narayan moved to mysore to live with his family when his father was transferred to the maharajah's college high school. the well-stocked library at the school, as well as his father's own, fed his reading habit, and he started writing as well. after completing high school, narayan failed the university entrance examination and spent a year at home reading and writing; he subsequently passed the examination in 1926 and joined maharaja college of mysore. it took narayan four years to obtain his bachelor's degree, a year longer than usual. after being persuaded by a friend that taking a master's degree (m.a.) would kill his interest in literature, he briefly held a job as a school teacher; however, he quit in protest when the headmaster of the school asked him to substitute for the physical training master. the experience made narayan realise that the only career for him was in writing, and he decided to stay at home and write novels. his first published work was a book review of "development of maritime laws of 17th-century england". subsequently, he started writing the occasional local interest story for english newspapers and magazines. although the writing did not pay much (his income for the first year was nine rupees and twelve annas), he had a regular life and few needs, and his family and friends respected and supported his unorthodox choice of career. in 1930, narayan wrote his first novel, "swami and friends", an effort ridiculed by his uncle and rejected by a string of publishers. with this book, narayan created malgudi, a town that creatively reproduced the social sphere of the country; while it ignored the limits imposed by colonial rule, it also grew with the various socio-political changes of british and post-independence india.