# Introduction

The translation is-"My golden Bengal, I love you. Forever thy skies, thy air set my heart in tune as if it were a flute, My golden Bengal, I love you." -Tagore his melodious song is the national anthem of Bangladesh which was written by India's greatest poet and Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore, in 1905. This song was written to support the 'Banga Bhango Rodh' movement when the governing British Empire had an undivided Bengal Presidency split into two sections, the Hindu majority lived in the western part, while the Muslim majority lived in the eastern part. The Partition of Bengal led to 1947 when the British eventually left India after three centuries, the subcontinent was divided into two separate nations; India and Pakistan and later on Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan.

Ayesha Jalal, a renowned Pakistani historian mentions that partition was a significant historical event in the twentieth-century that took place in South Asia. She states it ". . . A defining moment that is neither beginning nor end, the partition continues to influence how the peoples and states of postcolonial South Asia envisage their past, present, and future." (Dalrymple 2015).

The British exploited and dehumanized the Asian people in the name of civilization. British rule had a huge impact on conventional South Asian culture. Human has to go through the mental pain, physical torture, massacres, forced conversions in religion and sexual violence because of the colonizers and the partition. That's why the writers from South Asian countries present human relations, economic development, political systems over the country, human development, and their journey through the British period in the Post-Colonial writings.

Many literature novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction works, movies describe the human sacrifice and compromises of gaining independence. R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah belong to the South Asian Countries of India and Bangladesh. Most of the works of color like Narayan's The Guide and Waliullah's The Ugly Asian uplifted the post-colonial situation which includes the cultural and traditional form of the society, corruption of the government, decolonization, and nationalism. R. K. Narayan whose full name is Rasipuram Krishnaswami Iyer Narayanaswami was an Indo-English writer famously known for changing modern Indian history. He was born on Oct. 10,1906, in Madras, India. Swami and Friends (1935) was Narayan's first book, written when he was 29 years old. After that, his pen never stopped till his last days. He wrote fourteen novels, over two hundred short stories, a biography, two travel books, countless essays, two plays, and an autobiography My Days during his long career. He is known as the most prominent writer of early Indian literature in English including Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao.

Narayan created a fictional South-Indian town called Malgudi and sets most of his writing backgrounds over there. His language was simple, vibrant and day-today used as a result it is easy for any age reader to flow with the story. His ideas expressed themes like nostalgia, exile and return tradition and modernity, the family, the woman's place in society, education, Malgudi and its culture, appearance, and truth, myths and the early Indian past, and many more.

The Guide is R. K. Narayan's one of the most renewed novels published in 1958s which Narayan called the work "totally Indian". It is one of R. K. Narayan's English language post-independence novels which gained him enormous popularity both at home and abroad soon after it was released. In 1960, Narayan won the Sahitya Academy Award for The Guide, and later in 1965, it was released as a movie. Like his other novels, this novel is also set in Narayan's fictional town of Malgudi in South Indian. The novel uses the common man style and simple language that upholds the complexities of human relations with society's elements. The novel tells the story of an Indian man Raju. His journey from a trickster to one of India's holy men changed him for another people's benefit. The Guide shows the contrast of traditional India with modern culture in Malgudi town.

The Guide focuses on the institution of marriage and family relations, as well as the fact that in a patriarchal society and how a woman seeks independence. It also sheds light on the significance of fate in a person's life from the postcolonial viewpoint. Though Raju is a two-faced character, he combines dishonesty and credulity in equal measure but his modern thought for women and their empowerment, his loyalty towards his followers becomes the story's motivating force. The theme, characters, and actions are all well combined, and the story is well-managed as a result it touches millions of hearts.

Syed Waliullah was an exceptional and most renowned Bangladeshi novelist who wrote short stories and plays in Bengali literature, best known for Lalshalu and Kando Nadi Kando. Waliullah was born in Chittagong on August 15 in 1922. He is a contemporary Bangladeshi writer who uses both the Bengali and English language to share his modern thoughts. His first novel was Lalsalu which is the most famous work which later translated by himself into English, changing the title to "Tree Without Roots".

Waliullah wrote two storybooks Nayanchara (1946) and Dui Tir O Anyanya Galpa (1965). He also wrote three plays Bahipeer, Suranga and

Tarangabhanga. Waliullah wrote The Ugly Asian in English, which he had written under a pen name. His childhood was full of travelling as Syed Ahmadullah, his father was a government officer. Waliullah travelled to many places in Bengal and got to know the culture, the rural life closely. Most of the characters of his writings and the story plot inspired by his early childhood memories and experience. Niaz Zaman, the book's editor, mentions in the novel's Introduction that Khadija Zaman who was Waliullah's stepmother's sister shares their memories. She mentions when Waliullah was living with his father, he would sometimes pass a "shrine" that was covered in red cloth and he got the idea for writing Lalsalu.

Waliullah was one of the prominent classical modernist writers. He along with Sikandar Abu Zafar, Shanaul Haq belongs to the Bengali writer's group who believe in Marxist theory. He is also an existentialist. In his writing class discrimination presents a major part. The partition of Bengal arose this class discrimination along with the caste problem. In his writing, we see that Muslims are also divided into two parts. One who claimed themselves as the representative of Allah, they are followed by the illiterate and hypocrite people and another one was those rich and Mughals who called them the best human being, Ashraf.

Waliullah also highlighted another type of discrimination, the British Empire ruling the Asians. The British established a racial division based on the skin color and religion of the Asian people. Later, they ordered a divide-and-rule strategy to keep the Indians under pressure (now Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis). Waliullah highlights the relations between Hindus and Muslims and their communal strife, the westernization of cultures, and the unseen colonial claws.

The Ugly Asian is a political novel that takes place in an imaginative Asian country focusing on politics, government, and foreign affairs. The Ugly Asian was written in the early 1960s which was the only novel written in English. It was published after fifty years of writing in June 2013. The novel's transcript uses a pseudonym name, Abu Sharya, rather than the author's real name. Niaz Zaman, the editor of the book, notes in his Introduction that The Ugly American by William J. Lederer and Eugene Burdick may have influenced Syed Waliullah to write a novel in English.

As a political allegory, The Ugly Asian only covers political events in a newly independent Asian nation emerging from colonialism's clutches. He reflects how people and their circumstances shift in countries that have distanced themselves from their colonial past.

In the novel, we see a new government rise to the top promising to remove hunger, focus on farmers and uproot colonialism. But some time later the people find out that the new government is not different from the old government, corrupted, anti-people, and friends of colonizers.

The Ugly Asian examines the United States' relationship with an Asian nation that is attempting to shed its imperial past and becomes a proxy battleground for America's war against Communism. Professor Ahsan remarks that the US should not guide us or other small countries simply because they are in a position of dominance at this stage in human history. Because the more they "try to push" us towards them, the more we will rebel. (49)

The novel ends with many people sacrificing themselves to free their country which inspired the zeal of revolution in the common people.


# a) Aim of the Research

The purpose of this research paper is to showcase how nationalism is obtained in both countries: Bangladesh and India. The Ugly Asian and The Guide in both books shows people living in these countries change their viewpoint on nationalism due to postcolonial approach, biased relationship with ethnic people, generation gap, etc. More importantly, though there is cultural, traditional, and language difference between these countries, they both love their country and are always ready for their nation's needs.


# b) Importance and Uniqueness of this Study

The dedication, loyalty, and love for the nation are found in almost every person's heart. Their actions, their works, their commitments represent how they devoted themselves to their nation. Syed Waliullah who lived his career life far from his motherland wrote some of the major works in Bangla Literature. His political allegory The Ugly Asian represents the newly independent country whose people are fighting to save her freedom from her corrupted people, from foreign interference. On the other hand, in R K Narayan's The Guide, the author invents Malgudi keeping in mind the beauty of Mysore, a kind of honoring his own country. The main character of The Guide's journey from a guide to a spiritual sage who is ready to sacrifice for the sake of village people portrays nationalism. I used two different books which show nationalism but in a diverse way. Both of the writer's arts are displayed in this research paper to understand the topic of nationalism. This comparison should help raise the consciousness of the readers that not all the steps are taken in the name of nationalism are correct. It depends on the individual's perspective towards the society and country and also the government's duty towards his pupil which helps to modify from a general people to become a nationalist.


# c) Research Questions

The following questions will help clarify the research: 1. The definition and difference between nativism or nationalism.

2. How do culture and tradition present nativism or nationalism in The Ugly Asian and The Guide? 3. How does Third World Nationalism portray in both books? 4. How nativism or nationalism is different in both South Asian Literature?

The above research questions were formed to lead the research paper which will be examined expository and analytically to search for the answer. For this paper, many scholarly critical theories and the author's viewpoints will be used as guidelines.


# d) Research Methodology

This Research paper is created with the support of the qualitative approach knowing the research goal. Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian and R K Narayan's The Guide are the primary sources to conduct this paper. The secondary sources combined articles found online, journals, websites discussed these two writers' biographical information, their fair share in literature. Many writers work on Syed Waliullah and R K Narayan's arts in their writing even critics' viewpoints on the writings of the main topic will be covered in this paper. All the information will be delivered in the original form and all the writer's work will be mentioned with full credit in the work citation.


# e) Rationale of this Study

Nativism is a political policy where the people who are born in their motherland get more importance than foreigners or emigrants. Nativists believed that they are superior to the emigrants because they are nativeborn. On the contrary, nationalism defines the idea of an individual's identification with their own country and supports the country in any necessity. Nationalists blindly love their country and support the country's freedom from other countries or foreign's affairs at any cost. My two chosen books, R K Narayan's The Guide and Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian both discussed nativism and nationalism. R K Narayan is an Indian writer, a nativist, and a nationalist. Most of his writing's settings are based on a South Indian background. In The Guide, the author used Malgudi, a fictional town setting of the novel to give a glimpse of SouthIndian town. In the novel Malgudi town connects the local people with the tourist people, the rural life with the urban life, and most importantly the colonial appearances with the postcolonial. Raju is a guide helping the tourists to explore his town. He is transformed throughout the novel and changes his character at the end to help the village people which shows that he reconnects with nativism. Syed Waliullah, a Bangladeshi novelist wrote most of his writing feeling a sense of nostalgia. His political allegory The Ugly Asian represents the symbiosis relationship between humans and nature, especially with their motherland. The Ugly Asian which was written in early 1960 explores the relationship between Asian countries with the US. The book focuses on the impact of postcolonialism and how people are controlled and exploited by it. In The Ugly Asian the writer shows how the Americans throw off their colonial roots and fight against communism. For this, Ahsan, a strong character says, "I am a nationalist. I love my country and want it to be truly independent. By that I mean that it should be completely free from foreign interference." (Waliullah,41) The theoretical framework of this research paper represents nativism and nationalism present in our hearts. We the Asian people first got freedom from British colonialism and later it was the Indo-Pak partition which was the result of colonialism. Later we achieved our independence from Pakistan. For our nation, we have come far ahead from where we started. But still, now we need to fight against colonialism, foreign interference and achieve communism for equality. This post-colonial theory paper speaks about nativism and nationalism both where we need to have nativism in our heart not showing any biases to the ethnic groups, at the same time we need to focus on our nation not to be strangled with colonial strings, with the support of the government and political leaders we need to nurture our nationalism. Because-"It is harder to defend than to gain freedom" II.


