Kevein Books and Reviews

A Night Walk Home by Ruskin Bond is a beautifully written short story that talks about the night ambience which the narrator often experiences in Landour – a small place in Mussoorie. Also, the story is very informative as it tells as how a night can be spent in the mountains, like the foothills of the Himalayas. The theme of nature and wildlife conservation is too strong and Ruskin has used various animals and birds to depict his conviction for saving from any sort of trouble. The story is of one night when the narrator was walking back home midnight in the mountains. One can relate more with his experiences by going through the following excerpts: "No night is so dark as it seems. Here in Landour, on the first range of the Himalayas, I have grown accustomed to the night's brightness - moonlight, starlight, lamplight, firelight! Even fireflies light up the darkness." Clearly, the narrator loves night as he does not reckon it with darkness, rather he f...

The Thief by Ruskin Bond is a popular short story that revolves around the themes like trust, betrayal, redemption, honesty and aspirations. As the story starts we see a young boy of around fifteen is a thief, inexperienced and not so successful. Well, to pursue his career a bit ahead, he is seeking a mentor kind of person. Thus, in his search he meets Arun – a well-built man. Arun agrees to take him as his companion but doesn’t guarantee any salary. In fact, Deepak – the supposed name of the young thief – gets food and shelter for doing petty things for Arun. With no money coming, Deepak is often sullen and sad. However, Arun has promised to teach him reading and writing which can shape up the future of Deepak. This deal sparks a light of aspiration in his mind and he grows hopeful for making a good future if he learnt reading and writing. Well, after some days Deepak spies on Arun and finds out that he is into something suspicious and gets the wads of money which he k...

The Leopard by Ruskin Bond is a short story that highlights the relationship between humans and animals. The story is set against the forest of Mussoorie – especially of the time when the forest belt was declining and hunters were growing. A little far from his cottage, down the hill, Ruskin goes for a walk around a stream. After some time, the trail of the path disappears in the forest and a stream appears, its water making a soft gurgling sound flowing down the ravine. The ravine is so deep that below only shadow appears, nothing else. He is a frequent walker through that path. Birds, monkeys, and other herbivorous animals are familiar with his smell. They know he is not a hunter. At times, he spots a silent leopard at the stream for drinking water. Ruskin often stops upon seeing it. That also happened that they both crossed each other’s path several times. Even animals can smell the intentions of man. Like other animals, leopard sensed Ruskin as a harmless human. It trusted him....

Koki’s Song is a beautifully written short story by Ruskin Bond staged against the beautiful nature that probably exist in the foothills of Himalaya. The story is of two children, the girl Koki, and the cowboy Somi. For some part of the year Koki and her mother goes away to her granny’s lonely home located near a river bed. Her grandmother lives there alone. Koki finds that place full of loneliness and nature. There she finds nature in abundance. After crossing a wall, there flows a stream, and from there starts the edge of the forest where she gets the chance to spot deer. In fact, many wild animals come there to drink water. She is terrified of wild animals but still loves that place. The kind of tranquility and serenity existed there is something that keeps Koki busy. While roaming around the stream and the wild garden of the home, she often hears flute music and she feels captivated towards the source. She sees a boy in dusty clothes playing that tune. She observes him fo...

In the novel ‘The Blue Umbrella’ by Ruskin Bond we see that Binya obtains a beautiful blue umbrella by exchanging her leopard’s claw with some city picnickers. Her blue umbrella is so beautiful that almost everyone in the village is jealous of her. They say that this kind of stuff is often carried by Mem-Sahibs, and it does not suit to a village girl like Binya. Coming to Ram Bharosa, his name means ‘Ram the trustworthy’. He is a shopkeeper, probably middle-aged, not very old. He runs a tea shop on Tehri road, but he also sells curd, soft-drinks, toffees and so on, mainly food items. Once a day, a bus halts by his shop and passengers drink tea or slurp curd. By all means, he is the richest man in the village. However, at the same time he is greedy too. He often let people or students take items on credit and at the time of calculation, he charges them extra and when they can’t pay he snatches some of their valuable stuff for his personal use or to sell at his shop. Howe...

