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Book Review: The Hidden Pool by Ruskin Bond

The Hidden Pool is another short yet interesting story by Ruskin Bond. It focuses on the undefiled friendship of some guys from Dehradun. By the end of the story you will understand as how small discoveries can foster up the friendship overall. The narrator of the story is a school-going young boy, probably an early teen. One day while coming back home from somewhere, he listens to the gurgling of water from nearby. Following the sound, he goes inside the dense forest, and there he finds a small stream running through the rocks and beneath lies a pool – not so big, but fine for the young boy.
 

Brimming with excitement, he runs away to inform his best friends: Anil and Kamal. They named the pool as Laurie’sPool. They do not disclose the location of the pool from other boys. And these three boys often meet at the pool for fun and some casual adventure. They sometimes come there just after the school. In the line of their adventure, they begin with fishing first, and then wrestle in the water, sometimes ride on the back of buffaloes. Among all activities, fishing is the prime one. They try to catch fish by net, rod, or clothes, but to no avail. One day Anil brings gunpowder and have it blasted at one rocky side; as a result, some rocks get exploded and they were able to catch a lot of fish. 

Next, they build a dam on one side to make the pool deeper. However, with torrential rain it all washes away, even their clothes. When the day wore on, in the night they roam around the city without clothes, and secretly creep inside their homes. 

It’s good to have a rendezvous for friends – a sign of great friendship. Not only this, the boys are so charmed by the hidden pool that they started visiting it during full moon night, without caring about the wild forest and animals. If you know how to make peace with nature, there is always a way to enjoy it.  

It is evident that the story is staged against the beautiful foothill of the Himalaya. Ruskin Bond's stories are incomplete without mentioning nature in the form of mountains, hills, forest, wild flowers, and so on. It is a lovely story that depicts that friendship during childhood is the best thing that can ever happen to anyone in life. That phase of life with friends is the most precious time and as one advances in  life, one feels lonely and do not get such true friends. Friendship has a time of its own and childhood is the best time to make friends.
 
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  1. AnonymousAugust 12, 2023 at 12:23 AM

    Sir can you meet Anil and Kamal when you go back to London I have read your story book

    ReplyDelete

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