while vacationing at his sister's house in coimbatore, in 1933, narayan met and fell in love with rajam, a 15-year-old girl who lived nearby. despite many astrological and financial obstacles, narayan managed to gain permission from the girl's father and married her. following his marriage, narayan became a reporter for a madras-based paper called "the justice", dedicated to the rights of non-brahmins. the publishers were thrilled to have a brahmin iyer in narayan espousing their cause. the job brought him in contact with a wide variety of people and issues. earlier, narayan had sent the manuscript of "swami and friends" to a friend at oxford, and about this time, the friend showed the manuscript of "swami and friends" to graham greene. greene recommended the book to his publisher, and it was finally published in 1935. greene also counseled narayan on shortening his name to become more familiar to the english-speaking audience. the book was semi-autobiographical and built upon many incidents from his own childhood. reviews were favourable but sales were few. narayan's next novel "the bachelor of arts" (1937), was inspired in part by his experiences at college, and dealt with the theme of a rebellious adolescent transitioning to a rather well-adjusted adult; it was published by a different publisher, again at the recommendation of greene. his third novel, "the dark room" (1938) was about domestic disharmony, showcasing the man as the oppressor and the woman as the victim within a marriage, and was published by yet another publisher; this book also received good reviews. in 1937, narayan's father died, and narayan was forced to accept a commission from the government of mysore as he was not making any money.