The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond is a popular novel featuring Binya and her elder brother Bijju. The novel revolves around Binya and her little beautiful blue umbrella; however we also see some other interesting characters like, Bijju, Ram Bharosa, and a boy named Rajaram. In this post, we are going to talk about Bijju, the third main character of the novel. Bijju’s real name is Vijay Kumar, but in the foothills of Himalaya it is a custom to call people by their nicknames, for Binyadevi it is Binya, and for Vijay Kumar it is Bijju. Bijju is a twelve-year-old boy and wears a leopard claw in his neck like his younger sister Binya, who is ten years old. Though we see that there is good understanding and love between sister and brother, still they differ in their temperament. Binya is kind to the cows Neelu and Gori, while Bijju is a bit hot-tempered boy. For this reason, whenever it’s dark he herds the cows vehemently for home. On the other hand, Binya and Bijju share vian...

By this time if you have had read Ruskin Bond keenly, well you must be aware of some of his favourite characters that often appear like, Bina, Binya, Sitaram, Hasan, Romi, and of course there is Rusty. We cannot forget him. It is this character that made young Ruskin Bond shot into fame. Rusty, as a character, is the most loved one among his fans and readers. And to much extent, his persona is loosely based on Ruskin himself, though never admits that. Well, here we are going to discuss the character sketch of Rusty in Ruskin's first and most hit novel - The Room on The Roof. Rusty is an orphan. His parents are long dead. The year is around 1950's of India. Though India has gained independence in 1947, traces of white people are still visible in many corners of the country, like Dehradun. Here Rusty lives with a guardian called Mr. Harrison. Unlike Rusty's late father, Harrison is a strict missionary man who beats Rusty with a cane upon slightest mistake....

Panther’s Moon is a great read about a wounded panther’s plight. The story takes place, as usual, in the Himalayan village of India named Manjari. It’s a tiny village with only five houses and from this small village only one boy named Bisnu, who lives with his widowed mother and elder sister Pooja, goes to school which is located five miles away. He also takes care of his family by doing little bit farming. His day to day activities include getting up early so that he can reach his school at time, which is at a distance of five miles. He has to cross a stream, wound up and down the mountains and pass through a dark forest where he is often welcomed by monkeys. We see Bisnu and his dog Sheru. They both go together wherever they go. The village where Bisnu goes for education is bigger and connected to town and it has a bus stop, market, hospital and of course his school. Man-eater leopards or tigers often make common news for the people of hill. But this time, the leopard is...

Monkey on the Roof is a typical Ruskin Bond story, like about nothing but looks everything. The story features Ruskin Bond or say shows how he lives in Mussoorie at the cottage with an adopted family. Initially, he talks about animals and birds and insects that break into his cottage or onto his study table. He never harasses or chases them mercilessly; rather he drives them away from his window which opens to the mountain side, where he stands for hours watching the people on up road, school children and troublesome monkeys. He says that his roof is made of tin, old fashioned, where monkeys often make noise and if there are no monkeys, then its cats vs. rats at night. Ruskin finds obstacles to his sleep; he loves sleeping and admits that he is a lazy writer. If freedom was given, he would have his stories written by his assistants. In the story he also tells about his obsession for bed tea and breakfast. Ruskin puts strong emphasis on having good breakfast ever since his y...

This book is a compilation of three novellas, specifically written for children below fifteen. Let’s see all the stories one by one. First in the line is Monkey Trouble. This story is about Tutu, a female monkey. Ruskin’s grandfather buys it from a street juggler for three rupees. Though initially grandma is against keeping this unstable pet at home but with time she accepts her. Tutu indeed is a troublesome monkey. Its mischiefs and wrong adventures not only cause havoc at home but also in the city. Tutu’s main victims are aunt Ruby and her fiancée Rocky, and to some extent grandma and uncle Benji. Once Ruby and her fiancée go to buy a ring for their marriage and then soon the boy (young Ruskin) follows them secretly and behind him comes this cheesy monkey. In the jewelry shop, this monkey creates commotion and runs away with a pearl necklace. After then, almost half city chases her and in the end it throws away the necklace in a stream. Somehow the jeweler gets hold over th...

