What image of India and its people is depicted through the novel A Tiger for Malgudi?

The complex image of small-town Indian life that R. K. Narayan presents in A Tiger for Malgudi shows distinct differences between mundane practical realities and spiritual devotion. Because they fear the tiger, the townspeople try to use practical means to stop it from behaving according to its nature. However, the political and administrative hierarchy blocks rather than aids them from accomplishing their goals.
Instead, they must turn to a person who can connect to the tiger on a spiritual level. The harmony that the sannyasi achieves with the animal originates in his recognizing their shared qualities. Although the tiger seems to have been tamed while living with the sannyasi, if released, he would resume his wild ways and so must live out his days in captivity.
Human beings, Narayan suggests, can coexist with nature if they respect its ways—ultimately, however, efforts to conquer it will be futile. The author seems to place greater trust in it than in modernity.