The Financial Expert is a famous Indian novel written by Indian author R.K. Narayan. The novel was originally published by R.K. Narayan in 1952. The protagonist of the story is Margayya, a simpleton living in the small town of Malgudi in India. The theme of the novel is the lust for money.
SYNOPSIS OF THE FINANCIAL EXPERT BY R.K NARAYAN
Summary of The Financial Expert By R.K Narayan
R.K. Narayan’s “The Financial Expert” story starts with the main character, Margayya, who lives in the author’s favorite village Malgudi. There is a bank in Malgudi named Central Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank which gives loans to the people of Malgudi.
The banyan tree in front of the bank is a place where Margayya works and gives financial advice to his villagers to take loans from the bank. He helps the bank shareholders by taking money at low interest and lends money to other people at higher interest. One day, the bank secretary saw Margayya’s papers and came to know that he is doing illegal work. So he confiscated Margayya’s papers because he was doing 420. He also threatened Margayya to file a police complaint against him.
Margayya is a middle class man while his two elder brothers are very rich. He is struggling to earn money as much as his elder brothers. And the only thing he knows is banking and finance. Margayya is married and has a son named Balu. His son Balu is very naughty as he is the only child of Margayya and his wife Meena. Margayya stopped working only because he was doing illegal work.
For Margayya money is a very attractive and mysterious thing, he says that if you understand it properly then it can change your life. One day Margayya’s naughty son throws all his account records in the gutter. This means that Margayya’s hope of earning some money is over. He is now left with nothing to start something new in his farm. After all this Margayya feels very helpless and disappointed, he keeps thinking of new ways to earn money but none of his tricks work. Finally, tired and exhausted, he goes to God to ask for help. He goes to a Pandit in the temple and asks for help, the Pandit advises him to worship Goddess Lakshmi for forty days as Goddess Lakshmi is angry with him.
Margayya takes the Pandit’s words seriously and starts worshipping Goddess Lakshmi daily for 40 days with dedication and consistency. Now a new character Dr. Pal comes in the story who goes to Margayya and offers him a job. Dr. Pal gives him a manuscript of a book which is based on pornography. Dr. Pal wants him to publish this pornographic book, at first Margayya finds it strange but since he has no source of income, he agrees to do this job for him. Margayya publishes that book and the book becomes very popular and a bestseller after publication which helps him financially.
Margayya is quite happy financially but is not happy with his son Balu who is not good in studies. He spends a lot of money, time and hard work on Balu’s studies but his son’s result remains the same which is zero. Since Margayya was not happy with Balu’s performance, he pressurised Balu to work hard and score good marks in the class. Margayya along with his brothers and wife Meena goes to Madras to look for Balu. After an intense search Margayya finds out that someone has lied to him through post and it is a blatant lie. He finds his son alive in Madras.
Balu’s parents take him with them to Malgudi and decide that they will not pressurise him to study. Since Balu has gone astray we will get him married to someone else so that he reforms. It is common for parents in India to get their children married if they are not studying and going on the wrong path. They think that after marriage their children will reform and become responsible.
After this Balu marries a girl named Brinda. Balu started living separately from his parents with his wife. When Margayya sees that Dr. Pal is spoiling his son, he fights with Dr. Pal for his son. To take revenge on Margayya, Dr. Pal spreads the rumor that Margayya has gone bankrupt and is left with nothing.
The news of Margayya’s bankruptcy spreads everywhere in the village and the people who had given money to Margayya gather at his house. They ask him for their money. Margayya returns the money by selling the things in his house and to return the money to the people, he even sells his house. Margayya comes to the same position from where he started and now Dr. Pal is his biggest enemy.
On the other hand, Balu for whom Margayya fights with Dr. Pal is not improving himself and is going in the wrong direction. Margayya has no income and no future plans. He decides to sit on the same banyan tree where he used to help people to take loans. His son Balu has no choice but to work with his father. Balu hesitantly goes to his father and both father and son start doing the same work. We can say that they start their new work with new hope.
Amazon Link : The Financial Expert By R.K Narayan
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