 Narayan 's writing technique was unpretentious with a natural element of humour about it . It focused on ordinary people , reminding the reader of next @-@ door neighbours , cousins and the like , thereby providing a greater ability to relate to the topic . Unlike his national contemporaries , he was able to write about the intricacies of Indian society without having to modify his characteristic simplicity to conform to trends and fashions in fiction writing . He also employed the use of nuanced dialogic prose with gentle Tamil overtones based on the nature of his characters . Critics have considered Narayan to be the Indian Chekhov , due to the similarities in their writings , the simplicity and the gentle beauty and humour in tragic situations . Greene considered Narayan to be more similar to Chekhov than any Indian writer . Anthony West of The New Yorker considered Narayan 's writings to be of the realism variety of Nikolai Gogol . 
