The village Somal, nestling away in the forest tracts of Mempi, had a population of less than three hundred. Its tank, a small expanse of water, right in the middle of the village, served for drinking, bathing, and washing the ISBNUnder the Banyan Tree and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by R. K. Narayan, set in and around the fictitious town of Malgudi in South India. Collection. It was in every way a village to make the heart of a rural reformer sink. The stories range from the