
his head, a stool stuck in the crook of his arm, a lamp in another hand and a couple of
legs to mount his tray.
•Rama’s well displayed mouthwatering bandas, dosais, chappatis, chutney, duck eggs
and freshening hot coffee allured everyone to come to him and satisfy their taste buds.
•Rama’s customers included boot polish boys, jutka drivers, beggars, grass selling
women and the cinema crowd coming out after the evening show.
•The corner where Rama used to sell his stuff was easily accessible to all his customers
and he was making a good profit of almost ten rupees everyday.

5. •It was interesting to see that all the copper coins his clients earned throughout the day
by serving their customers ultimately came to Rama in the evening because it was there
only where they could buy eatables at very reasonable and cheap rates.
•His wife was very happy and on the other hand his fellowmen were a little bit jealous
of him because for them he hardly worked for two hours and minted lots of money in
this small span of time.
•He was kind and always lenient with the boot polish boys and let them enjoy their
coffee by sticking to the glass as much as they wanted but he did not like the women
clients because their shrill voices irritated him immensely, which Rama found a bit
irritating.
•. He served his customers very sincerely and after that he used to return home happily.
•But one day Rama was surprised when he was denied to sell his stuff from his favorite
corner because someone was murdered, so a people were holding a protest there.
•Very soon a fierce fighting got started killing many people and consequently leaving
the spot totally devastated.

6. •Even after few days Rama was not allowed to sell his goods from there because the
corner was declared a holy place and it was decided that a stone monument would be
built in memory of the departed leader who was killed there .
•Rama was forced to leave his favorite place but the new place did not bring luck to
Rama.
•He lost his selected customers because it was inconvenient for them to reach to him at
his new place. His income reduced substantially and he had to return home with a bulk
of leftover every day.
• His business and happiness were all ruined. He lost his reputation too when he tried to
reuse his leftover because it made some of his customers sick.
•Ultimately Rama gave up his business and got to retire but soon his savings were too
exhausted and ultimately he had to take up the job of a waiter in Kohinoor restaurant to
just earn twenty rupees per month and had to work for 8 hours.
•The costumers there use to insult him, he used to inform them politely that once I too
was a owner, which gave him courage and satisfaction.

7. Analysis of the Story
•The language of the story is vivid and descriptive.
•The content of the story takes us to the first half of the last century when
the coins of annas, paisas and pies were prevalent.
•Rama is portrayed as a kind hearted person.
•The title of the story is sarcastic and points out at the sick mentality of
the politicians who give more importance to the dead but they inhumanly
ignore the sufferings and plights of living.
•Although in conventional manner the spot had emerged out to be a
‘Martyr’s Corner’ but ironically it was Rama only who paid the price by
losing his livelihood, reputation and entire fortune. In true sense the real
martyr is Rama himself.

8. R.K. Narayan’s message through this Story is,
One always has ups and down in life, so never give up in any situation.
•The first half of the story talk about the success of the hardworking Rama who sold eatables on a
stall at a corner near a cinema hall. He woke up the crack of dawn. He prepared food which he
sold between 8 and 10 in the even. Every day he invested Five Rupees and made over Rupees
Three Hundred a month which was a princely sum. His customers found his food very tasty even
though Rama has no understanding of hygiene and sold near an open gutter without even
covering his food. He always sold what-ever he had made for the evening. All in all Rama had a
good life.
•Rama, on account of some violence near the spot from where he sold his wares, could not longer
sell from this old spot. As a result he had to move his stall farther into the lane. As a result the
moved out of sight of the customers from the cinema hall and auto-rickshaw drivers. This
resulted in his business coming down so much that he had to windup his business. Later, when
his savings ran out he had to work in Restaurant Kohinoor for Rupees Twenty a month.
•Thus Rama had both ups and downs in this life.

9. Thank You So
Much...