What is the setting in the novel, Swami and Friends?

The majority of the novel occurs in the fictional town of Malgudi, in the South of India, in the 1930s. While Malgudi is fictional, it is grounded in realistic details which give it a sense of geography. For instance, at school Swami notes he is learning Tamil, which gives the reader a better sense of where the book is. And the novel shows the political and social climate of India in the 1930s, when resistance to colonialism began to swell with support.