Nov 17, 2007 04:01 PM
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"At all the times of the day and night I could hear the murmur of the stream at the bottom of the Hill, Even if I didn't, the sound was there. I had grown used to it. But whenever I went away, I was conscious of something missing and I was lonely without the sound of running water. "
Thats the style of Ruskin's writing, not just this book but all of them. So if you like these few lines, you will surely like his books, and if you are nature lover there is nothing that can stop you loving Ruskin's books.
I was looking for some other writers whose books I can read again and again, just like Paulo Coelho,and I have found the one in Ruskin Bond. Nature is in Ruskin's books as Life's Philosophy is in Paulo Coelho's books.
About the Writer and the Book : Ruskin Bond, born in Kasuli, H.P, in 1934. and lived most of his life among Hills, so thats where the nature comes from in his books. The Room On The Roof was his first novel, written when he was seventeen and it received the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial prize in 1957. Vagrants In The Valley was also written in his teens and picked up from where The Room On The roof leaves off. These two novellas were published in one volume by Penguin India in 1993 as was a much-acclaimed collection of his non-fiction writing, Rain In The Mountain, Delhi Is Not Far. He received sahitya Akademi award in 1992 and Padma Shree in 1999.
This particular story, Love is a sad song, is not in fact a book in itself, its one of the story from one of his short story book. Its lasts only around 40 to 45 pages and you really feel like there should be more.
About the story : There is not much of story to talk about bcoz story itself is not that new or out of the world, but its the way is it written, full of thoughts and emotions which catches ones heart at once. Story begins with the main character (Name not mentioned in the book) sitting near a running stream and remembering the times he had spent with girl (Sushila) he loves so much. Its like him talking to her in his thoughts and in those thoughts telling her everything for the beginning of there love. Telling her the way they first met. He a writer, aged 30, lived in a Hill station with her uncle Dinesh, a painter aged 23. She, Sushila aged 16, lives in Dehli and used to come to his place with her little brother Sunil, aged around 11,. During her eariler visits she is just a child to him, but with time he starts liking her and it develops into love as he gets same kind of notions from her too. But as she is too young for him he had to wait for some years, and he decides that he will wait as she wants to marry him too. Sushila has one more lover in Dehli, Promod, who according to her has fallen in love with her due to her kind and loving nature. just as the writer did. The part where these two lovers meet and the conversations between them is real good to read. How a person's thinking and feelings about someone changes after meeting the person is portrayed in that section.
Who gets her in the end is for you to find out. As I wrote earlier there is not much to find in the story as such, but its the treatment and style of the writer that catches your heart and a touch of nature every now n then makes is a memorable story.
We all have done things like this (talking to ourself or someone else in our thoughts only ) at some stage of our life when we don't have anyone to talk to, or we want to say something to someone but can't, so we talk to them in out thoughts, and sometimes it is effective too, bcoz it is like writing your own story and in the way you want it to be, and you don't have to be in it really, Yes! it gives satisfaction and we all do it, isn't it.
Some lines that I liked :
Now as usual I will take few lines form the book itself :
"I may stop loving you but I will never stop loving the days I loved you."
"If dreams have any meaning at all, the meaning doesn't come within out limited comprehension"
"A woman had to be jealous of something. If there isn't another women, then it is a man's work, or his hobby, or his best friend, or his favorite sweater, or his pet mongoose that made her resentful. There is a story by kipling about a woman who grows insanely jealous of a horse's saddle bcoz' her husband spent an hour everyday polishing it with great care and loving kindness."
In the end I would like to thank Smita(Chintu) and Sumit(other review for this story) for inspiring me enough to go for Ruskin Bond and have I bought a collected fiction book by Ruskin, so expect reviews for his other books too from me. :)
Other two I have mentioned above.
Don't forget to read, rate and comment, it inspires to write more...
See you soon with some other review..
Vikky Gural
PYAR HUMEIN PHIR MILAAEGA..
