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.

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT

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.

The Godfather

Before reading this book whenever the world 'Don' popped up I used to think of the movie DON and then Amitabh Bachchan who had beautifuly potrayed the character of fake DOn. But after reading the novel the term Don always picturises itself to me as Don Corleone-the central character around whom thefabric of story is woven and this time the Don is perfectly real with no clone of his to replace him. But unlike any other Don this Don is friendly not ferocious. He helps his friends out of trouble and assures them of his everlasting support till the Armageddon but there is a condition to be fulfilled and that is they must not refuse him if at anytime he calls for a favour, if anytime he needed it.

Well coming back to novel. The story is thrilling and tightly packed, involving a lot of action too. nowhere a reader feels like turning off the action. The real crux of the story, however lies in: Which of the three sons of the Don is capable of becoming and holding the title of Don, and has the power and intelligence to make the Corleone empire invincible.
Talking of sons- Santino,Freddie and Michael, each differ from the other in character but with no less power than their father. Santino is much like his father but his aggression and philandering nature gives him away. Freddie is much interested in activities like fun and frolicking but is a very close associate to his father. Michael, the youngest, hates his father's business and has far-fetched plans of leaving the Corleone empire. Which of the three gets the Crown? Read the novel.

Undoubtedly, this is one of the best works I have evr read but some chapters concerning Johny Fontane and Lucy Mancini are wastefuland have been added merely to add to the thickness of the book. According to me these could have been omitted successfully without affecting the plot. All in all a good book to read and a must have in collection.
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As a great fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, I take great interest in reading anything written by him or about him. He is almost like a Godfather to me though there is no way that I could meet him. I have read Sherlock Holmes series, the Brigadier Gerrard stories and other few of his works. I do not take any particular interest in reading biographies but it was only because of the impression of Sir Doyle that I was forced, by my curiosity to learn about his life, into reading a few of his biographies. Through these I learnt a lot about the life of the great author.
I was particularly intrigued as to how did he conjured the idea of creating Sherlock Holmes with so cunning a logic that defies human powers. I searched for my answers in this book but never got any answers. They hinted at some incidents which indicated that the author himself acted as a detective at times, but never really went in depth to describe some of his real life adventures. Then one day in my newspaper, the old faithful Deccan Chronicle, I learnt about this book by Julian Barnes.
The book is indeed a promising one there can be no doubt about it as it was short-listed for Man Booker Prize in 2005. The story, as it is clear on one look at the cover, deals with the lives of two persons, one our own Sir Arthur and the other George Edalji, a victim of Great Wryley outrage. The novel beins at the beginning i.e. from the first.
The life of two moves side by side slowly and swiftly with all the events described in a feasible manner, this is where Julian Barnes scores over others and exhibits his finery of weaving tales.
The book begins with the protoganist, yes our own Arthur. He watches his mother cooking food in the kitchen and narrating the stories of the gallant knights who killed their opponents with ruthless passion and brought home their prize, the girls they loved, who in themselves exemplified the beauty. While poor old george grows up in th