By Ruskin Bond
A strange collection of two novellas by Ruskin Bond. While one splendidly covers the aspects of youthful life just out of teen age, the other is a sneak peek in the life of a man obsessed with sex.
‘A handful of nuts’, first of the two is a semi autobiography of Ruskin Bond. It has vivid and real life characters taken discretionally by the author from his struggling for their existence in the small town of Dehradoon (now a capital of Uttarakhand). Each has their own problem tagged to them. Some enjoy the struggle but the others do not. There are a few parasitic friends of the narrator who always have their eyes on his pocket, and they never hesitate in emptying it of its content. One of them in fact is so watchful that he even goes to the extent of checking his post in order to know whether he has received any paychecks or not.
Side by side runs the unsuccessful love story of narrator. Though he is desperately in love with one of his ex-classmate. He is very hesitant in calling her for a date that too mostly because of her mother. Amidst all these trouble comes Sitaram, his neighbour, to rescue him from the onslaught of his loneliness. He comes handy when Ruskin needed to talk to someone, he is not educated and this is the reason why author likes to share his overtures with him. Sitaram never argues with him or nor disturbs him in his life. He is just an innocent friend who comes only to give him company for his own family is in a constant quarrel.
Nonetheless, the story ends happily with each getting his piece of share in life. Writer gets a handsome fee for a story that he wrote for Weekly at the loss of his love. Sitaram becomes a great Bolllywood actor. Similarly, other parasitic friends also get settled in their life but not returning his credits. A true mirror of life, the story captures all.
‘The Sensualist: A cautionary tale’ being centered around sex is a controversial story (for which the wrtiter was even prosecuted in a Mumbai court on the charges of obscenity) though it has a moral attached to it. This tale takes us across the dry and lofty Himalayas where our narrator meets an ascetic who has left behind his wealthy life and chosen to live forever in a cavern haunted by wild animals.
He requests narrator to stay for the night and as it was late in the evening he decides in favour of his new friend’s request. And here begins the saga of pariah’s untamed love story. He tells him of his love affairs from his maid-servant, Mulia, through his cousin Samyukta to the girl in brothel.
The real twist, however, comes in his life when he gets down at Deoband station, while on his way for attending a meeting in Delhi, looking for adventure where he accidentally befriends a mountain dweller mamed Roop Singh, who takes him on a trip to his home in a small hill town of Himachal. There he stays in Roop’s house and gets a chance to meet his family members. He remains there for a long time and seem to enjoy the scenic and natural beauty of the place. But an unprecedented incident was to change his life. During one of those serene nights in Himalayas he was taken over by force by Roop’s mother eventually completely draining him of his masculinity forever, leaving him in a state of absolute sexual dormancy. And finally leading him to the life which he lived now.
The story is taut and with a moral that every man needs to follow in his life. It emphasises more on love in life with sex interspersed in between and it also goes on to tell that if the obsession for sex increases then your downfall is sure to follow.
A strange collection of two novellas by Ruskin Bond. While one splendidly covers the aspects of youthful life just out of teen age, the other is a sneak peek in the life of a man obsessed with sex.
‘A handful of nuts’, first of the two is a semi autobiography of Ruskin Bond. It has vivid and real life characters taken discretionally by the author from his struggling for their existence in the small town of Dehradoon (now a capital of Uttarakhand). Each has their own problem tagged to them. Some enjoy the struggle but the others do not. There are a few parasitic friends of the narrator who always have their eyes on his pocket, and they never hesitate in emptying it of its content. One of them in fact is so watchful that he even goes to the extent of checking his post in order to know whether he has received any paychecks or not.
Side by side runs the unsuccessful love story of narrator. Though he is desperately in love with one of his ex-classmate. He is very hesitant in calling her for a date that too mostly because of her mother. Amidst all these trouble comes Sitaram, his neighbour, to rescue him from the onslaught of his loneliness. He comes handy when Ruskin needed to talk to someone, he is not educated and this is the reason why author likes to share his overtures with him. Sitaram never argues with him or nor disturbs him in his life. He is just an innocent friend who comes only to give him company for his own family is in a constant quarrel.
Nonetheless, the story ends happily with each getting his piece of share in life. Writer gets a handsome fee for a story that he wrote for Weekly at the loss of his love. Sitaram becomes a great Bolllywood actor. Similarly, other parasitic friends also get settled in their life but not returning his credits. A true mirror of life, the story captures all.
‘The Sensualist: A cautionary tale’ being centered around sex is a controversial story (for which the wrtiter was even prosecuted in a Mumbai court on the charges of obscenity) though it has a moral attached to it. This tale takes us across the dry and lofty Himalayas where our narrator meets an ascetic who has left behind his wealthy life and chosen to live forever in a cavern haunted by wild animals.
He requests narrator to stay for the night and as it was late in the evening he decides in favour of his new friend’s request. And here begins the saga of pariah’s untamed love story. He tells him of his love affairs from his maid-servant, Mulia, through his cousin Samyukta to the girl in brothel.
The real twist, however, comes in his life when he gets down at Deoband station, while on his way for attending a meeting in Delhi, looking for adventure where he accidentally befriends a mountain dweller mamed Roop Singh, who takes him on a trip to his home in a small hill town of Himachal. There he stays in Roop’s house and gets a chance to meet his family members. He remains there for a long time and seem to enjoy the scenic and natural beauty of the place. But an unprecedented incident was to change his life. During one of those serene nights in Himalayas he was taken over by force by Roop’s mother eventually completely draining him of his masculinity forever, leaving him in a state of absolute sexual dormancy. And finally leading him to the life which he lived now.
The story is taut and with a moral that every man needs to follow in his life. It emphasises more on love in life with sex interspersed in between and it also goes on to tell that if the obsession for sex increases then your downfall is sure to follow.
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