Published Paper Details:

The term post-colonialism connotes displacement, destabilization and subversion of the pre- colonial life and cultural roots of the colonised, imposition of the culture of the colonizers upon that of the colonized, a radical change and transformation, formation of new identities and resistance against the cultural imposition and devaluation of native culture and adjustment with the alien culture etc.Now how to cope up with this impact of colonial culture by way of sublimating the native culture is a big challenge to a native writer who embarks upon a mission to write back. Narayan responds to the challange successfully by remaining non- attached to the complexities of colonialism and showcasing the potential of Hinduism as an operative cosmopolitan philosophy of life encompassing and adjusting all contradictions in its corpus. In this article I have undertaken to assess how Narayan�s �The Guide� is an exploration of how our native culture tries to adjust itself with the set of contradictions that westernization confronts it with. The main signifier of the post-colonial traits of the novel is the advent of railways that bring about a radical change in the economic and social life of south India. The traditional milieu of the place began to vibrate with the influx a new set of people and ideas of life .The railways facilitated access to the far flung and unexplored parts of the sub continent creating new job opportunities like acting as interpreter, tourist guide, military man etc. The winds of change began to sweep across the age old milieu prompting the Malgudians into a swift transformation to thrive in these changed circumstances. Raju changes himself rapidly by rising to the demands of the community and switching in quick succession from one role to another. Raju�s transformation from a paper vendor to a tourist guide,� Railway Raju�,and ultimately to a fake saint, the transformation of Malgudi to a holy place where Raju performs miracle as a saint, Rosie�s elevation to a classical dancer from a mere �Debdasi� , Raju�s marrying Rosie�s dissolving her marital tie with Marco and ignoring her position in the traditional social hierarchy , Rosie�s turning into Nalini etc all these speak for the post- colonial phenomena in the novel.