 Bolstered by some of his successes , in 1940 Narayan tried his hand at a journal , Indian Thought . With the help of his uncle , a car salesman , Narayan managed to get more than a thousand subscribers in Madras city alone . However , the venture did not last long due to Narayan 's inability to manage it , and it ceased publication within a year . His first collection of short stories , Malgudi Days , was published in November 1942 , followed by The English Teacher in 1945 . In between , being cut off from England due to the war , Narayan started his own publishing company , naming it ( again ) Indian Thought Publications ; the publishing company was a success and is still active , now managed by his granddaughter . Soon , with a devoted readership stretching from New York to Moscow , Narayan 's books started selling well and in 1948 he started building his own house on the outskirts of Mysore ; the house was completed in 1953 . 
