R.K. Narayan, the famous Indian author, particularly known for his novels based on the fictional town Malgudi, is another example of success in writing despite the dislikes in institutional studies. Born in 1906 at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Narayan maintained a constant detest for studies. He even failed to qualify for the graduation course in Arts. Though he liked English much, he never could grab a good score in the subject. Narayan sincerely started reading the classics in English literature and writing.

Narayan's first novel was 'Swami and His Friends'. It so happened as if Narayan suddenly visualized a little town and its rail station, the Albert Mission School, Market Road, the inhabitants and their daily lives. Malgudi was born. 'Swami and His Friends' got rejected from several Indian publishers. Narayan almost lost his hope when a mutual friend showed the draft to Graham Greene, the established author in London. Greene liked it so much that he arranged publication for it. After that a stream of novels by Narayan, all based upon Malgudi and its fictional characters, was published.

Narayan's stories revolved around ordinary people trying to live their ordinary lives in a changing world. His writing style was simple yet witty, with a unique essence as if he were narrating in the native tongue. He almost always writes about India in some way, and usually puts cultural influences about Indian life in his works and literature.

Some of Narayan's touching novels are listed:

Swami and His Friends
Mr. Sampath – The Printer of Malgudi
Waiting for the Mahatma
The English Teacher
The Guide
A Tiger for Malgudi
Talkative Man
The World of Nagraj
The Dark Room
The Painter of Signs
The Financial Expert

The Guide was made into a film in both English and Hindi by the movie legend Dev Anand and it was a huge commercial success. The Financial Expert was made into the Kannada movie Banker Margayya. The late actor-director Shankar Nag adapted Swami and his Friends, The Vendor of Sweets and some of Narayan's short stories into a television series, Malgudi Days. It was telecast in Doordarshan, the Indian National Television network and became extremely popular all over India.