Rusty Goes to London

After going through the Vagrants in the Valley, it was an automatic choice that I follow Rusty to London and back. The book which sketches the making of a writer in the young Rusty is filled with the easy paced humour laced anecdotes that not only refreshes the spirits but lifts it too. As the young Rusty tries to earn a living as a writer he is faced with a myriad of adventures including meeting the ghost of Kipling and Sherlock Holmes in person! He is first given shelter by his relatives but curiously he feels more at home with persons coming from India and other parts of Asia. But this does not keep him facing strange incidents, once in a Chinese restaurant and another time at his residence celebrating a Calypso Christmas with a strange bunch of friends and friends of friends. But it was only obvious that he return to the hills of Dehra and tries his fortune at the place where he actually belong. So Rusty severed his ties with the land he thinks is foreign and traces his path back. Once in Dehra he is again drawn to the magical beauty not only of the town but also of the people. The town also never fails to delight him with its assortments of 'nuts', a circus from which a tiger escapes, visions of his loving father, a princess and her incredible mother. The narratives here contain some mature contents but believe me the way it has been presented not only shows the ingenuity of the author but also will bring nothing short of a smile to your lips. The sheer enjoyment of reading the chapters will enthral the readers and once it is finished they will long for more. It is very noble of Puffin that the series has been chronologically ordered for the very first time but I feel that a reader does not need to start from the first to enjoy the appeal. Another notable aspect of the book is illustrations by Kallol Majumder which makes reading more and more appealing.

The Room on the Roof ~ Vagrants in the Valley

I was introduced to Ruskin Bond not quite a long time back but it took only two books, the first being a collection of ghost stories that I have already spoken about and the other being this one, to make me his fan.

As the title page truly summarises the content, the two novellas The Room in the Roof and  Vagrants in the Valley explores the youth as it steps into adolescence. Set in the post independence period of the country, Rusty, an Anglo-Indian orphan tries to identify himself with the place where he is brought up. His guardian and the immediate neighbourhood being the remnants of the so called British nobility, he was strictly shunned from mixing with the Indian boys. But his rebellious age seemed too much for the cane happy guardian as Rusty runs away to explore his youth to the fullest and search for his heritage and root. In this he gets acquainted at different time with several local lads whose points of view, so different from his own, not only makes him more mature, but he seems to find the fascinating variations truly reflecting the country where he is born. The newly acquired freedom not only makes way for adventures but also introduces many emotions that he never felt before. Thus as he revels in fun filled days, the sense of responsibility also grows parallely. His search gets a new dimension as he stumbles across his father's belongings that gives a twist to the story and his direction in life.

This is the gist of the stories. But the true beauty of the narratives lies in the way India is revealed in her true colours and smell. Be it the jostling crowd of the third class compartments, the outstretched helping hand of the stranger, the wicked alliance of the thief and the businessman, the warm welcome to the homeless, the spirit of the country seemed never to have been more impeccably described. The simple language in which the most complex of incidents have been described makes it even more fascinating. The best part is the pace of the stories which never becomes slow yet remaining gentle. I have been a fan of R.K. Narayan who showed me the lively South India, Bond illustrates the Himachal in the way nobody else does. Thus at the culmination when the protagonist starts his onwards journey of freedom, the heart yearns for his next escapade.