# Literature Review

The novel The Ugly Asian by Syed Waliullah is a portrayal of the political culture of then Pakistan and the dependence on America. In a broader sense, The Ugly Asian is the canvas of this picture. Syed Waliullah draws the attention of the readers towards some important characteristics of us as an Asian nation such as our nostalgic nature, the tendency of expressing our culture only through music and dance, unquestioned obedience to our masters, and being engulfed in social and political chaos. we get a smooth introduction of Bangladesh before its birth through the novel. "How to know a country? Where lies our origin? These basic questions are asked to create political consciousness among the common people. The plot is set during the time of the cold war, The Ugly Asian explores the political relation of the US to an Asian country that is trying to uproot its colonial past. The country is a battleground of America, serves the American purpose to fight against communism. America appears to be playing the role of a new colonizer and occupies the vacuum in the mind created throughout the long passage of foreign rule. Niaz Zaman, a retired professor of Dhaka University comments, Unfortunately, America seems to exploit the Asians in the disguise of help. They turn out to be a superior nation and we are supposed to follow them blindly to become civilized. The triumph of the authors like Waliullah to strengthen the self-confidence of the nation and ignite the nationalistic spirit had a great impact on the emergence of Bangladesh. The authors Md. Shamsuddoha and Afroza Aktar state, "This Bengali nationalism played a very important role in the populist movements in Pakistan period and thus influenced the emergence of independent Bangladesh in 1971." (Shamsudoha, Aktar 2017). Although Pakistan's establishment was formed based on Islamic nationalism, it didn't work out in the eastern part. The cultural differences along with political oppression outplayed the idea of forming an Islamic nation. In this regard, the author MG Kabir states-"However this political identity based on religious attachment could not escape for long the important temporal issues of economic and political life in Pakistan." (Kabir 2007). Sayed Waliullah portrays the hypocrisy of the politicians of Pakistan in using religion to conceal their mischievous activities.

If we compare this text with RK Narayan's novel The guide we can see a similar sort of intention of the author to depict nationalism as a necessary component of a newly independent country. The Guide was written in the context of the 1950s; just after the Independence of India. India is a vast country having tremendous socio-cultural diversity. Narayan sets the plot of the novel in a fictional south -Indian city which is purely Indian not influence by the British Empire. Narayan depicts Rosie as the symbol of intrusion of western culture through colonial rule, in which lies the root of all evil that corrupts society.

Neluka Silva, a faculty member of the University of Colombo writes, "As the hybrid 'other' to Raju's mother is the representation of Rosie. Both the gender colludes to make her a character who corrupts Raju. The ultimate tragedy that Rosie faces is treated with sympathy but inscribes racial stereotypes serving to reinforce the nationalist underpinning of the text of apportioning to the foreign 'other'." (Silva 2014). Narayan picturizes the juxtaposition of two different cultures, where each finds other harmful and deceptive.

Both Bangladesh and India being two newly independent Asian nations are the sufferers of foreign domination which downgrades the self-respect of the people. People often being unaware of their origin and richness of their culture, tend to hate their own identity and culture. Both the author endeavors to criticize this mindset and create a strong nationalist spirit among the people so that they no longer feel inferior.

However, regarding the endeavors of the Indian intellectuals to create Indian nationalism among the Indians, Harald Fischer-Tine makes a serious allegation in his paper commenting, "The existence of sophisticated transnational anti-imperial propaganda networks that are the focus of this study raises doubt about the alleged watershed character of the first world war as that decisively shook the imperial world order." (Fischer-Tine 2007).

According to this author, the Indians used antiimperial propaganda to unify the nation under one umbrella which ultimately contributed the freedom from imperial rule Author Harveen Mann addresses Narayan as a brahminic writer as he goes back to India's Hindu culture taking it as a necessary element of Indian nationalism. Mann says, "I establish Narayan as an androcentric brahminic writer, at the same time that I question the nationalist construction of modern India as the iconic mother Bharat Mata" (Mann 2007). This question comes in the context of modern India where the country is heading towards establishing liberal democracy ensuring equality and freedom of expression. The controversy begins here when some intellectuals come out with the thought that, liberal democracy might be a threat to Indian roots. Therefore, they want to face the intrusion of modernity with the traditional Hindu beliefs.

Sravani Biswas sees an intention to ignore the Gandhian non-violent strategy to fight against colonial rule by Narayan. She comments-'' Raja Rao in Kanthpura Mulk Raj Anand in untouchable continued with Gandhian nationalism as inspiration. But RK Narayan, though they are contemporary, attempted an escape from this overwhelming phenomenon." (Sravani Biswas 2018). Gandhian non-cooperation movement undoubtedly succeeded in terms of protesting against the British. However, Narayan seems to prefer learning western strategies to fight against the west.

The dancing talent of Rosie is compared by Marco as a dancer with a monkey. According to him, there is no intellect or creativity in it. But Raju believes Bharatnatyam is the highest form of entertainment. The motto of an artist is to elevate the taste of the audience. Goyal observes, "while Marco is the cultural historian of the past, Rosie is a cultural ambassador of the present and Raju is the cultural prophet of future" (Goyal143). This is a clear observation of the novel and the prevailing cultural confusion portrayed in the novel.

Sarah Jilani thinks The Guide sparks questions in the mind of the readers regarding what path Indians should follow. Should India go for its cultural revival which has been suppressed for centuries or should it turn towards a historical spirituality? She comments "The novel examines the absurdity of and disservice to Indian nationhood should it market itself for the sake of cultural 'revival' or foreign interest as an a historical monolith of spiritual ages gone by" (Jilani 2008).

Nationalism is a western idea. Therefore, we learn from the west how to be nationalists. In this context, the question arrives: can or should we decolonize ourselves completely? India, aiming to form a nation-state, must borrow teachings from the west. Consequently, cultural juxtaposition becomes inevitable. Considering Narayan's viewpoint Yadav writes, "The novel also presents a conflict Between the eastern and western culture and synthesizes the two through their assimilation which has been symbolized by Rosie's transformation into Nalini. Like Anand, Narayan points out that, one has to go to the west to come back to the East" (Yadav 28).

The Guide depicts true Indianness, by presenting true Indian traits and manners in the context of a post-colonial period where India is confused with the juxtaposition of eastern and western culture. Narayan feels the necessity of being Indian in the core of mind but to do that you cannot ignore the west. Christy Angelo witnesses, "The Guide reveals the Indian way of life and also the culture and tradition of India R K Narayan has used typical Indian characters and Indian atmosphere to portray Indian culture (Angelo2015).

Both Syed Waliullah and RK Narayan wrote in the context of the end of colonial rule. The real picture of society is drawn with the exquisite ingenuity of both authors. Both the novel explores the mind of common people triggered by poverty, ignorance and political dishonesty. The long-lost self-respect as a nation must be regained to build up a successful nation-state. Therefore, nationalism according to the novelists might play a key role to achieve that self-respect.


# III.


# Content Analysis a) The definition of nativism and nationalism

Nativism is the concept that one born in a country will get more importance than newcomers who have come here for living, education, business, etc purpose. The immigrants come to the new land to live in the country far from their motherland. The natives feel some kind of isolation from them as they feel their ethnicity, traditions, culture, and economic status will be lost or face great danger as it will be mingled with the new immigrants. The writer of American Nativism and its Representation in the Film "L. A. Crash" Oezguer Dindar addressed that nativists do not think of themselves as nativists. It is a derogatory word for them, and they prefer to "themselves as 'Patriots.'"

In contrast, nationalism refers to an emotion established on common cultural characteristics which are loyalty and devotion for a nation, to place a nation over others feelings. It is the concept that national interest, economy, security, etc. are more essential than any international event. Nationalism inspires people to break free from any kind of foreign tyrant. A nationalist feels proud of his country regardless of being poor or rich. According to Hans Kohn, "Nationalism is a state of mind permeating the large majority of the people and claiming to permeate all its members; it recognises the nation-State as the ideal form of political Volume XXI Issue V Version I 43 ( ) organization and the nationality as the source of all creative cultural energy and economic well-being. The supreme loyalty of man is, therefore, due to his nationality, as his own life is supposedly rooted in and made possible by its welfare."

In, The Guide R K Narayan has represented the novel characters with great understanding and ironic perception which is more lucid than symbolic. Here Narayan portrays nativism or nationalism through various characters and their actions, like Raju's father. Raju's father who represents the common Indian man in The Guide owns a "hut shop" in Malgudi. He often waits at his small shop late at night and talks with other village people and truck drivers. He wishes to make Raju well educated and a good human being therefore he teaches Raju Tamil and sends him to Pyol school. Though Raju's father could send him to Albert Mission School which is organized by Christian missionaries as Raju desires to be a part of "fashionable Albert Mission School". "My progress was so halting and slow that when I turned into the Market Street I could hear my classmates shouting their lessons in unison, for the old man, our master, who taught us, believed in getting the maximum noise out of his pupils. I don't know on whose advice my father chose to send me here for my education, while the fashionable Albert Mission School was quite close by, I'd have felt proud to call myself an Albert Masson boy" (Narayan,23).

