Jagan, the protagonist of R.K. Narayan’s 1967 classic novel The Vendor of Sweets, is a timid, devout 55-year-old widower who runs a booming sweetshop in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi.A man of amusing contradictions, Jagan operates a shop selling sugary confections, yet he lives a highly austere, Gandhian lifestyle and refuses to consume sugar or salt. He tries to abide by the spiritual teachings of the Bhagavad Gita but frequently cuts corners with taxes and hidden ledger books.His central conflict revolves around his deep generation gap with his spoiled, westernized son, Mali. When Mali drops out of college to move to America, and later returns with a business proposal and a half-Korean, half-American wife (Grace), Jagan's traditional world shatters. Overwhelmed by his son's greed and the materialism of the modern world, Jagan eventually leaves his business behind to seek spiritual renunciation.