Established along the banks of river Sarayu, Malgudi is a typical south Indian village. Although the protagonists and plots differ greatly, ranging from the life of a 10-year old boy to a snake charmer, or from a postman to a vendor of pipes or a goat herder, the focus of the tales never shift from their fundamental motif. The quintessence of the books lies in the routine lives of ordinary people, quotidian issues among family members, sundry cultural inhibitions, and social taboos synchronous to the mid-nineties.