Double decker Bond
Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder
And stories lie in the words of the narrator
There's something about Ruskin Bond's stories that make us pick his book again and again.
Having read his two books, Delhi Is Not Far, and Railway Stories - a collection of stories around the Indian Railways, I wondered why and how does Ruskin manage to weave the simplest of incidents into a fantastic paragraph that makes the reader seem he is reading a fantasy book.
In Delhi Is Not Far, Arun, a struggling writer, befriends the barber, Deep Chand, a leper, Suraj, Pitamber, wrestler and a prostitute, K, and like a colorful mural, he paints a mosaic of stories around them. The Mohalla, a chowkidaar, Arun's patience with Suraj's fist and his deep affection for the prostitute. Arun's life at People-nagar (Pipalnagar) is far from interesting. The dusty roads where people exist comes alive in these 100 odd pages.
And in the Indian Railway Stories, Ruskin makes us fall in love with the steam engine all over again. Suraj's excitement that makes the train seem like a dragon breathing fire is my favorite story followed by The Eyes Have It, where the protagonist innocently flirts with a lady passenger, and Time Stops at Shamli, a life beyond a small station that unravels eccentric and queer characters: Daya Ram, the dancer,Miss Leeds, the pianist, Mr. Lin. The Tonga wala who warns, once you visit Shamli, it is difficult to leave. Ruskin's streams sprinkle water at the readers; the Siwaliks and the hills make our knees hurt and his lovelorn narrative about Sharmila make our heart yearn.
Ruskin Bond is not one of those travelers who scurry from place to place and tickmark the places. Instead, he writes about the stations, the tales that he prepares with commoners and the timeless love that he gently stokes the fuel of the purposelessness: the in-betweens.
And stories lie in the words of the narrator
There's something about Ruskin Bond's stories that make us pick his book again and again.
Having read his two books, Delhi Is Not Far, and Railway Stories - a collection of stories around the Indian Railways, I wondered why and how does Ruskin manage to weave the simplest of incidents into a fantastic paragraph that makes the reader seem he is reading a fantasy book.
In Delhi Is Not Far, Arun, a struggling writer, befriends the barber, Deep Chand, a leper, Suraj, Pitamber, wrestler and a prostitute, K, and like a colorful mural, he paints a mosaic of stories around them. The Mohalla, a chowkidaar, Arun's patience with Suraj's fist and his deep affection for the prostitute. Arun's life at People-nagar (Pipalnagar) is far from interesting. The dusty roads where people exist comes alive in these 100 odd pages.
And in the Indian Railway Stories, Ruskin makes us fall in love with the steam engine all over again. Suraj's excitement that makes the train seem like a dragon breathing fire is my favorite story followed by The Eyes Have It, where the protagonist innocently flirts with a lady passenger, and Time Stops at Shamli, a life beyond a small station that unravels eccentric and queer characters: Daya Ram, the dancer,Miss Leeds, the pianist, Mr. Lin. The Tonga wala who warns, once you visit Shamli, it is difficult to leave. Ruskin's streams sprinkle water at the readers; the Siwaliks and the hills make our knees hurt and his lovelorn narrative about Sharmila make our heart yearn.
Ruskin Bond is not one of those travelers who scurry from place to place and tickmark the places. Instead, he writes about the stations, the tales that he prepares with commoners and the timeless love that he gently stokes the fuel of the purposelessness: the in-betweens.
Comments
Post a Comment