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Book Review: The Story of Madhu by Ruskin Bond

The Story of Madhu is a short story written by Ruskin Bond, this story has been featured in ‘Rusty Comes Home’. It is a tale of two orphans. The narrator is on self-exile and feels no threads of love in his life; loneliness is probably his best companion.


A sweet young girl of about nine lingers around his house and he observes her from beneath the mango tree in his garden. After a few days an acquaintance has been formed between them. The girl is poor as she wears torn clothes and lives in a hut with an old lady, who is over a hundred years old. The name of the girl is Madhu and she was found on the banks of Tank by the old lady who then took her as a daughter.

The narrator arranges a teacher from nearby to teach Madhu under the mango tree for an hour so. He also gifts her various items and sometimes clothes. The narrator has formed compassion for her and wants her to grow in life. They soon become so friendly that she reads her lessons and asks numerous funny questions to him. When Madhu reaches the age of thirteen, she begins developing into a matured woman. And the narrator at any cost doesn’t want her to be alone and unprotected in the ruthless society. At this point the narrator can understand the pain of being an orphan and thinks of her safety and well-being.

He decides to put Madhu in a mission school to have a bright future of her. But she refuses to go as she has fallen in love with him and separation might depress her. But the narrator knows that the people of the society would raise fingers at him for being with a maturing girl. In the middle of June, in the spells of oppressive heat, one evening he does not see her in his garden. Next day he learns about her sickness, so he goes in the hut to see her, first time ever to her hut. There he realizes how poor she is. The hut is clean but has nothing extra except a pair of string cots. On one cot Madhu is lying in high fever. He holds her hand and she passes a smile upon seeing him. She asks him who will read stories for him and do work for him. He replies she will do all that, she will take care of him, no one else. Soon the narrator realizes that Madhu is dying and she is aware of that but the best thing is that she is not repenting about it. Then all of sudden as the day inches towards the evening, a bright gleam of sunlight streams in and at that moment Madhu passes away.

It is heart-breaking to note that a young and fragile Madhu passing away and the old lady who has lived over a hundred years is still out of the clutches of death. The mystery of death and life was instant and in one sense it can be concluded that the young Madhu bequeathed the old lady’s death. Her death fills the narrator’s heart with loneliness, he feels as the world’s entire loneliness has permeated in his heart. Ultimately death separates them and seeing a young girl dying is a sad thing to witness. It is a beautifully crafted story with a tragic end.
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