Of Dreamers And Hills. Review on Time Stops at Shamli and Other Stories - Ruskin Bond

And when all the wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful - Ruskin Bond

Ruskin's stories in this collection reflect incidents of his life and the characters in his stories are the ones whom he would have met and noticed something about them, something so unique that he decided to devote one full story to them!! Makes me feel like meeting Ruskin and letting him discover unique things about me too. Well, that is a different story altogether.

There is something about his style of writing or it is the story itself. First time the reader finds himself under some spell. The spell, which Ruskin casts through his characters, and the things that they do. Be it the story Time Stops At Shamli which talks about a person who is so much like us. He fears the unknown, but still goes ahead and takes that chance of getting down at an unknown railway station at the foothills of Himalayas - the same railway station that has long fascinated him. The same station that has had him mystified for some reasons unknown to him also. He makes up his mind one day and does get down to explore what is there beyond the station. And then a tender story unfolds which has you totally awestruck and makes you want to venture out on your own - alone like the character in the story. You need to read the story to understand as to why did Ruskin want some dreamer like you to read this story in the first place.

I will digress to talk about one more unique thing about the other stories in this book. Most of the stories in ''Time Stops At Shamli'' talk about someone who has settled in hills. Now this can be attributed to the fact that Ruskin himself is settled in hills. I guess, like me you also would have an affinity for the hills. Don't know why? But I guess that most of the time all of us are seeking some strong support. Maybe we find that in those seemingly unyielding mountains! And that is why our love for them induces a desire to settle in hills. The same lingering feeling one gets when reading Ruskin's works because it is these hills that regularly feature to be an integral part of most of his stories.

The stories in this book are an excellent way of peeping at the incidents in our life. The reader identifies himself with the characters in his story. And then undergoes a similar emotional trip. And this is a rare feat to achieve. Ruskin knows the pulse of the people and knows it well enough to keep you hoping that someday you also will run into this master storyteller and make him see what is so unique about you. And who knows there really is another great story in the offing? It is quiet apparent that I am bowled over. You might like his stories because you are a dreamer yourself, or it can be because you are able to place yourself in the story and empathize with the characters.

Whatever it is, I feel you will have to read this book (or any other) and think about it yourself.