Raju's father who is devoted to his religion holds a different view of this Mission School. This point of view we commonly find in most of the man is a clear example of nativism. In many post-colonial writings, we see that the Christian missionaries try to convert the local people to Christianity by decoying people by giving money or fearing them for the sins they commit previously which is an evil thing to do. The fear in Raju's father shows clearly that if Raju read in the Mission school then there is a possibility that he might get Western influence and slipped away from his own culture which every nationalist is concerned about. Syed Waliullah's political allegory The Ugly Asian showed nationalism from a common people point of view to a political movement.

In, The Ugly Asian, Syed Waliullah picturized the relationship of America to a fictional small Asian Muslim country. As the novel's timeframe is 1960 when the country is going through hunger, unemployment, and the colonial force, the novelist shows the relationship of a ruling nation with a smaller one who has-"the nascent economy of the newly independent country" (Waliullah, 3).

Waliullah emphasizes that small countries who are fighting for food, hunger, corruption, dealing with international affairs can be unbiased and neutral. As a citizen of these countries, every person has the right to choose herself over another nation, to love her country like a true nationalist. "Yes, we love our country. It's so poor and helpless. That's why we love it. You know a sick child is very dear to its mother. Perhaps you love your country because it gives you so much. We love ours because it can't give us anything" (Waliullah,8).

In real life and fictional life, both are tangled with the colonizer's claws. The leading countries like America always try to dominate other small countries in the name of help and support. An American president thus once declared, "Either you are with us, or you are the terrorists."

Syed Waliullah decides to throw away its colonial chain and seek ways to help its people. He knows that the poor people of his country don't bother about politics or communism but it matters to the foreigners. As professor Ahsan says in The Ugly Asian, "My kind of nationalism objects to cooperation between your country and mine for another reason. There is something very wrong with the motive behind this cooperation. It is really not to help us but to fight Communism."

As a diehard nationalist Waliullah gives a simple but undeniable message through his novel that we should try to save a nation from starvation, not from communism. As we need food to feed hungry mouths not words to feed the empty belly. It also represents an ideal relationship between a dominant state with a smaller one.


# b) Cultural and Traditional representation of Nativism and Nationalism in The Ugly Asian and The Guide

Human life and its purposes have a deep connection with the art of culture and tradition. The emotions, journeys, and experiences of being with their people mix their work with contemporary impressionism and develop itself like a tapestry, enriched in colour and tactile sensation. The depth and beauty of South-Asian culture remain within the simple and natural Bangladeshi and Indian lifestyle. India and Bangladesh's way of life refreshes the spirit of people and inspires their art. As an artistic writer, Sayed Waliullah from Bangladesh and R.K. Narayan from India has adopted the theory in their creative career.


# i. R.K. Narayan's The Guide

The Guide is mainly concerned with plot development, though character "development" continues to play a role. Patrick Swinden (1999) says the "only change [in life and character] is in the recognition of the unchanging" (66), as a consequence of Hindu philosophy's standards playing a major role in the novel. In the culture and tradition of the society of Malgudi, Raju's character changes with the view settings and time shifts which is an impression presented by the writer's use of Western story-telling techniques.

"Malgudi, I said, had many things to offer, historically, scenically, from the point of view of modern developments, and so on and so forth; or if one came as a pilgrim I could take him to a dozen temples all over the district within a Volume XXI Issue V Version I 44 ( ) radius of fifty miles; I could find holy waters for him to bathe in all along the course of the Sarayu, starting, of course, with its source on Mempi Peaks." (Narayan,64).

Swinden affirms that Raju's character from a trickster to a saint, the method of Narayan's uses of Hindu religion, myths, and traditional storytelling pattern elevated a character who resembles a hero from an Indian epic, such as the Ramayana (78). As a traditional man who follows ancestral values of life, Narayan firmly believed that these books are a powerhouse for any common man to an artist if they are seeking knowledge or any idea.

"I shall also want him to read for me episodes from Ramayana and Mahabarata because they are a treasure house, and we can pick up so many ideas for new compositions from them" (Narayan, 127).

Narayan thus mentions several times these traditional books in his novel and also gives his story's background on this cultural place setting.

"At the tenth-century Iswara temple at Vinayak Street, I reeled off the description of the frieze along the wall: "If you look closely, you will see the entire epic Ramayana carved along the wall," and so forth" (Narayan,142).

Chitra Sankaran (1991) highlights the writer's "instinctive assimilation of his native literature" (127) and like a true nationalist he created the fictional foundation with the elements of "the ancient Sanskrit genre, the Katha or tale" (128). In The Guide thus he describes, "Natya Shastra of Bharat Muni, a thousand years old, and various other books, because without a proper study of the ancient methods it would be impossible to keep the purity of the classical forms" (Narayan,127).

The stories which his mother tells him at night when he used to sleep also play a strong part in developing the roots of his upbringing, he gets closer to his culture and tradition. Though Raju is a "trickster sage" who deceives people at the beginning and performs as a link between the Gods and humans shown in Hindu mythology (134). The critic thus mentions that Narayan conquers in "making it feasible to interpret Raju's fate in both these lights" (148) and developed his character who chooses to sacrifice himself for his country. Like when his mother told him, "If there is one good man anywhere, the rains would descend for his sake and benefit the whole world" (Narayan,114).

Somehow creating a sadhu unconsciously in Raju's mind. According to Monika Fludernik's comparative analysis, Raju's presence as a sadhu can "signal a kind of token nationalist and traditional revival" (270) and "in that Raju appropriates traditional signifiers for his own decidedly secular ends" (271). Speaking of which, R. K. Narayan has attempted to portray an honest picture of the misery and anguish of South Indian middle-class society, with an emphasis on women. He connects to the woman's presentation from Indian society, culture, tradition, religion, freedom, philosophy, and myth with a male narrator's angle. As we see Raju's mother's attitude towards Rosie as a typical Hindu mother. From the beginning, Raju's mother and Rosie behaved with one another at the extreme opposites of tradition and modernity when she first heard Rosie's name, "She expected a more orthodox name" (Narayan,145). Though she appreciates Rosie's academic achievement without having a father, tells her "brave girl" and remarks "You are not like us uneducated women" (Narayan,147). As a traditional woman, she couldn't break society's law and follow its culture and served. She never goes outside and always worked at home to raise Raju, making home comforted for Raju's father.

"In our day we wouldn't go to the street corner without an escort. And I have been to the market only once in my life when Raju's father was alive" (Narayan,146).

Though her character doesn't take part directly in nationalism, she tries to give Raju all the traditional values and always tries to take him closer to his culture and its roots. Her point of view of Rosie changed when she came to know that Rosie is a Devdasi, a modern woman, and separated from her husband. She also tries to shape her as a common village girl of Malgudi.

"You are a city girl. You must know something of our village life too" (Narayan, 148). Raju's mother's treatment of Rosie was not sympathetic. In the novel, it addresses ethnic and racial stereotypes in the text to strengthen the text's nationalist foundations of pointing fingers at the "foreign" other.

"You are not of our family? Are you of our clan?" He again waited for her to answer and answered himself. "No. Are you of our caste? No. Our class? No." (Narayan,174).

Rosie stands for Indian culture. Her caste is classified as the lowest in society. This primary element plays a major role in the development of her character. Rosie is the cultural representative of the present day. Though at first, she tries to be a good wife and follow Marco, later Rosie chooses the purity of her art and has become a worshipper of the creator. She is enthusiastic about her art, but her husband does not share the same excitement. She is uninterested in the business areas of her career, letting it in the hands of Raju and her only concern is to continue dancing and to embrace the traditional persona. She is also another person who promotes tradition and nativist activities through her art.

"I could see, through her effort, the magnificence of the composition, its symbolism, the boyhood of a very young god" (Narayan, 129).

Narayan's minor character Marco is an archaeologist and researcher who has visited the Iswara temple and written a book on the culture of South India in the Twelfth century in the Malgudi district.

"I felt that he honoured the valley with his patronage. He took out a bundle of sheets in an album, and a few photographs." (Narayan,132).

Volume XXI Issue V Version I 45 ( ) He'd written down explanations and transcriptions on those cave paintings on sheet after sheet. He spent most of his time there though it separates him from Rosie, his wife and he does not feel the need to fix the marital problem. Marco is a cultural archivist of the past who tries to publish the book so, "When this published, it'll change all our present ideas of the history of civilization" (Narayan,133).

His unique devotion to India and its cultural heritage is noticeable. But his way of treating others' culture is not acceptable. He treats Rosie's culture badly and compares it with money dance.

Contemporary Raju always tells Rosie how beautiful she dances which also boosts Rosie's selfesteem. Thus, Raju and Rosie both represent nationalism through culture and tradition.


# ii. Syed Waliullah The Ugly Asian

Syed Waliullah who is a well-known name in the fields of Bengali and foreign literature never forgives his cultural and traditional values. He lived a thousand miles away from his motherland still he felt a heavy connection to the land he had left behind. In his novel, The Ugly Asian presents culture and tradition differently as it is a political allegory. Agriculture employs approximately 80% of the population, while the service and manufacturing industries employ the rest 20% of the workforce, respectively. Bangladesh has been described as a country of smallscale, subsistence farmers, with nearly everyone in rural areas working in agricultural production or processing. As a son of a government officer Syed Waliullah travels a lot. According to Niaz Zaman who is the editor of the book, The Ugly Asian, mentioned in the introduction part of the book, "The young Waliullah accompanied his father on his different postings, to Mymensingh, Feni, Chittagong, Krishnanagar, Kurigram. This peripatetic experience helped him to witness rural life in Bengal." Thus, he talks about the village people, their lives, and agriculture many times in the novel as it is a part of culture and tradition.

"... we should concentrate all our efforts on our villages to make them happy and contented. We must help them grow enough food and weave enough cloth in the traditional way. Give them sanitation and a clean, healthy living but we must not uproot them from their villages where they have always lived" (Waliullah,29).

He loves his motherland and the people who live in it. His other book Nayanchara which is a collection of short stories and reflects the image of society when people are looking for food. As mentioned to Saylen Gosh, "When people of the undivided Bengal were crying for food, the ancient hidden cruel instinct came out nakedly to a human being. This shy is portrayed as a photograph in his story. No one could feel the truth like him. But two stories in Nayanchara focused on the skeleton of 1943's famine in Bengal."

That's why in The Ugly Asian, he highlights the farmers and wants the best for them: "We must change our emphasis from industrialization to agriculture. The peasants are the backbone of the nation. They must receive the fullest possible attention" (Waliullah,31).

