One person I have always loved and respected is Mr. V. Gangadhar who has been writing the “Slice of Life” for “The Hindu”. The other person who I would say I love and respect more is R.K. Narayan.

I have been able to relate to both their writings very well- both write in simple English, about simple people we find in everyday life, looking at the world around through simple eyes without any frills and flamboyance. This probably had a lot to do with the environment in which they were brought up. Any number of times one reads “Swami and friends”, one’s bound to think that RKN has been spying on him sometime somewhere in life, and that it’s just a page out of one’s own life. It’s this simple realism that makes his reading such a pleasure.

Gangadhar too talks about everyday life with light humour and this makes reading a pleasure. One can’t miss the subtle boasts that he used to make in the course of his writings about his daughters and their accomplishments. Consciously or otherwise, his writing style is similar to RKN’s and it makes my Sunday coffee to read his article.