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International Journal of English
Literature and Culture
Vol. 2(1), pp. 3
–5,
January, 2014
ISSN: 2360-7831
DOI: 10.14662/IJELC2014.001
Review
The changing trends in Indian
writing in English with special reference to Ruskin Bond
K. LATHA REDDY
Assistant
Professor of English, Madanapalle Institute of Technology and Science,
Madanapalle. (A.P). Chittoor (dist)-517325. Corresponding author’s Email
address: lathakadiri@yahoo.in.
Phone: 09396378322
Accepted
January 12, 2014
The writers
settled abroad and the ones who divide their time between India and
abroad have contributed much to this rapidly developing Indian
Literature sub-genre of English literature. Now Indian English
literature no longer remains limited to the writings necessarily of
the “sons of the soil”. It has broadened the scope of fictional
concerns of these writers from purely Indian to the global and
transnational. Today Indian English as well as Indian writing in
English has got its own identity. A number of recent Indian
novelists have produced significant novels, making a mark in the
literary world. One among the very few Indian authors in English who
are marketed well by the media, are encouraged by schools and
parents is Ruskin Bond. Ruskin Bond is the acclaimed author of over
five hundred novellas, stories, essays and poetry - all of which has
established him as one of the India’s most beloved writers. India
gets an exquisite reflection in his stores. The sole point is not to
entertain. His approach to his child characters, their activities,
desire, feeling win the favour of the readers.
Ruskin Bond is thus, in no way inferior to any of his
contemporaries. His works are neither ambiguous nor theoretical. As
a very simple and ordinary man he shares with us the most intimate
moments of his life and lives of those with whom he has come in
close contact. This paper intends to look at him more closely about
the changes he brought in Indian Literature through his writings.
His works are highly approved by society at large. His stories are
very famous and he writes in an extremely enjoyable language and
style which even holds a child throughout the entire narrative. He
is considered to be one of the icons among Indian writers and
children's authors and a top novelist. He has received many awards
for his fictional works. His works are set in India, the land where
he was born and grew up.
Key Words: Ruskin Bond, Indian English, writers.
INTRODUCTION
Bond claims that India is his home. He states that he is drawn to
India because of the atmosphere—the diversity that has mingled to
produce a unique place. He was born in India, his mother’s family
has been in India for two generations, and his father was born,
lived, and worked in India. In an article, Bond writes: “Race did
not make me an Indian. But history did. And in the long run it is
history that counts.” According to Bond, his mother’s families are
descendants of Timur the Lame. Doing father, who takes away his son
on the slopes of Dehra for planting saplings in many of Bond's
stories, is Mr. A. A. Bond, his loving father. The writer is so
deeply attached to his father, that he brings him back to life
whenever he has to talk of a father in the plot of his story.
Ruskin Bond's great strength lies in his art of characterization. He
is a master creator of characters and he has left behind a whole
galaxy of characters. Characters are very central in his art. Bond's
stories are peopled with big and small men and women. They are
ordinary, simple, educated and uneducated men and women like house
servants, shop-keepers, schoolboys, thieves, gardeners, beggars,
wrestlers, school-teachers, farmers, soldiers, drivers and so on.
Bond's world is the world of the poor and the middle class people.
Bond's greatness can be seen in the originality and naturalness of
these characters. His stories are not books printed on paper but
worlds full of real living and breathing people. He is no creator of
card board characters; his men and women, angry, hungry, strange,
foolish, honest live their own lives in the books, they are moving
and acting most of the time. His characters are true human beings.
He always writes serious stories but that does not stop him from
creating such characters. He is equally good at creating very
interesting situations. His stories are like pan-vision films with
hundreds of people suffering, acting and moving all the time. Bond's
true greatness lies in his sharp observation, his knowledge of the
joys and pains of ordinary, humble folks, his great sense of humour
and above all his kindness for the saints and sinners alike. He
rarely talks of philosophy in his books. He is just a great
storyteller. His characters are realistic and live. He is a
short-story writer who recognized that a character may not remain
the same throughout the story but he or she can grow or develop or
deteriorate as a result of what happens in the short story. He
acquired an immense amount of knowledge of human nature, psychology,
there is feelings and then applied them to the depiction and
exploration of the character. He has created a large number of
characters. Bond's fiction (1999), in all probabilities, is very
akin to real life. His characters originate from the people he has
either met or seen around him. Bond frankly admits; I've been
writing stories of one kind or another. . . it has always been the
people I've known and met who have given me these stories – friends,
lovers, relatives, chance acquaintances, strangers, or other
people's friends and relatives. (Bond : 2000 : VII ).
Stories hang about Bond in Dehra and Mussoorie that even a
conversation with him finds its way into some of his fictional
character. He holds an interesting conviction that no two persons
are alike. It is their stark individuality that attracts him. Plots
of stories are woven around their individual traits, which are
highly captivating and surprising. Bond loves them because he says;
I find most people interesting. The dull ones are those whose lives
are a little too orderly, or who are forever boasting of the ease
with which they have succeeded in life. Yes, life is full of
surprises. And so are people, in their different ways. (Bond : 2000
: VIII).
Endowed with a great insight into the psychology of man he is
motivated to write about what is uncommonly common in human nature.
Therefore, his prime concern while writing a story is to highlight
the extraordinary in an ordinary type of man. The story moves with
the development or some revelation in the character within the folds
of a given situation. Resultantly, there are a number of moving
character-portraits bright and serene in varied colours and shades.
He points out: “Theme of my stories develops from characters. Their
plot is subservient. In fact, there isn't any plot in the midst; it
is more a study of a character or a portrait of a person.” (Aggarwal,
1998).