At the beginning of the novel, we see Abdul Haq who is the head of the Economics Department of the University. Though he admires America and her people but also love his cultural roots-"...music and dance were his two other passions, and sometimes he would sing songs of his boyhood which had a nursery-rhyme simplicity. His songs disgusted his own children. Yet he sang with his heart, and the words assumed a deep significance as he sang them" (Waliullah, 4).

It's clear that though his children are not very fond of his taste in music in the depth of his core he somehow manages to pursue his hobby because-"What is true in us is revealed only when we sing." he would often explain to foreigners" (Waliullah,4).

Bangladesh is a collectivist culture, they are very family-oriented and these people also close to their home, their roots. Family plays an important role in uplifting a person's character. Though a person's interests are required to take second place to those of the family or society. We can see that when Abdur Rab, a leader of one of the small parties who fight against Nanavi or Abdul Qader even thinks about his family before going to jail.

"After a short silence, Abdul Rab Rose. "Can I take leave of my family? One of my children is sick." "Certainly," said the police officer" (Waliullah,72).

Or the time when he does not agree with his friend but remains silent because-"There were certain beliefs and ideals which one could not speak about to one's lifelong friend, not when one was no longer young. As the years pass, one learns to hide such things that may disturb the basis of friendship which, however warm, may at the same time be commonplace" (Waliullah,65). Syed Waliullah also mentioned the people from other cultures and continents who see us as "...the real jungle boy." (Waliullah,119). Syed Waliullah wants to change that, so he combines nationalism with cultural and traditional elements. As Nielsen said, "Cultural nationalism has been described as a variety of nationalism that is neither purely civic nor ethnic." He is uncovered to be a passionate nationalist in The Ugly Asian.

R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah have different cultural values. For the books, both authors have different interpretative motives yet a few things are common and nationalism is one of them. Both of them are nationalists and want the best for their country.

Volume XXI Issue V Version I 46 ( ) c) How Third World Nationalism is portrayed in these books Third World nationalism refers to the nationalist ideology that arose in response to colonial dominance. These countries first gained independence by a political movement and then organized themselves into a centralized government that functions as a state. These countries have been colonized and exploited which are economically poor and non-industrialized for whom the definition of nationalism is different. Tagore (2004) points to nationalism as the inevitable "universal of our times." He emphasizes the importance of the "illegitimacy of nationalism" that had made its way into Indian society "riding piggy-back on ... western ideology." The people facing the caste system, social, economic, political, and other problems. India and Bangladesh are among the developing countries that are juggling between their own "Desh prem" and western ideology. In both countries the poverty rate is high, corruption is strangling people and the class/caste difference is also noticeable. R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah both are deeply frustrated with society in general and the capitalist class in particular. They are persistent in their belief that the predators, specifically religious, social, and political leaders, prey on the common man for personal gain and influence.

Unfortunately, these common people's prejudice, superstition, religious zealotry, and illiteracy lead to their marginalized place in society.

i. Third World Nationalism in R.K. Narayan's The Guide Narayan presented a political-historical era in India that spanned the late colonial period and the early years of independence in his novel The Guide. He presents simple characters that are sensitive and emotional and living independently in Malgudi in Southern India during the early twentieth century. The characters are simple and unsophisticated and most of them are uneducated or have little education. As a newly independent country, most of the characters present here either involve agriculture, small shop owner, signaller, porter, farmer, guard, etc. Raju's father has a similar occupation-"My father had a small shop built of dealwood planks and gunny sack; and all day he sat there selling peppermint, fruit, tobacco, betel leaf, parched gram (which he measured out of tiny bamboo cylinders), and whatever else the wayfarers on the Trunk Road demanded." (Narayan,11) His regular customers are peasants, drivers, and bullock-wagons. At this time we see Malgudi gets modern developments associated with industrialization "The train comes to our town today," (Narayan,38) ? thus, the train and railroad were introduced. In Third World countries, the technical changes boost economic and social changes that started during colonialism, like with the train coming "Malgudi Photo Bureau", a bank established which is a sign of industrialisation. As in the novel, we see the train changes the economy of many people which is also related to social status. From a "dealwood planks and gunny sack" built shop to a "...paved with cement, with shelves built-in." (Narayan,42). The sudden changes give those who live near the station a fresh air of economic development.

"...my father had become so prosperous that he acquired a jutka and a horse in order to go to the town and do his shopping" (Narayan,39).

But others who mixed themselves with agriculture or other professions do not get many benefits. As a member of Third World countries, India has a high rate of poverty and in the 1960s the education rate was around 22%. The education system was not uplifted by the government and the leaders back at that time because it was a newly independent country. In the novel, fewer characters have full educational background and the rest of them are not so educated. The teacher's economic condition is so low that they have to depend on others. Raju's old master earned very little while teaching them.

"His interest in us was one rupee a month and anything else in kind we cared to carry. My father sent him every month two cubes of jaggery, others brought in rice and vegetables and anything else he might demand from time to time" (Narayan,29).

A lot of the children soon drop out of the schools and start earning.

"As you might have guessed, all this business expansion in our family helped me achieve a very desirable end-the dropping off of my school unobtrusively" (Narayan,44). They remained uneducated, less socialised. Like Gaffur, the porter boy. Then there are these low caste people who are totally out of society. They do not get any education and social status because of the caste system proposed by their tradition and culture.

"Our guide jumped out and went at a trot to the farthest end of the village street and returned with a man who had a red turban around his head, his only other piece of clothing being a pair of drawers" (Narayan, 69).

On the other hand, those who have the power of education or money sitting on the top floor of the society and economy. Marco who is a "rich bachelor of academic interests." and "He had a big house, a motor car, he was a man of high social standing; he had a house outside Madras, he was living in it all alone, no family at all; he lived with his books and papers" (Narayan,89).

This created a social gap between rulers and those who are ruled and create market-based economic inequalities that increase the crisis. In The Guide when Raju didn't have much money, he has a good relation Volume XXI Issue V Version I 47 ( ) with Gaffur, the taxi-driver but when he started living a luxury life with Rosie's money then, "I was on back-slapping terms with two judges, four eminent politicians of the district whose ward could bring ten thousand votes at any moment for any cause, and two big textile-mill owners, a banker, a municipal councillor, and the editor of The Truth." (Narayan,195) Raju simply addressed that these people are playing with power and politics and having a good relationship with them makes anything easy.

"I liked to hobnob with them because they were men of money or influence." (Narayan,195) In the third world, these politicians or leaders are mainly found in parties or clubs. Normal people only found them before the vote but not in their dying needs. Like the time the Mangla village are suffering from drought but no political leaders are found to help them-"The village street looked deserted. Children played about in the road dust, because the master had gone to town with a petition for relief addressed to the revenue authorities, and so the day school was closed." (Narayan,97) The common conception of the social link in the Third World is the root of the problem.

ii. Third World Nationalism in Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian. Syed Waliullah set the book The Ugly Asian is in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The book mainly focuses on politics in a newly independent country that got freed from colonial claws. Waliullah presents third world nationalism as people from the lower class to the upper class who are tangled with the government and their westernized ideology.

"one thing a newly independent country never lacks: reasons for attacking the ruling party. If a government did not practice nepotism and corruption, there were the centuries-old problems of poverty and backwardness to throw at it." (Waliullah,25) The newly independent country that just started walking like a baby cannot work properly as the situation of the world does not allow it. The lower-class people who mainly depend on agriculture or its related work does not know much about politics.

"Here eighty per cent of the people live in villages. They can't read or write. They don't even know what is happening in the next village. Whoever goes to them can get their support." (Waliullah,22) Third World countries people are always fighting against poverty. These people are a marginalized group. Most of them are landless and overworking in other people's land to earn money, to save themselves and their family from starvation. In Waliullah's Nayanchara we see how starving people are going door to door in the search of food, even a young girl is ready to sell her body to buy food for her family. In The Ugly Asian Waliullah gives a note about what Asian thinks, is they think about wealth or communism or hunger... "Their foremost concern is to be free from the most ignoble human conditions: inability to feed themselves and their family, a life under the constant threat of starvation, dying without treatment. Today they live in an open world where nobody can hide his poverty." (Waliullah,178) In Bangladesh, the current poverty rate is 29.05% as many people do not have any job or any land to do farming. The country was fighting against hunger and still, now the situation is the same. "Hunger, Communism's strongest ally and its stalking horse, is amongst us and it is no mood to give us time." (Waliullah,29) From time to time many writers tried to draw their attention to this serious issue. Like Sukanta Bhattacharya a gifted poet and playwright from West Bengal represented the life of the poor in his poems in Bangla literature. In his poem "?? ???? ? ??" ('O Great Life') he defined the suffering of these poor people agony.

In English translation which means "For in the realm of Hunger, the world is prosaic:

The Full Moon appears to be a scorched bread."

This hunger made them somehow corrupted and unethical. Though they gained freedom from the colonial ruler yet some of them still open their hand in front of colonial people. While talking to Ahsan Anderson who is a "political missionary" mentioned that as a Third World country it is the government and its politician's indulgence that made the common people so spineless to take charity.

"I can tell you, you can buy any one of them, any time. Sometimes a refrigerator or a tape recorder or even a promise that a nephew will be sent to the States is enough." (Waliullah,38) Waliullah taunts this class of people who are always eager to take "Western materialistic civilisation" offer from these foes in the disguise of "friends". Despite knowing that the "civilized" people treat the Third World country as a beggar and jungle. After colonialism, the "civilized" people behaviour toward us did not change as But it is not the colonial people's fault how they see us. It is also the hands of our political leaders how they can make our life economically balanced. Because-"When a leader is disinterested in his own country, he always gets surrounded by people who are interested only in one thing: to serve themselves." (Waliullah,15) But the problem is, after winning the election most of these people became "??? ? ?? ? ? ? ? ? ? " which means invisible or rare objects. They rarely find if the mass people need them because most of the time they are engaged in "nation-building tasks" in their cabinet or party. They belonged from the elite class of the country "...who are no longer villagers but owners of business and property and who ride flashy cars, hate the stinking ponds of villages, dirt roads, malaria and spiders." (Waliullah,22) Waliullah even speaks about the taboo topic, the military force. The Third World depends on the military who are the defenders of nationalism. The military service is inherently unjust and unfair, and it can only work with a sense of civil peace as long as it is dependent on a powerful leader with whom the country's population can agree.

