SUMMARY- My Days

In this extract from R. K. Narayan’s My Days, he recollects his adolescent days in school. In Mysore where he studied and had his father as the Head Master. Narayan comically introduces the reader to his Zoology teacher and then goes about detailing the happenings of his life during those days. He says that he was not interested in vesting his time learning from books. Subjects like chemistry, physics and math somehow eluded him. His father being the headmaster made sure that he was present on all days and to top that his father was addicted to checking the attendance of a student more so than teaching them. Narayan’s favorite subject was English and strangely he failed in it because though it was his favorite it had a problem. We understand that Narayan was very much interested in creative side of English rather than the analytical. Hence he got a short stick when he prepared for Oliver Twist but got nothing from it in the question paper. Narayan idled away a year in between school and college because he could not clear university entrance exam. He says that it was the best year of his life as he relaxed away his time doing one of his most favorite things, reading.

R. K. Narayan is of the opinion that forcing a child to learn a thing which it has a natural aversion to will fetch no profit. Hence cites an example from his later life where he gave her daughter the freedom to pursue dancing rather than math. He could not do the same with his grandchild because he is not the parent.