OUR TREES STILL GROW IN DEHRA

In this book Ruskin traces his life from childhood through teenage to adulthood. Starting from Java he journeys to India where he first lands up in Bombay then to Delhi before finally reaching the Himalayas and here begins a nostalgic tale of writer’s stay in the Himalayas. He takes us around the unexplored and the mythical Himalayas where human life rejoices in an idyllic paradise. The trees, birds, mountains, streams and the sombre people add to the mysticism of mountain life.
It is all the way a journey down the memory lane for the author through which he introduces us to a number of people who had influenced his life. He introduces his grandfather, grandmother, their menagerie and their never ending list of wild civilised guests. Here Bond describes each with an unmatched subtlety which is unique to his style.
Then he takes us to the undiscovered places of Himalayas where he, in his teens, revelled with his limited number of friends. And, then, there is Binya, who comes in his life only for a short duration but fills his life with much needed colour of love. There is tonga driver, who offers him a ride just for a cup of tea. A true picturesque representation of India and much specifically of the mountains and its dwellers who have distinguished themselves as true human beings.
There is also a pang in writer’s notes due to changing lifestyle in the mountains. A large scale cutting of trees upsets him. He is bothered by the fact that the changes which man is effecting now would in turn reflect upon him and lead to his own destruction, and his worst fear that crow and jackals will rule in the end would come true.He is perturbed that the home of hundreads of birds and animals will vanish with trees and there would remain only the artificial and lifeless landmarks created by man. He is no mood to compromise with those who are felling the trees for constructing the roads. He even compares the felling of trees by the PWD (that is, Public Works Department) to the death of his young brother. He says,"……both victims of road. The tree killed by PWD; my brother by a truck."
But in the end he finds one solace: Men come and go; the mountains remain.