The Vendor of Sweets (1967), by R. K. Narayan, is the biography of a fictional character named Sri K. V. Jagan who is a sweet vendor of (a fictional Indian town) Malgudi. The story beautifully reflects his conflict with his estranged son and how he finally leaves for renunciation, overwhelmed by the sheer pressure and monotony of his life.
The novel was produced into Mithaivalla, part of the Hindi TV series, Malgudi Days, and was subsequently dubbed into English. The Vendor of Sweets tells about the relationship between a father and a son after the death of the mother.
Jagan is the protagonist of this novel. Mali is the son of Jagan. The major theme of this novel is the generational gap. As Jagan was a traditional one, he doesn't let Mali engage in things that were against the tradition and it creates conflict between both of them.
