 In May 2001 , Narayan was hospitalised . A few hours before he was to be put on a ventilator , he was planning on writing his next novel , a story about a grandfather . As he was always very selective about his choice of notebooks , he asked N. Ram to get him one . However , Narayan did not get better and never started the novel . He died on 13 May 2001 , in Chennai at the age of 94 . 
