The Guide Lesson Plan

How is the story's timeline presented in the first chapter? What is the narrative impact of this mode of introduction to Raju?

The narration moves from the present, where Velan meets Raju, to the past, where Raju is at the barber. We then go back to the present, only for the narration to state in the future tense that Raju will explain his life story to Velan, which leads to a brief introduction of Rosie. Abruptly, we are then brought back into the past and learn about Raju's childhood, only to return to the present and Velan's problem. The use of extra blank lines between paragraphs signifies a timeline change. By jumping between timelines we are able to catch a...