Swami and Friends

The plot of Swami and Friends revolves around Swaminathan, the central protagonist, who initially typifies the innocence of youth and all the mischievousness that childhood entails. He prefers cricket to school, takes his family for granted, and attempts to play out childhood fantasies in the often reckless games and stunts he pursues with his shifting group of friends. Initially coming across as passive and timid--more likely to follow than to lead the crowd (as we witness in the mob scene of Chapter 12)--and overshadowed amongst his peers by the more self-assured Mani and Rajam, Swaminathan, however, becomes bolder and more socially prominent over the course of the novel. The most vital player on the cricket team, it is ultimately, Swaminathan, and not Rajam or Mani that holds the key to M.C.C.’s victory. And though his rebellion against the headmaster results in childish flight, he openly and boldly defies the central authority figure of his school without waiting for Rajam’s support, and without the support of an angry mob to fuel his courage. While the novel centers on a brief period in Swaminathan’s life, in this brief journey, we witness the revolutionary change happening in India, and the subtle revolution of character and understanding that takes place within Swaminathan. Although the ambiguous ending points to the impossibility of knowing how his life and friendships will ultimately unfold, the drama of that final train station scene—the coming and going, the beginning and ending, the speech and the silence—illustrates all the flurry of life moving, shifting, and changing in both perpetual and inscrutable ways.