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Book Review: Most Beautiful by Ruskin Bond

Most Beautiful by Ruskin Bond is a short story covered in the Rusty series book: Rusty Comes Home. The basic theme of the story highlights the bitter truth about this world that it is cruel and unforgiving to weak and mentally-challenged people.



One day the narrator sees some young urchins pelting stones and making fun of a deformed and mentally-challenged boy not older than thirteen. Unable to withstand the suffering of that boy, the narrator intervenes angrily and saves him, since the boy is unable to speak up properly thus on the basis of gestures he takes him to his home. A beautiful woman in her mid-thirties opens the door and understands the situation beforehand. She thanks him and says that Suresh, the boy, is the only child of their and his father is rather disappointed with him. When father comes, he cares nothing much about the boy but appreciates the narrator’s efforts.

After some days the narrator becomes a frequent visitor of their home and often takes the boy out for long walks in the fields or around the streams. The boy enjoys the attention and nature sightseeing and also learns swimming with the help of the narrator. One day a strayed out kid (goat’s baby) follows them. The boy takes the kid home and cares for him and plays with him. When people begin complementing that the kid is cute and sweet, the boy feels insignificant, and one day he kills the kid with a brick. This shows he is mentally retarded and for attention killing others is normal to him.

When the narrator asks him whether he resented the killing of the kid? The boy accepts this by smiling. Next, he points out a pen-knife and gestures the narrator to stab him on his belly, the narrator laughs out aloud and then throws away the knife in the stream.

One day the narrator comes to the boy’s home to tell them that he is going to Delhi, may be for longer time. The boy’s mother saddens upon knowing this, since she knew that the boy was improving and gaining confidence in an otherwise dull life, but the boy doesn’t have any idea that how this will affect him. Hence, he remains uncommunicative and cold. Seeing this, the narrator feels sad about their friendship and bonding.

On the day of his departure, the narrator takes a window seat in a third-class compartment on a train. Just before the train could chug out of the station, the narrator’s eyes fall on Suresh, when he called out aloud his name, Suresh saying nothing but runs for him but in the way collides with someone’s bedding and tumbles down on the station, lying surrounded with people and in the world of darkness. After that the narrator never sees him again.
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