In the heat of
war, civilians and innocents are doomed to get singed. A Flight of Pigeons by
Ruskin Bond is one such story which underlines the agony of miserable people
amidst the war days. At the time of sepoy mutiny of 1857 in India, the time was
building around to free the country from the clutches of the British Raj.
Local Indians
in the small towns of North India took up killing and plundering the army
employed by the British and in the process they were also burning and killing
the male members of Firangis (white
skin people) and taking the girls and women away for their purposes.
Ruth Labadoor
and her family lives in Shahjahanpur. Her father is not a big officer (only a
clerk) in the government but still a white man. So, one Sunday morning Ruth and
her father when go to the church where some hooligans attack them and some
white people die including her father. She runs away for help and on the way
meets Lala Ramajilal, their trusted servant, who informs her that her bungalow
has been put on fire but the family members are safe with him at his house.
In the
oppressing summer, Lala keeps her fate-ravaged family in his home hidden for
several days until one day Javed Khan, a ferocious and notorious Pathan, finds
them and takes away Ruth and her mother, Mariam, to his home. Later Javed
reveals that he wished to marry Ruth. Ruth’s mother Mariam hails from Muslim
background thus she knows how to handle local people, especially Muslims. She
keeps averting Javed’s marriage proposal day by day on some or other pretexts.
On the other hand, Javed Khan’s wife is also worried about her marriage as
Javed is crazy for that girl.
They stay in
the Pathan community for several months, though people treated them well but
the loss of her father was irreversible and they don’t know whether they would
be able to live free like earlier days or would be able to find other relatives
of their creed. She does not whether her relatives are dead or alive. When
Javed presses Mariam for Ruth’s marriage, Mariam agrees on one condition that
if Delhi fell to the locals and the British are moved out of the country then
she would give her daughter’s hand to him. And soon as it was unexpected, the
British restore their position in the country by trampling the mutiny, many Nawabs were hanged and people like Javed
run away to other countries.
With the
change in political landscape, the family with the help of a military convoy
travels to Bharatpur to unite with the other relatives of the family.
The novella
takes up an interesting flight but as the story progresses and the victims
settle in the Pathan community the story loses its charm because the struggle
of the victims looks like have ceased. However, the raw culture and traditions
presented by the author of that time are indeed real and helps in taking a sneak-peak
of life during the time when colonizing was a thing of normal aspect for white
people.
Marvelous story was presented by the writer Ruskin Bond
ReplyDeleteWhat is the conclusion/result of this book ?
ReplyDeleteRuth escapes from javed khan and other Pathans. Shahjahanpur is captured by the Britishers and Ruth and her mother unites with their Uncle and lives happily ever after.
DeleteCan someone please say ur opinion of the climax from the story a flight of pegions
ReplyDelete