"The army had a fine tradition of discipline and loyalty from generals down to the ranks." (Waliullah,87) Thus, we need leaders like Abdur Rab or Ahsan or Tini who is not a perfect personality but wants to free the hungry Asian, ignore the religious indifference to save the country's freedom. They know, "they had gained freedom but in no time the country had slipped back into slavery, slavery of a kind which was deceptive in appearances. One did not easily see its real form but once one did see, one began to feel hurt." (Waliullah,65) Third World countries are not so rich and get fewer opportunities to do better in life as they are choked with problems in the newly colonized country. In both R. K. Narayan's, The Guide and Syed Waliullah's expresses how the colonial people try to "convert the backward people" either religiously or politically. The common people both intentionally or unintentionally follow them. We need to get aware of this. As a part of the developing country, we need to free the business and industries free from the corrupted governments and focus on the nation to be a nationalist.


# d) Comparison of Two Books

A comparative study refers to two or more items or concepts that are analyzed and compared. It is used to show that one can examine, compare, and contrast different subjects or ideas. Bukhari explains one can take two books or two historical figures or two politicians and "analyze them and highlights the significant differences with multiple perspectives in order to draw conclusions based on research." (2) The main focus of this study to see whether two subjects are completely contradictory or if they're extensions of one another. For comparative study, R. K. Narayan's The Guide and Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian chose to focus on nativism or nationalism in both books. These literary works of authors also belong to South Asian literature which is written in English. In this comparative study, we are focusing on the economic, political systems, the complex relation of the characters and their developments, postcolonial effects etc. i. Class/Caste R.K. Narayan displayed a new notion in his writing by exposing a different attitude toward the class system and the "caste" system. Narayan uses subtle humor to make a lucid flow to present the narrative style of story-telling while centering on the special class. Dieter Riemenschneider mentions Narayan's particular class as "...his sharp focus on the Indian middle-class" The middleclass people whose main focus is on the working place and their household work. The protagonist of the novel Raju belongs from a middleclass family whose father loves to chat with the village people. Narayan pointed out how middle-class people maintaining social connection as in the novel Raju says his father-"loved to discuss with them the price of grain, rainfall, harvest, and the state of irrigation channels." (Narayan,20) Their social status is not so good, as we see Raju commented on how his father obeyed the stationmaster and his view for his shop. This class is not so blessed by society as their economic power is weak, like the boy who once read with Raju in the old pyol school became the clerk in Albert Mission. One incident took place in the third chapter after the arriving of the train. Many "important folk" present on that inauguration day like the collector, police superintendent, municipal chairman, businessman who present there attended as the chief guest but common people like Raju were not allowed to be there.

"The police guarded the platform and did not allow the crowds in. I felt cheated by this. I felt indignant that anyone should prohibit my entry to the platform." (Narayan,38) He further mentions that somehow, he managed to get close to the train and expressed that maybe he was too small to get noticed. Is it a simple expression from Raju or a big statement from Narayan that maybe the middle-class people are so small and tiny to get noticed by the big rich class? Talking of which Narayan mentions how the creditor Sait behaviour changed after knowing that Raju lost his shop and brought his ledger book to collect the old accounts because But things started changing for Raju as he hit a fortune with Rosie's talent and earning money. The fate changes as Raju has power, money and now belongs to the upper class. He forgot the pain and agony of middle-class people, behaved like a rich brat and started insulting this unprivileged class even his father.

"My father had designed this house for a shopkeeper, not for a man of consequence and status who had charge of a growing celebrity." (Narayan,191) He even appointed "a young graduate from the local college," (Narayan,193) for dealing with his work. Narayan, a man who wrote many stories where he stands against the caste system and makes the reader question whether it is really necessary to follow the ageold tradition to divide humans. Narayan has promoted his modernism by showing how Raju was against the caste system. When he meets Rosie, he gets attracted. And Rosie who belongs to a lower caste questions him if he is aware of her class. He answered, "The finest, whatever it may be, and I don't believe in class or caste. You are an honour to your caste, whatever it may be." (Narayan,88) Another leading Indian author is Mulk Raj Anand who is the contemporary writer of R. K. Narayan who sees dramas of classless and casteless Indian society. In his novel Untouchable says, "Well, we must destroy caste, we must destroy the inequalities of birth and unalterable vocations. We must recognize an inequality of rights, privileges, and opportunities for everyone." (Narayan,155) Narayan also believes in the same thing. Though Raju's view toward Rosie is different in the eyes of Marco, Rosie's husband and Raju's mother is the same as most of the people who judge someone for their caste and class. It is judging someone because they are born in another caste or other class. Rosie Narayan wants to feel the pain of those who were not born in the low caste. The agony is in Rosie's voice, how people treated her caste, herself-"We are viewed as public women," she said plainly, and I was thrilled to hear the words. "We are not considered respectable; we are not considered civilized." (Narayan,88) She is educated, beautiful, skilful in all sectors yet Marco prohibited Rosie from dancing despite knowing that she belongs to that caste that serves God by dancing, mocking it as "streetacrobatics." Raju's mother also asked Rosie, "Are you of our caste?" (Narayan, 174) And taunted her as snake women knowing her class. In his other novel, The Waiting for the Mahatma, the main lead Sriram and his aunty both questioned Bharati that "What caste are you?" or "What is her caste?". Narayan pointed out this caste system, again and again, many times as he wants to see a secular country. He tries to show nativism differently by supporting classless and casteless countries. Syed Waliullah's allegorical novel The Ugly Asian only focuses on politics. In the story, some poor people are starving for food, politicians who play with the common people's fate, academics who do nothing without a wordy game and revolutionaries who want a secular new country. They associate with other Americans, including a visiting journalist, technical specialist, ambassador, and intelligence officer, as well as a Peace Corps volunteer. In the basic class system, there are elite class, middle class and lower class which we also see in the novel, The Ugly Asian.

The elite class people are living in luxury, they don't have any financial problems and have the power to manage everything. For them, the country and its activity do not matter. We see Nanavi belongs to this class, as a prime minister he has plenty of money. His suits sewed from London, his children went to England for schooling and owned a sixteen-century house. His interest is in gulping whisky, quoting from English novels and failing to raise interest for his country's future.

"When a leader is disinterested in his own country, he always gets surrounded by people who are interested only in one thing: to serve themselves." (Waliullah,15) People like him should be left with the British when they are departing and live with them permanently in a foreign country. Because they are "nationalist and had no idea of the aspirations, idols and needs of the people who had attained independence after some centuries." (Waliullah,16) We also see Abdul Haq, Mrs Krim and Idris who belong to the Asian country but love to be with the colonizers. They are financially strong but love to spend the money to please foreigners. "Hosts of this country often tended to be over-hospitable" (Waliullah,86) They can help the poor with this money but choose not to do so. Also, they wish to live in America as it is a First World country.

Then there are middle-class people like Abdur Rab, Ahsan, Maniruddin and many characters like them. These people represent the middle class who consists of briefless lawyers, small politicians, small shopkeepers, teachers etc. They are earning money but not much as they have to pay taxes and have a family to manage. These people don't want to go against the government or any protest because they are "tied up in government jobs which are very dear to them." (22) At last, the people who live a day to day earning life. These people are living at the bottom line of the economic and social pyramid. The lower-class people mostly live in village life, focusing on agriculture or construction workers. industrial project but not on agriculture. One mentioned, "Electricity! One cannot eat electricity. All this is for the rich people in the town so that at night their wives can see themselves better in the mirror." (Waliullah,55) This shows that growing food is more important rather than making more clothes or industries. He urged that "We must concentrate on our villagers who form the bulk of our country's population." (30). These people are easy to handle. They have constant pressure from the landowner and also from the government policy which makes them "tough as well as cunning." And he commented-"There nobody dared to go about wearing a face free from cares and woes, and one learnt while young to discard all joviality and cheerfulness." (Waliullah,24) Since we are brown, the East India Company considered us as slaves when they invaded the subcontinent. They used a divide-and-rule strategy to keep the Asians under pressure. Waliullah presents the colonizers who present a whole new class of politics, using people and destroying the country. They treat poor people who worked under them very badly. As we can see in the novel, the Koka River Hydroelectric Project which is led by the Americans are exploiting Asian peasants.

"Hidden in the depth of the rolling jungle, hundreds of barebacked, bare-footed sweating man worked from dawn to dusk and again from dust to dawn, in shifts and round the clock, under the scorching sun or glaring floodlights." (Waliullah,50) The pain and agony the poor people face because they are ruled by the corrupted government who wants to have a good and healthy friendship with the colonizers.

Ramayan and Waliullah both know that the class and caste system is not good for society and also stopped the wheel of development. To have a balanced society the government need to take steps to help the low class and villagers first and create a balanced economical system that will be free from the colonial chain.

ii. Postcolonialism R. K. Narayan is a postcolonial writer who wrote his masterpiece The Guide as a postcolonial novel in which the author examines India from an Indian point of view. Postcolonial writings aim to revive ethnic cultures, customs, values, and languages, among other things with the touch of colonial effect which is the deconstruction of colonialism after the colonial period. In the beginning, we see Raju's father's concern for Raju that if he goes to Albert Mission school. It is like a factory of changing people's minds. He thought that if he sends Raju over there, then they will gonna brainwash him-"I don't want to send my boy there; it seems they try to convert our boys into Christians and are all the time insulting our gods." " (Narayan,27) Then later we see Joseph who is at least sixty years old and a Christian. Narayan draws attention to the people that how colonialism changed people by providing food to the hungry or money to the poor.

He must be at least sixty years old." "How has he come to be a Christian?" "There was a mission somewhere here; missionaries go and settle down in all sorts of places, you know," I said. (Narayan,79) They are colonialist ideology's victims. But Narayan wants to reinforce the new India. He asked to follow their modern thoughts but not forget or cut the roots. He is not rejecting Westernization and also modernising tradition and culture. We come to see the colonial effect the first time when we hear the lead character's name, "Rosie. Why did she call herself Rosie? She did not come from a foreign land. She was just an Indian, who should have done well with Devi, Meena, Lalitha, or any one of the thousand names we have in our country. She chose to call herself Rosie." (Narayan,9) Her name is Anglo and westernized, not used without any reason as R. K. Narayan is aware that it will be asked by many why Rosie? He knows there will be problems that will arise in the tradition changing process. But as a modernist, he wants to revive cultural thought.

