I love reading. I read when I am alone, I read when I am sad, I read when I am happy. It gives me a strange pleasure to open a book and read what the author wants to say. It lightens my heart and cheers me up. I do not restrict myself to a particular genre because then I feel I am being unfair to myself, that I am denying myself so much wisdom. Therefore, I have treated myself to a plethora of different genres. Currently, I am reading a short story collection of Ruskin Bond named "The Night Train at Deoli and other stories".
The book contains some 30 short stories. All these stories are set in the beautiful valley of Uttarkhand, where Ruskin Bond has made his home. This is one of the main reasons why I am enjoying this book. I have an unexplained affinity and love for the hills. One can learn a lot from them. The Hills teach one to remain firm and face all obstacles and challenges in life. One experiences a calmness of the mind by just looking at the hills. The stories in this book give a warm and intimate portrait of life in the Himalayan foothills. The book portrays delightful satires about village officials and small-town braggarts. One of the best features about this book is that Ruskin Bond writes about people who unconsciously or discerningly need each other: people in love or in need of love, the timid lover and the lonely adult. There are stories which mourn the dissapearing beauty of the mountians and the people who live in them. There are stories about love, loss, regret and lonelinesss.
I experience a refreshing change while reading this book. For a change it is not about pychopathic killers, impotent war-heroes, emotionally tortured film stars or some secret agent. This short story collection is about people one confronts in daily life, it is about places where has gone or where one longs to go. The stories talk about, love, longing, about something left behind but still close to the heart. There is a good deal of romance in these stories which makes the reader connect to the theme. I always think that one can't really write unless one is in love with the subject. The romance in this book is associated with trains. People are always travelling in trains and going places, but just occasionally two people meet and their paths cross and they become one or they might part but their lifes have been changed in some unexplained way.
The Night Train at Deoli is my favourite story in the collection. It is a beautiful story of unrequited love which I am sure all of us have experienced at some point of time and I am no exception. Its a poignant story which touched my heart. The story is narrated in the first person by a college boy. The boy is travelling by train to Dehra Dun to spend his vacations at his grandmother's house. On its journey up the hills, the train stops at Deoli, a lonely station.'Why it stopped at Deoli I don't know. Nothing ever happened there. Nobody got off the train and nobody got in. There were never any coolies on the platform. But the train would halt there a full ten minutes, and a bell would sound, the guard would blow his whistle, and presently Deoli would be left behind and forgotten', a simple yet beautiful description of Deoli.
There the boy meets a girl selling baskets and is smitten by her. He cannot forget her and looks out for her during the return journey. He is thrilled to see her and she is happy that he remembered her. But now it is time for the lovers to part.'I felt the impulse to put her on the train there and then..I caught her hand and held it.."I have to go to Delhi", I said...she nodded , "I do not have to go anywhere"..the guard blew his whislte..and how I hated the guard for doing that...poignant and touching line. It is my favourite because the story is about longing. A longing for someone who is out of reach. The longing after something lost.
The tales in this book have given me a new perspective. They help me to understand people around me and they accompany me sometimes when I wish to go back to my soliterary moments of lonliness.