The School among the Pines is a long and captivating story about students of hills. In this story Ruskin has narrated a story of three pupils who go to another village to attend school and the route to that village is not only long but also filled with dark jungles, surging streams, wild animals and so on. Let’s see the story and get connected to their plight. Bina and her younger brother Sonu lives in Koli village, their village has a primary school. As Bina is now a student of sixth grade, so she has to walk to Nauti, another village that has a high school. Every morning Bina, and their friend Prakash, and Sonu (Bina’s younger brother) walk through up and down hills, cross a wide stream to reach the school that is approximately five miles away. Upon reaching school, they see a crowd, and sense something has gone awry. It comes out that their absent-minded Maths teacher is missing. Rumours have that he has been snatched by a leopard. A leopard on a killing spree is a n...

Ruskin Bond books and stories are around the corner for over sixty years now. Undoubtedly, he has written over 600 stories, in the form of novels, novellas, short stories, fiction and non-fiction. Ruskin writes about nothingness, in general, but still his stories are relatable and the kind of characters of that we experience somehow look familiar to us and many stay with us for long, even when we pass the stories from one generation to another. This post brings a list of some interesting characters often spotted in his stories, like Binya, Rusty, and many more. Bhabhiji: In the book Rusty Comes Home , there is a long story about a very peculiar and staunch woman, she is reverently or out of fear is often called as Bhabhiji. She is the head of the home where a dozen of grandchildren run pell-mell and brides can never compete with her, no matter whatever they do. According to Rusty, in that home you will everything (love and food) but no privacy. As Ruskin says in the end t...

For the people interested in whereabouts of Ruskin Bond, as where he lives, with whom, is he married or living with an adopted family? Well, this short story is for you - And Now We Are Twelve – this story is about Ruskin’s cottages (he used to change quite a few) in Mussoorie and family and children associated with him since a long time. In a nutshell this story is plot less; rather it accounts the life of Ruskin Bond since 1970 when he started building a family with family of others. Reading this short story will reveal as why Ruskin chose to stay in Mussoorie as he could have settled in England, Shimla or some other hilly place of India. The story goes like this, when Ruskin came in Mussoorie as a new entrant, he got the company of Prem, an inhabitant of hills. Prem along with his small family stayed with Ruskin in his cottages, sometimes up the hill or down in the valley, as a helper. Gradually, their understanding grew deeper. This you will read in the story From Small Beginni...

The Tiger in the Tunnel by Ruskin Bond is a short story about doing duty with courage and valour. In this story, we see Baldeo and his son Tembu. They hail from a tribal village in North India, where Baldeo’s wife and daughter lives. Baldeo and his son live in a small hut nearby a tunnel where the overland trains pass by. In the village, they have a small piece of land on which they grow some crops but it is never suffice to fill their bellies. So as to lessen the burden of financial constraint on the family, Baldeo has taken a job of a tunnel guard. His duty is to make sure that the tunnel is clear off the obstacles before trains pass through it. He is stationed at that tunnel which is located in the hills and surrounded by dense forest from both sides where wild animals often create havoc. At the same time rumours have that a man-eating tiger has killed many humans in and around the tunnel. Like every other night, one night Baldeo picks up his lantern and a small axe in ...

The Last Truck Ride by Ruskin Bond is a short story about a truck driver Pritam and his assistant Nathu. Pritam is a fifty-year-old Sikh man; he drives a rickety truck on the mountains. He makes two trips every day and carries limestone quarries from the blasting site to the depot at the bottom of the hill. Nathu is around twelve years old; he is from a far-away hilly village, because of poverty and scanty resources at his village he’s come to the town to work so that he can run his family that lives in the village. Nathu is working for Pritam for over six months, at the wage of ten rupees per day. Pritam’s two sons live in Punjab and he will retire soon to live with them in Punjab. Pritam is a fast and reckless driver despite knowing that the roads in the mountains are tumultuous and narrow and curved. Nathu often talks about his poverty and village life and nature there. Nathu has a walnut tree before his home in his village and that tree gives two baskets full of walnuts every ye...