"The interface between traditions and modernity is mediated with characteristic irony. Narayan is interested in looking at the extent to which the cultural life of the past can be viably integrated with the post-independence reality of India" (Sen 117).

In the novel, Narayan mentioned how others are scared of colonialism if anyone tries to choose their modern thinking. During the first meet with Rosie, Raju's mother welcomed her with a smile but when she knew Rosie's name she was surprised because of the westernisation as "She expected a more orthodox name. She looked anguished for a moment, wondering how she was going to accommodate a "Rosie" in her home." (Narayan,145) It's not easy for any common people to accept other cultures or their etiquettes. The nativist thoughts hold them to do so. The same case with Raju's mother. She behaves nice to her and gives her shelter. This is what an old cultural and traditional nativist portrayed by Raju's mother. She is afraid of changes and does not support extramarital affairs and "live-in relationships" but at the same time, she received the guest.

"A guest was a guest, even though she might be a Rosie." (Narayan,146)  Nationalism in R.K Narayan's The Guide' and Syed Waliullah's 'The Ugly Asian': A Comparative Study see when the government put more emphasis on the Narayan's eyes. Raju's mother mention's "mythological stories of Savitri, Seetha" (indeed a nativist) try to change both Raju and Rosie but in Rosie's mind the example came is not from any mythological character or religious heroine. She remembers "Desdemona", a character of greatest dramatist William Shakespeare's play Othello.

"I felt too hurt. I thought that Othello was kindlier to Desdemona. But I bore everything." (Narayan,157) To express her emotion, she compared herself with Desdemona but also mentioned that she is not as lucky as her. Narayan with his modernized work also mentions two colonial people, one is Robert Clive who did a lot for Malgudi and is remembered by the people of it.

"The man left behind by Robert Clive to administer the district. He built all the tanks and dams and developed this district. Goodman. Hence the statue." (Narayan,142) Another one is James J. Malone, a producer from California with whom Raju had a conversation. Here few things are noticeable that James is not here to tape his heroic behavior. to make the world know about Raju's nationalism. He wants to "shoot this subject" and make money by watching his people. Raju has faith in his God and thus he continues his fast knowing that it could kill him. His devotion mixed with nationalism shows in the interview-"Do you expect to have the rains by then?" "Why not?" "Can fasting abolish all wars and bring world peace?" "Yes." "Do you champion fasting for everyone?" "Yes." "What about the caste system? Is it going?" "Yes." (Narayan,252) Then when James, a foreigner asks if fasting can bring peace. He says yes as fasting makes you realize how it feels to be hungry. And at last, mention how the caste system still exists.

Syed Waliullah starts The Ugly Asian with a newly independent country that separated herself from the grasps of neo-colonialism and still tries to free herself from the colonial past. The novel is not like a perfect novel but a commentary on the political incidents that took place in the unnamed country. It talks about politics, the government and international alignments with powerful countries with a small country. Many colonial people are coming to this land for political, industrial or to teach people about their religion. Johnson, an American journalist, starts his journey to Asia by questioning this very mysterious topic.

"Where do you find a country?and where does it begin?" (Waliullah,10) The American journalist starts to find out why the previous government run by Nanavi failed in the election. The American's think that they must show the Asians that they want a friendly country as they "stand for: "human dignity, freedom and justice." (Waliullah,14). But the truth is they want to uproot any kind of communism from the Asian country. The common and poor people of Asia do not know what Communism is and who is behind or against it. They are only afraid of hunger. Waliullah says, "One thing our people are afraid of is dying of starvation." (Waliullah,43) An imaginary conversation between an Asian peasant and an American is shown at the end. The dialogue is- The American: I'm helping you guys to increase the yield of your rice production. ? The peasant: Then they too will let my children die of starvation?

The American: (impatiently) Food isn't everything. A man needs more than that, doesn't he? (Waliullah,177) How does an American know why food is everything as they never feel hunger? They have the privilege to live and lead a luxury life. Thus, they want to educate us, either it's about AntiCommunism or democracy. Like Anderson who is a political missionary.

"He sat out from his country to convert the backward people, not to any religion but a political concept: democracy" (Waliullah,37) They think they can buy these backward people with a materialistic thing like a refrigerator or taperecorder or simple promise to send their any relative to the States. "...given an opportunity, they did not hesitate to take full advantage of all that Western materialistic civilization had to offer." (Waliullah,35) Of course, there are people like Nanavi, the old prime minister who adores America and always chooses their aid for his country. After independence, it was his and his cabinet members responsibility to run the country.

"...their survival depended on complete identification with the master's way of life, their entire language, entire wardrobe, their hobbies and even dreams became that of the colonizer." (Waliullah,34) But Nanavi had exercised no authority, no imagination of free country from slavery and shouldered no responsibility to free the people from foreign affairs. He and his government tried to train people to serve the colonizers. Nanavati's poor vision for his own country makes the writer say that "He should have left with the departing British to live permanently in his sixteen-century English house." (Waliullah,16) Volume XXI Issue V Version I 52 ( ) Even the new Prime Minister, Abdul Qader is not so different. He wants to cooperate with America because of the money they provide to him. He thinks that America will survive without a small Asian country but "Without you, we would be lost," (Waliullah,28) Then America wants to help the feudalistic group so they can become capitalists. And if anyone means any colonies want freedom from these bloodsucking colonizers, then the West killed them too. Ahsan mentions how the British, the French and the Portuguese killed more people than the Communist. Ank asked Johnson to explain-"Can you explain why you massacred the Red Indians or the Tasmanian primitives? Can you explain why you dropped that cruel bomb on the Japanese when they were about to surrender?" (Waliullah,44) The colonizers only care about people bowing to them. They fill the desire to save their country and system by defeating communism, expanding the capitalism system, increasing their defense line. Their "plans and submarines" are moving all the time in the sky of other countries which is "full with the deadliest and most destructive weapons." (Waliullah,47) "All that interests you is the creation of a class which will understand you and support you and strengthen the hands of those who share your ideas. Then you also want us to fight your enemy who has done us no harm and give our life for something which we do not possess." (Waliullah,43) We see how they try to control those who will plot against the colonizers. When Abdur Rab wanted to investigate the Koka River Hydroelectric Project and printings handbill, it was the Ambassador who called the Prime Minister to stop it.

But one must admit that all the colonizers are not bad. We see Andrew who is a Peace Corps member and comes here to educate people. He also helps Amjad when his mother is sick. But the problem is they are looking for men who will be progressive and nationalist and at the same time will take orders from colonizers. But a true nationalist like Abdur Rab and Ahsan will never fulfil their requirements. Thus, Waliullah says in The Ugly Asian, "We want to be completely free so as to be able to solve our colossal poverty and backwardness in the most rational way." (Waliullah,114) iii. Women

The Guide focuses on the protagonist of the novel, Railway Raju. He and his journey is the centre of attraction but at the same time, the female characters are transformed into the background. From the start, we see Velan's sister who is "a young girl of fourteen" and is not ready to get married. Two things at the same time, 1. child marriage and 2. marriage against her will. Back in the 1950s, it was normal to marry a female child at an early age like 10-12. But Velan's sister already crossed the age line and fussed around not to get married which makes Velan unhappy.

"He looked significantly at his difficult sister, and she bowed her head in shame." (23) Raju manages to understand her and makes her realise to get married to the groom. The reader gets to the position and situation of women in the cultural and traditional society in the first chapter. Then we meet Raju's mother who is the typical Indian woman who lives with her husband and son, Raju. She did all the work just like a common housewife. As a traditional woman, she waits for her husband's arrival and after his feeding, she feeds herself. Sen (1993) explains this as "a general valorization of motherhood as the creator and protector of the sanctuary of the home, as the good and chaste wife, and as the iconic representation of the nation derived from classical mythology." (231).

In the novel, we see how she is waiting for Raju's father and send Raju to call him, "After a while my mother's voice came gently on the night air, calling, "Raju, Raju," and my father interrupted his activities to look at me and say, "Tell your mother not to wait for me." (Narayan,20) After confirming from him, she eats her food and "She sat at my side, awaiting Father's return." She is happy with the way she is living as she compromised with her fate. Raju's mother is a traditional woman who refused to go public because of the society who pressed the responsibility of "true womanhood" on her shoulder.

"In our day we wouldn't go to the street corner without an escort. And I have been to the market only once in my life when Raju's father was alive." (Narayan,146) The culture and tradition prohibited her to go outside and see the world. But when she met Rosie things started changing in her short-viewed world. Rosie presents her name with a westernized memsahib name but wearing a traditional saree. Raju's mother heard this kind of name for the first time and was in shock about how to manage with her. Then she comes to know that Rosie is educated and her expression-"She is an M.A." "Good, good, brave girl. Then you lack nothing in the world. You are not like us uneducated women." (Narayan,147) Education is for everyone. It is not for any typical gender or any class. But at the post Independence time in India, many believed that why should women need to read and write. They are not going anywhere, not need to buy their "their railway ticket, call a policeman if somebody worries you" (Narayan, 147) as there will be a male person to escort you outside. They thought if women get an education, they will become independent and will be arrogant. Like-Volume XXI Issue V Version I 53 ( ) "Just as an old, uneducated wife is better than the new type of girl. Oh, modern girls are very bold." (119)

The character Gaffur represents the common masses of India. They are not so literate and do not know the value of education. They know the wife should stay at home, cook, raise children and will dye inside the pyol. But if women receive education then they will raise their voice for their rights. As a result, they are afraid to educate women. According to Samita Sen "Some even felt that formal education was inappropriate for women since colonial education, with its westernizing influence, would corrupt the 'pure tradition' of 'true womanhood' and would divert women from the fulfilment of their primary roles as wives and mother." (Sen, N D) From childhood, the family teaches the female child that when she grows up, she needs to be a perfect wife, a perfect mother, a perfect and traditional homemaker. In the novel just like the way Raju's mother is. Perfect housewife material. Raju's mother behavior towards Rosie soon changes when she comes to know that Rosie is not as "traditional" as the other girls in the novel. She is educated, loves her art and is not afraid to show it in front of the world. Being orthodox thus she tells Raju to leave Rosie-"You can't have a dancing girl in your house. Every morning with all that dancing and everything going on! What is the homecoming to?" (Narayan,158) Rosie who by birth belongs to the traditional dancing family. from a very young age, she is dancing. She told Raju that "I belong to a family traditionally dedicated to the temples as dancers; my mother, grandmother, and, before her, her mother." (Narayan,88) "The question was, whether it would be good to marry so much above our wealth and class. But all the women in my family were impressed, excited that a man like him was coming to marry one of our class, and it was decided that if it was necessary to give up our traditional art, it was worth the sacrifice." (Narayan,89) Thus, she sacrifices herself but later when Marco finds out she is adultery, he starts ignoring her and treating her like an object. Then she left her and went to Raju to pursue her dream, adopting a new name and identity as Nalini. From Rosie to Nalini, she is presenting the modernization of women in India. In the new Independent nation, a woman should have the rights to what she wants to be, what she wants to do. That is what Narayan wants us to see. A woman who is capable of taking care of herself, and Raju, fighting against the social norms, earning to bail Raju yet holding her roots and culture, like a nationalist who manages herself and her country.

