Reading Road to the Bazaar in times of Corona!

There are some days when we want to turn to the familiar and ensconce in that familiar song whose lyrics run on our tongue like butter. One such familiar space is Ruskin Bond (atleast for me!). I don’t want to read about plagues or diseases—nor do I want to escape what’s happening around. But what if you could turn into something familiar such as chewing the edge of your grandmother’s saree or just resting your head on that old cot. It just calms you down from this overload of information of Corona! (Yes, Karthik Aryan, we get it! No more outings and eating comfort food or icecream, outside!)

If you could bring the outside, inside, then pick this book—The Road to the Bazaar by Ruskin Bond. There are a few familiar stories such as The Tunnel. Ranji’s Bat, The Great Train Journey, The Long Day but re-reading them makes it an enjoyable read. Bond paints a picture of Dehra with oil paints that it sits eternally in the heart and in the head. Mukesh Starts a Zoo was one of my favourite stories and it was hilarious to read about the parrot learning hymns to invite audience to the Zoo. Also, When the Guavas are Ripe drove me to the memory lane when my cousin would pluck Guavas and hand it down to me. Also, I love Bond’s characters. Be it the unyielding Koki or the creative Mukesh or the dreamy Suraj. And I wonder, what would it be like to meet them in real? Would they make Dehra familiar like an old song?