This is a very popular story by Ruskin Bond about two blind persons who happen to meet on a short train journey. The story is a great example of irony as both persons, a young man and a young girl, are blind but they show as they aren’t. This story is also known by other names like – The Girl on the Train and The Eyes are not Here … The narrator is a young man – he was alone in the compartment till Rohana, well then a young woman boards the train and with her comes her parents who instruct her what to do and what not to do while traveling on a train. As the train chugs out of the station, the young man sitting opposite her by the window side strikes conversation with her. She politely replies to all his questions and he shows off as he is not a blind chap. First they talk about nature and the young man in between compliments that she has a beautiful face. Upon this the girl says that this is a very common remark she often gets. The train is bound for Dehradun. The girl says tha...

The Great Train Journey by Ruskin Bond is a collection of fourteen short stories. The theme of the book is to find back ‘Time to Stand and Stare’. The author says that once there used to be plenty of time when children would spend their time around trains and railway tracks and railway stations. Well, nowadays this all seems a thing of difficulty because people of today hardly have any time to stand and stare anything that fascinates them. This collection is marvelous in its form because all fourteen stories in this book are about trains i.e. train watching, traveling on train, walking on the tracks, and so on. The author has compiled short stories in some way or the other that they revolve around the trains and railway stations of small-town India. The stories are so powerful and engaging that they will take you back to a time when life was not so full of care and there was time to stand and stare. But not for too long, or the train would leave without you! The title s...

Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra by Ruskin Bond is a collection of fourteen soulful stories. The main theme in most of the short stories is homecoming. For example in Escape from Java , Ruskin narrates the tale of escaping from an island which is soon to be acquired by Japanese and he and his father being British, need to do something on urgent basis to escape from that dangerous island. As they start their journey on a rickety aero-plane, soon it crashes into the sea and after that how Ruskin and his father struggle for survival fills the rest of the story. In the end, they somehow reach Dehradun and feel at peace. Well in some stories Ruskin has talked about his father and family that used to live in Dehra probably when India was ruled by the British. In the stories, that are staged around Dehra, Mussoorie and Fosterganj, you will find that Ruskin has talked about his cottage, people living in them and the overall day to day life of hilly people. For instance one touching st...

Through this short poem Ruskin appeals to all of us, parents and adult ones, to give proper education, knowledge and honour and many more valuable aspects to our children. If moral values and right ways of life aren’t properly taught to children, the future of our race may go bleak. Read this simple short poem and you will get to know the valuable lessons this cute old writer is talking about. One prominent theme of this poem is that right moral values are better than gold. Poem: What can we give our children? Knowledge, yes, and honour too, And strength of character And the gift of laughter. What gold do we give our children? The gold of a sunny childhood, Open spaces, a home that binds Us to the common good… These simple things Are greater than the gold of kings. By Ruskin Bond Enjoyed reading this story! Here is your chance to read 30 best stories by Ruskin Bond - https://goo.gl/uBeMY6

Lines Written on a Sleepless Night is a very funny poem by Ruskin Bond. He wrote this poem when he was about to turn seventy. On the night before his 70th birthday, he just couldn’t sleep. Why? The urge to write something was disturbing him. So he got up and penned down this humourus poem and went to sleep. The poem is bit satirical in nature. Ruskin discusses the things that he can’t do and the things that he can do easily. Read the poem given below and you will see that he was foolish with worldly or tech-related things but hopeful with creativity. The poem is simple and in rhythm, like Ruskin Bond books and short stories, his poems are, too, full of simplicity and mirth. Poem: I’m unfamiliar with statistics, I wouldn’t know what to do With a book on Mathematics Or a girl of ninety-two. I really can’t tell the difference Between a man from Kalamazoo And the kind of endangered species That you only find in a zoo. I’m hopeless at Nuclear Physics-...