Raju's mother with the zeal of xenophobia shows deep-rooted biases and prejudices towards Rosie who as a young woman represents, particularly modernity and westernisation. Here Narayan makes us witness the conflict between the traditional nativist Hindu woman and the new westernized-thinking woman, a provoking thought to give us a clear view of nationalism through women.

In Bangladesh, it is a very common scene that women are dominated, abused and misused by man. Both in rural life and city life, we see that man is practising patriarchy both private and publicly. In the family, women are doing household chores which is a non-recognition and unpaid work done at home. On the outside, women are also dominated by men economically and politically which shows public patriarchy. Syed Waliullah portrayed women differently.


# His book

The Ugly Asian is recognized as a political allegory, presents two types of an Asian woman. One of them is Tini who loves her country and does anything for the welfare of her nation, on the other hand, there is Mrs Krim who can do anything for her benefits.

At the beginning of the novel, we introduced Tini, daughter of Abdul Haq who "hid a pathetic desire to please the American" (10). Tini's father hosts a party so he can entertain them and build a good relationship with America. He also tries his children to mingle with Johnson, the American journalist for the upcoming "friendship" from America. But Tini is different from her father. She knows her country is economically weak and cannot feed her millions of children regularly yet she loves her motherland. And she thinks "it's a funny kind of love" and explains that "It's funny because it comes through a conscious and painful effort. It hurts us to love our country and to be proud of it." (Waliullah,8) Waliullah presents her as a brave young lady. She visits Johnson and tells him how her brother is dead and how the government is killing people like her brother to hide their sinister work. She tells Johnson that her country can do fine without them. Because the charity which America is doing in our country is for its benefit. She says-"Every now and then we are reminded of the fact that without your aid and help the country will simply collapse. Your country has a stake here and you need our people's sympathy. If you think that you can do without it, you are mistaken." (Waliullah,109) Volume XXI Issue V Version I Rosie's mother was a modern woman. She knew that her caste would be a thorn for Rosie. As they "viewed as public women," because they danced in temples and male got attracted by it. Society thus does not treat them well, as a woman they get crushed by society. That's why when Rosie gets the chance to marry Marco, she does. Not because of Marco's wealth but because of someone from a higher class who agreed to marry a devadasi, a lower class and lower caste woman.

This shows Tini's thought for the newly independent Asian country. She is not weak and not afraid. She knows what her country is and why it is necessary for people who recently got freedom from the colonial claws.

"We want nothing but freedom. We want to manage our own affairs the way we like." (Waliullah,106) With her rising voice, Waliullah wants to tell all the colonial rulers who eyed in our country from sitting at the power position that maybe our people are hungry and unemployed but it's our problem. She reminds one of R. K. Narayan's character Bharati from Waiting for the Mahatma who takes part in the Gandhian movement. Tini is also like Bharati who tries to take her country's decisions on their way. Tini then declared to Johnson that they formed a party to fight against this corrupted government and colonial force-"We have formed a new party. It is called the Freedom Party. People of various shades of opinion are in it, including members of the National Democratic Party." (Waliullah,106) This party is important for Tini and all the people of Asian countries as there is only one goal for this party: Freedom for the country. In many Bangali literature, we see authors do not give enough space to create a strong female character who supports her country and fights for her freedom. Even the colonizer Johnson thought-"Johnson looked at Tini's small face and her little form and wondered if it was not tragic that such a young girl, instead of enjoying all that youth had to offer, should get involved in a matter to her was a romantic ideal even if it burnt her up? Certainly, she little suspected the chicanery, falsehood, and even sometimes inhuman breast quality that went with it." (Waliullah,106) But in the end, she died, "a bullet hit her this afternoon. She died an hour ago" (Waliullah,168). The pain, the suffering she goes through earlier not going in vain. Her death is not meaningless. It gives others a message to fight back for the country.

Waliullah also presents the foil character, Mrs Krim, thirty-five years old and very talkative. She loves to talk to Americans and deliver messages from one side to another. She introduces herself-"Mrs Krim. Like Crim but with a K" (Waliullah,17). You may think of why it is Krim, not Karim. Why the weird pronunciation. She explains why she calls herself Mrs Krim. "Actually, it should be Karim but I hate vowels. You may call me Doll. That's my other name, I mean, nickname." (Waliullah,17) To some extent, you know that in Bangladesh Karim is a very common name and in every ten houses, you will find a Karim. Maybe that's the reason she changes her name, her identity. She is not like our traditional woman. She is like those leeches who are parasites, lives on other people's bodies and sucks their blood. When Johnson said that she born here and belong here, she said-"Unfortunately, I do. But that doesn't mean I would stay here a minute if some village idiots start running amuck all over my country, nicely messing it up. No, I would pack and go." (Waliullah,18) Mrs Krim lives in our country and at the same time, she always tries to settle in America. She is not fond of her motherland. Because she thinks our country is poor and the country people are jungli. She even dares to utter that she will settle in a good countryside in America-"To England. No. They are getting horribly middle-classy there, Perhaps, I should go to your country." (Waliullah,18) She is a true anti-nationalist. In the whole novel, she tries to prove herself a fan of America and the government. She took passive action in the killing of four army officers. Mrs Krim finds those people guilty who participate in the protest. In which the government killed those who wanted to protest against them. She thinks these people are unloyal and they should be caught by the government. Thus, she convinced her young Army friend to get other protesters caught-if "If I had not been able to convince him of the folly they were going to commit, he would not have mentioned it to the higher-ups, for he hates to tell on anybody." (Waliullah,9394) By doing this she thinks she and her army friend are nationalist. She saved her friend and, in her words, "also saved my country". But the reality is she is a coward and belongs to those classes who love to be chained as long as a hand is feeding them. These types of people are passive colonial and anti-nationalist.

Narayan and Waliullah make us see through Rosie and Tini that one can follow her heart and hold her tradition at the same time as modernizing herself and a person who loved her country and get nothing without bullets, a true example of nationalism. Because-"We love our country. It's so poor and helpless. That's why we love it." (Waliullah,8) iv. Leader A leader is someone who guides the people, has a clear vision to lead the country, brave enough to make the sacrifice of himself in the need of people. His sincerity and modesty will be the same to all classes of people and take pride in the achievements of those they assist on their journey. In The Guide, we see Raju, the tale of a common man's transformation from a tourist guide to a purified soul. R. K. Narayan presents Indian elements with a touch of modernity in his novel The Guide. In the novel, one who never visits India can easily connect himself with her age-old religious beliefs, values and customs. The main character of the novel Raju is a tour guide before he was a shopkeeper which he owned by generation.

Volume XXI Issue V Version I 55 ( ) His leader behavior we see first when he asks the cowboy to move, "Begone with your cows." (Narayan,25) with an authorial voice. As a tourist guide, he used to give false information and sometimes also mend them just for his fun. So, leading people is easy for him. The time he goes with Marco in the search of cave painting, that time Marco leading him. Then Raju says, "You are leading me!" I said, putting into it all the irony I was capable of." (Narayan, 84) Somehow Raju always loves to lead and be a trendsetter. Then he goes to jail for money laundering. After he comes out of jail, without Rosie, he transforms himself to become a sadhu. Though it was fake at first yet he pretends to be a good one.

Raju being a sadhu tries to change the fate of the village people. He orders the villagers to send their boys to school, "Boys must-read, first. They must, of course, help their parents, but they must also find the time to study." (Narayan,45). He believes that without education one cannot improve himself. He says that he likes to see young boys turn to be literate and intelligent. He also helps Velan's sister to get married. The whole time he used his leadership behavior unknowingly. But when the people come to him, he says beautiful lines to please them, gives away all those fruits which he receives from his followers. He also tries to make people calm in the drought time.

Raju's fate changes when Velan's brother somehow misunderstood Raju's message and interpreted to the village people that he will do fasting to bring rain. At first, he does not want to go with so much hassle. He also tried to realize Velan that he never mentioned to do fasting. But if his fasting can bring rain then "I'm prepared to fast for the sake of your people and do anything if I can help this country-but it is to be done only by a saint. I am no saint."(Narayan, 116) So, Raju told all his sinister movements starting from ends, how he deceived customers who came to visit Malgudi, then how he played with Rosie's trust and misused her money and also how he came to Mangla and faked himself as a sadhu. It is one kind of repentance.

Velan says nothing and mentions that he will never disclose it before anyone. Raju seeing Velan's behavior gets shocked. He ate food for the first three days of fasting. When his stored food finished then he started talking to himself that no fasting will be enough if God does not pour down rain. He says, "No power on earth can save you if you are doomed. Why do you bother me with all this fasting and austerity?" (Narayan,244) The final step of his sage journey takes Raju to the final step of being a leader. On the fourth day when Raju did not have anything to eat, he makes himself to that point where he is ready to chase away the thought of food for the rest of the fasting. As a trickster who faked himself as a sage, it is not easy. But this thought gives a strange feeling which he never felt before. He thought, "If by avoiding food I should help the trees bloom, and the grass grow, why not do it thoroughly?" (Narayan,246). This is the first time he was putting a sincere effort, he is thinking outside of money and love and he was doing something he didn't care about. He starts fasting seriously, day by day he is getting weak. At one point the doctor also says that if he continues then he will die but Raju continues his fast. On the final day, he says, "Velan, it's raining in the hills. I can feel it coming up under my feet, up my legs." (Narayan,256) Raju's journey from a corrupted person to sage points out a common man journey to become a leader. Many days ago, his mother once said the rains will fall for the sake of one decent man somewhere, helping the entire world. To help all the needy he became the one who sacrificed himself. The novel, therefore, ends in the framework of Raju's spiritual growth.

