The story beautifully reflects his conflict with his estranged son and how he finally leaves for renunciation, overwhelmed by the sheer pressure and monotony of his life.

Jagan is a 55-year-old sweetmeat vendor, a successful businessman, a vehement follower of Mahatma Gandhi and an honest, hardworking and humble resident of the fictional suburb of Malgudi, India.

In his youth, he was influenced deeply by Mahatma Gandhi and left his studies and his peaceful life to become an active member in India's struggle for freedom from the British Empire.

In his early days Jagan's wife, Ambika, dies from a brain tumor and leaves him to care for his only son, Mali.

But, he accepts this diversion with good heart and treasures every letter received from Mali and proudly exhibits it to anyone whom he met in his daily activities.

Soon Mali expresses his grandiose scheme of starting a story-writing machine factory with the association of some anonymous business partners from America.

He starts to develop a desire to have renunciation from his life, and suddenly falls into a recollection of his happy past with his family and his wife, which further strengthens his need for reconciliation.

Jagan then tells his cousin that 'a dose of prison life is not a bad thing' for Mali, so that he can learn his mistakes and be a better person in the future.

The writer employs both visual and olfactory imagery to depict the scene of Jagan's religious activities performed in the morning with the scent of jasmine flowers and the incense sticks.

Although Narayan's native language was Tamil ( the language of the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu), he utilized English in such a way that allowed his readers to step into the streets of Malgudi, and allowed them to feel the same aromas, the same, bright Indian sunlight and the same feelings of his characters.Reading Narayan, you soon see, is a little like sitting on a rocking chair in a steadily churning train; the story is always pushing forward, with not a wasted sentence or detail, and yet its theme and often its characters are all about going nowhere and getting somewhere