Bond is the writer of hills and small towns. Most of his
characters-men, women and children of various age and class - belong
to the high hills and valleys of Garhwal. They are born in small
tranquil villages and hamlets. They are the people of soil-farmers,
traders, vendors, chawkidars and schoolteachers etc. Boys and girls
of different age play a pivotal role in many of his stories. His
observation of adolescent psychology is unsurpassable. After R. K.
Narayan, it is Bond who has related himself so naturally to the
innocent world of children. He loves them because they are as
natural as nature itself. His courtship with children started when
he was at the verge of middle age maturity. Hypocrisy of the grown
ups forced him to peep into the innocent world of children. The
glaring contrast of the young and the old world is manifested
through characters corresponding to their age and spirit. He says;
When I was about forty, I started writing stories about children –
the children of nearby villages of hills, middle class children
working in the fields or going to school. . . I write because I may
have an understanding with them. (Aggarwal , 1998).
Bond's range of characters is large. He is the most consummate
author of hills and it is impossible to ignore the universal appeal
of his characters. Like any man, they are greedy, kind, shy,
sensuous, brave, stubborn, loving, friendly and crooked. They may
take away other's life to protect themselves. Cold-blooded murders
are also a part of Bond's gallery; he deals with them with equal
felicity, focusing upon the mysterious background of their being so.
For Ex: In Flight of Pigeons, Father of Ruth Labadoor (heroin of the
novel) is murdered. This murder is committed by the Indian rebels
who are a part of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and who have decided
to kill all the British of the small town of Shahjahanpur.
Bond lays emphasis upon the circumstances of a person for his
idiosyncrasies. It is the process of growing up that has made him
what he is today;
We are creatures of circumstances. If our genes have shaped our
biological make-up, our environment has shaped the development of
our natures. (Bond , 2001 : VII )
Bond's portraits are not static. In spite of their seeming
inactiveness, they steadily move towards maturity. The process of
development is conspicuous in both young and old. They are
remarkably pliant to harmonize with the people and surroundings. We
can classify them as types and individuals both. They are gripping
and tantalizing as individual human beings, while representing their
particular class to which they belong. It has always been
interesting to trace the source of these creations. During his long
walks, Bond meets many people and some of them get deeply imprinted
in his memory. They become a part of his 'mental luggage'. He
revives them through stories. Critics may accuse him of particular
obsession, but it is quite natural that some of our meets linger
with us. Bond says;
Meet some of the people I can never forget. . .
because their individuality made them stand out from the common
place. It was not money or success but pride in themselves that set
them apart: people like my Granny, or my father, or the old kite
maker, or the wayside station's khilasi, or the epileptic boy who
sold trinkets for a living. (Bond, 2000 : VII )
Bond's extensive gallery has a variety of pen portraits ranging from
man and woman, young and old, rich and poor, simple and complex,
autobiographical and fictional. Some of them like Rani, Markham and
Sensualist are meant for psychological observations, while some like
Kishen Singh, Pritam and Hari are regional simpletons. Some
characters such as Sita, Suraj, Vijay and Rusty etc. have
allegorical connotations and some are autobiographical or
semi-autobiographical portraits. Bond has created a few caricatures
too like Sita Ram and uncle Ken. His world is not of male dominance;
girls and women are not less gripping than men in his stories. In
“Room on the Roof”, hero’s character Rusty’s relationship with a
married woman Mrs. Meera Kapoor (wife of a drunkard Mr. Kapoor) is
narrated in such a way that without Meera Kapoor there is no novel.
As Meena gave Rusty a room in the their house which is on the roof.
The title of the novelis “Room on the Roof”.
Autobiographical nature of his fiction makes him an Indian Charles
Lamb. The dilemma of growing up is powerfully presented through
Rusty, his favourite autobiographical hero of the stories Rusty, The
Boy from the Hills. Through him Bond speaks of his own tribulations
standing at the threshold of manhood. Rusty's sensibility, his urge
for friendship and above all his Indianness are truly of Bond
himself.
Doing father, who takes away his son on the slopes of Dehra for
planting saplings in many of Bond's stories, is Mr. A. A. Bond, his
loving father. The writer is so deeply attached to his father that
he brings him back to life whenever he has to talk of a father in
the plot of his story.
Bond shows his awareness of the development in the field of science
and philosophy of the 20th century. The result is that in his hands
the novel becomes highly philosophical and psychologically
insightful. He looks into the minds and hearts of his characters and
reveals the thinking and feelings, likes, dislikes. Sufferings and
frustrations of his characters. Bond presents highly complex
characters. Their actions at first appear to be puzzling and even
contradictory, but when Bond analyses the person's psychology and
shows us why exactly he acted in those different ways, his character
becomes convincing. This can be seen in “Room on the Roof” that
Kishen son of Mr. Kapoor left the home when his father marries other
lady after his mother’s death. Kishen is a boy of arrogance in the
beginning of the novel, later he wants to lead his life
independently after the death of his mother who is later assisted by
Rusty.
Autobiographical nature of his fiction makes him an Indian Charles
Lamb. The dilemma of growing up is powerfully presented through
Rusty, his favourite autobiographical hero of the stories Rusty
REFERENCES
Aggarwal A (1998). "Interview" with Ruskin Bond at Mussoorie on Oct.
2, 1998.
Bond R (1999). Collected Fiction, (New Delhi : Penguin Books India,
Pvt. Ltd.).
Bond R (2000). "Introduction" to Friends in Small Places, (New Delhi
:Penguin Books India, Pvt. Ltd.).
Bond R (2001). Children's Ommibus (New Delhi : Rupa & Co.).
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