Syed Waliullah is one of those writers who wrote few in their lifetime but the works are a masterpiece on his own. His novel The Ugly Asian is not so conventional a novel but it grasps the attention of the readers. The Ugly Asian have few heroes who manage to take the responsibility to uplift it into the next level.

Firstly, Professor Ahsan is the lonely hero of the novel. He is brave, strong and modest. The first time his name is mentioned in the novel as he is someone who went to jail because of the unpleasant behaviors with the government. Later, Johnson meets him in jail and tells him that some of their people misunderstand Ahsan as a Communist but Johnson thinks of him as a nationalist. In which Ahsan replies that he is a nationalist, and says "I am acquainted with the theory that today no small, backward country can really be independent." (Waliullah,41) Because the International political power does not permit it. But Ahsan wants the country to be independent of foreign interference. Johnson says Ahsan's nationalism is one kind of isolation and there is no wrong with both countries' cooperation. In which Ahsan says that our kind of nationalism rejects collaboration between America and Asian. "There is something very wrong with the motive behind this cooperation. It is really not to help us but to fight with communism." (Waliullah,41) He further mentions that some people will help the American but not all the people are ready for colonizers command. Another hero/leader is Abdur Rab, a politician who wants to change the government for the country's betterment. He thinks that the country has gained freedom but is slipping back into colonizers' feet. He thinks this freedom is a disguise. In the Koka Dam Project, a riot took place and many workers were killed by police. When Abdur Rab asked to investigate, the police also arrested him and put him in jail.

"He wanted to be a buyer and not a beggar, he did not want doles. The country must be made free from Volume XXI Issue V Version I 56 ( ) doles and the humiliation of dependence." (Waliullah,65) And lastly, a female leader who is not less than any male character. Tini denies to hate her country just because it is poor. She thinks that the colonizer approaches politically to take over the country and wants to make themselves again a slave. That's why she became rebellious and does not want any foreign power to control their people and them. "...you love your country because it gives you so much. We love ours because it can't give us anything." (Waliullah,8) R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah both had the vision to make the country free from hunger, corruption and foreign interference. They tried to present their thoughts from these two books.

IV.


# Research Findings a) Discussion

The Guide and The Ugly Asian both writings are a part of South Asian literature. The authors of this novel R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah are deeply connected to their roots. They wrote to enlighten people about child marriages, the importance of education, empowering women, sexual content, politics and certain family issues. Both of the novels are written around the 1960s and thus these books also somehow represent the postcolonial era. By closely analyzing both books here resenting the major findings-

The Guide and The Ugly Asian both show human emotion and pain. Narayan and Waliullah both focus on the lower-class people. These people are living in the bottom line of society and fighting for living daily. In The Guide we can see how Raju is neglected as he belongs to a lower class or Rosie is treated like an untouchable as she is from a lower caste. Or the old schoolmaster who demands food or vegetables as he is not earning a good amount. In The Ugly Asian we see Matin, Jameel or Khaleque and many more who present the people who live below the poverty line and live a daily earning basis. These are certainly the pictures of class struggle of capitalist society, where resources are not equally distributed among the people. As a result we can see an extreme discrimination in the society based on their caste, creed and economic status. Small group of elites enjoy all the privileges and keep exploiting poor people of the society in order to consolidating their dominance. The situation can be explained by Marxist literary theory. Marxism stand against all sorts of discrimination prevailing in the society. It also identifies the elements of oppression through which the ruling elites dominate the marginalized people and make them live in an inhuman condition. The purpose of Marxism is to eliminate economic discrimination among the people of the society where all people can have their rights equally. The intention of our authors is the same. The authors focus on them to make people realize that we should think about our nation as a whole and change our laws and economic system for the progress of these people.

Syed Waliullah was a believer in Marxism and often his writing like Nayanchara, The Ugly Asian focuses on the hungry people of Bengal who are waiting for food but some greedy tyrant holding it loose and using it for their profit. Though Narayan was not a follower nor an enemy of Communism in The Guide a riot happened for the rice as the shopkeeper "holding out for a bigger price." (Narayan,99), so he can earn more. Situations like these raise the question, why is there no balance? Why are some people loaded with food in their storehouse and somewhere the whole village is a shortage of food? "Why would they do such a thing which would be tantamount to snatching away food from the mouths of the desperately hungry people?" (Waliullah,143) Are we anti-nationalist? All the questions by the writers lead us to one answer; equality. We need to create a classless society where everyone will have equal rights in property and production and everyone will consume and contribute by their ability and needs.

As a postcolonial novel, both of the books present the postcolonial effect from the author's point of view. In the context of colonial rule, the writers seek to strengthen their national identity. R. K. Narayan and Syed Waliullah both got inspires and pride in one's traditional customs and culture. The writer focuses on how modernity, industrialization, western thinking became a part of the postcolonial time and the native people mingling with it. Like, in The Guide, the female lead character name is Rosie, a modern name from the West. Though Narayan does not involve the colonizers abused directly but he shows how the colonizers tried to change native people's religion into Christianity or how they try to change the culture of the society. Or the time Ahsan, Tini denying the colonizer approach and wants to create their country by themselves. They do not want any foreign power to control their people and them. In this regard, we can say, long colonial rule is the cause of misery of the Indian people. They suffered for almost 2 centuries in the struggle of independence. However, after achieving the independence, the main challenge appears is to uproot the colonial influences from the mind and create Indianness. This was important because, the colonizers were oppressors. They exploited the people of India for their self gain. They acted against humanity for their personal benefits. Hundreds and thousands of people suffered to arrange the luxury of the Europeans. Europe is standing on the misery of the people their colonies. Indian people became spineless having no self respect and self confidence. This is what colonization do to a nation by occupying not only the land but also the culture and way of thinking. The situation can be described with post Volume XXI Issue V Version I 57 ( ) colonialism. Post colonial writers intended to present the barbarism of the colonizers and pointed out how much suffering they created to these people. It takes long time to eradicate colonial past and become self-reliant for a country. The authors of these two books are such pioneers who shouldered the responsibility the show the path how the marginalized people become selfreliant and build an equality based humanist society. western impact on both countries life and society is very well depicted in the author's novels. Both of the authors are nationalist and try to free people from the colonial grasp thus East-West theme is thus unavoidable in these novels.

Lastly, both books stand for the nation, their people's welfare and development and nationalism. Narayan and Waliullah both show how a true leader thinks about the county and its people. In The Guide, we see Raju who is only thinking about him, goes to jail for money laundering or fooling people by pretending as a sage. But with time and other people devotion towards him makes him change his mind and in the end, he starts fasting without any food or drink to bring down rain. An unselfish task which is not for money or love and the first time in Raju's life he is doing it for his country, a self-sacrificed nationalist. In The Ugly Asian, we see how the lonely hero of the novel Professor Ahsan fails to bring justice for his people, he goes again and again to jail because he raises his voice against the tyrannical government and the American government. Waliullah gives voice to his opinion on International politics and native people. Along with Ahsan, there is Abdur Rab who also goes to jail because of standing with the workingclass people. If some people want to take the common people hostage, exploit the worker or snatch away their goods then there are many people like Rahim, Tini and many more who sacrifice themselves for raising their voice, acting against the country's enemy.

In both novels, the countries are newly independent countries that are trying to develop economically. The people of these countries are living a hard life because of corruption, government, colonizers control. As a result, we see in R. K. Narayan's The Guide and Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian represents nationalists, heroes, with capes, standing against these hyenas to save the common people from their wrath.


# b) Recommendation

There is a famous proverb that says a reader can live thousands of lives before he dies. Reading books can open a whole new world in front of us. R. K. Narayan's The Guide and Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian are two different books. I tried to see both of the books with my point of view and also scholarly papers.

In this paper, The Guide shows the journey of a man from being a trickster and greedy to a monk, a sadhu. A journey of finding oneself and realizing how God created each human being for the betterment of the nation. And in The Ugly Asian, I analyzed it as a political novel on an imaginative country that tries to free itself from colonialism's grips.

Here my main focus was on those common men who do not have any backup, any planes or bombs or any military power yet they are raising their voice, going in front of the enemy's bayonet rifles only for freedom. I tried to analyze two different genre books on their social, political views, human development, colonizers, industrialization and complexities of human emotion through nationalism.

Firstly, I must recommend all to read the main books first. If you want to learn more with the help of other researchers' point of view then I will suggest you read it. And then of course to those who are reading BA Honors in English Literature and South Asian Literature. They can use this paper to analyze more and add more value to their papers.

Recommending all this paper who loves her country despite how much the country can offer, to those who want to search oneself and to those who love reading books and papers.

V.


# Conclusion

Bangladesh and India, two newly independent Asian countries, are victims of international supremacy, which has lowered people's self-esteem. Syed Walimullah and RK Narayan both wrote in the wake of colonialism's end. Both novels look at the minds of ordinary citizens who are influenced by poverty, ignorance, and political dishonesty. The novel also portrays a tension between eastern and western cultures and tries to reconcile them through assimilation.

Raju is the cultural representative of the future, while Rosie is the cultural ambassador of the present. Nanavi and Abdul Qader is anti-nationalist who use politics for their gain, while Professor Ahsan is a selfsacrificing hero who tries to free the country from starvation and politics. R. K. Narayan's The Guide and Syed Waliullah's The Ugly Asian exemplifies nationalism through human complexities with nature, restoring businesses and industries from corrupted regimes and concentrating on the country to build a successful and independent nation.


			© 2021 Global Journals Nationalism in R.K Narayan's The Guide' and Syed Waliullah's 'The Ugly Asian': A Comparative Study
			"We are so microscopic that they don't see us. They only see half-naked, poor, illiterate and terribly backward masses."(Waliullah, 118)   
			"They can't read or write. They don't know what is happening in the next village."(Waliullah,22) 
		
		
			
			
			

				


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		Patterns of Story-Telling in R. K. Narayan's the Guide
		
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		Influence of Bengali Nationalism and the Emergence of Independent Bangladesh in 1971
		
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		Representing the 'Other': The Politics of Nation and Gender in R. K. Narayan's 'the Guide
		
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		Hindu Mythology in R.K. Narayan's the Guide
		
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