Minister without portfolio & Korean Grass is a hilarious political farce with R.K. Narayan’s unique satirical touch. The story is a series of funny events that take place around a Minister who happens to hold no portfolio. Having no portfolio also means a minister has no importance. Yet he wants to make himself useful and appear important. The incongruity of his position is reflected in the fact that he has to inaugurate, of all things, a crematorium. With plenty of time on his hands and nothing much to do, the minister plans all kinds of schemes which are of no worth to anyone. One such scheme is that of importing Korean grass, to make the landscape beautiful. His secretary plays along with the minister’s idiotic plans adding to the comical situation. Another one is to investigate the death of a child by a tiger in the zoo. His superiors always thwart the minister’s plan. It ends happily when the Chief Minister’s far off relatives dies, and the Minister without Portfolio has to inaugurate the crematorium with the dead body. He feels important that at least he is inaugurating the crematorium with an important, thigh dead, person.
