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Treatment of Love in Ruskin Bond's The Room On The Roof |
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Paper Id :
15927 Submission Date :
06/03/2022 Acceptance Date :
09/03/2022 Publication Date :
25/03/2022
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Madhu Jain
Associate Professor
English
Arya Mahila Degree College
Shahjahanpur ,Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract
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Love has always inspired writers, it has been a constant source of inspiration to Ruskin Bond. His most interesting stories are based on various moods of love. Bond writes about the innocent love which brings in the life comfort and not any kind of compromise or sacrifice. It never demands and commitment or promise. It stays and flourishes in the mind and hearts of characters. "The room on the roof" by Ruskin Bond is one of his wonderful novels wherein he describes the story of an orphan of sixteen years old boy named Rusty who lived with his Anglo-indian guardian Mr. John Harrison in Dehradun. The novel describes Rusty's love and liking for Mrs. Kapoor. |
Keywords
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Euphoria, Ecstatic Delight, Affection, Growth, Promise, Comfort, Friendship. |
Introduction
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Ruskin Bond,a prolific writer, drawing inspiration from energizing and perennially fresh nature is immensely loved by millions of his readers.He writes as enthusiastically and simply at the age of eighty eight as when he started to pen at the adolescent age of only seventeen.He is an Indian author of British descent and is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors.He writes about real people from real places that are common place across regions.That is why all his readers find something or other of their lives in his writings. The Room on the Roof is the first literary venture of Ruskin Bond.He wrote the novel when he was only seventeen and won the John Llewelly Rhys Prize in 1957.Since then he has written several novels,over 500 short stories as well as various essays and poems. These creations have established him as one of the best loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. |
Aim of study
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To create interest in the works of Ruskin Bond. |
Review of Literature
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Works of Ruskin Bond reminds us of the time-honoured motto that love knows no failure and the act of love is a triumph by itself. All those dreams of Bond that were fulfilled and yet not fulfilled were a driving force which resulted in the creation of perennially delightful literature.Works of Ruskin Bond reminds us of the time-honoured motto that love knows no failure and the act of love is a triumph by itself. All those dreams of Bond that were fulfilled and yet not fulfilled were a driving force which resulted in the creation of perennially delightful literature. |
Main Text
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Ruskin Bond,a prolific writer, drawing
inspiration from energizing and perennially fresh nature is immensely loved by
millions of his readers.He writes as
enthusiastically and simply at the age of eighty eight as when he started to
pen at the adolescent age of only seventeen.He is an Indian author of British
descent and is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's
authors.He writes about real people from real places that are common place
across regions.That is why all his readers find something or other of their
lives in his writings. The Room on the Roof is the first literary venture of
Ruskin Bond.He wrote the novel when he was only seventeen and won the John
Llewelly Rhys Prize in 1957.Since then he has written several novels,over 500
short stories as well as various essays and poems. These creations have
established him as one of the best loved and most admired chroniclers of
contemporary India. The Indian council for Child Education
recognised his pioneering role in the growth of children's literature in India
and awarded him the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still grow in
Dehra by the Sahitya Academe.He was
honoured by the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhusan in 2014.At present he lives
with his adopted family in Landour in Mussoorie. The Indian council for Child
Education recognised his pioneering role in the growth of children's literature
in India and awarded him the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still
Grow in Dehra by the Sahitya Academy.He
was honoured by the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhusan in 2014.At present he
lives with his adopted family in Landour in Mussoorie. Ruskin Bond'fiction consists of various
themes from autobiographical experiences to myths, legends,gossips of markets
and villages, travelling, adventure, alienation, loneliness, homelessness,
running away from home, friendship,family, love, separation and so on.His most
interesting stories are based on various moods of love_ from euphoria of new
love to nostalgia of lost love. Bond writes about the innocent love which
brings in the life comfort and not any kind of compromise or sacrifice. it
never demands any commitment or promise It stays and flourishes in the minds
and hearts of characters. The Room on the Roof by Ruskin bond is one
of his wonderful novels where in he describes the story of an orphan of sixteen
years old boy named Rusty who lived with his Anglo-indian guardianMr John
Harrison in Dehradun.He had lost his parents when he was very young. He wanted
to break free from the strict rules of his guardian and leaves the safety of
his home to explore the outside world. Rusty now starts his journey of life like a free bird and is
introduced to a new and lively way of living by his friends Somi and Ranbir.He
enjoys the friendship and hospitality of Somi who finds a job of tutor for
Kapoor' son Kishen. During his stay,Rusty develops a liking for Mrs Kapoor. All
his dreams of love and romance gain life in the form of Meena. She is the first
beautiful and motherly lady he had come in contact with in his lifetime.He
derives tremendous joy in the company of the lady and her closeness always
gives him ecstatic delight He reveals his love for her and she also
reciprocates.Rusty's mind is full of passionate thoughts and a certain
restlessness which is symbolic of euphoria of new love. "Rusty was concious of a wild urge,a
desire to escape from town and its people,and live in a forest and Meena with
no one but Meena…”1 Rusty has never experienced love and affection from the childhood due to
the early demise of his parents.The
restrictions and strict ways of his guardian have closed the passage of
the tender feelings to Rusty'heart. But now for the first time Rusty's hidden
feelings of love and tenderness find response in the beautiful mother figure of
MRS Kapoo Rusty is so much awestruck by her beauty that he directly falls in
love with her. The deserted, lonely and bruised life of Rusty gets the fresh
showers of balmy love and affection of Meena who is leading and emotionally
vacuous life with her drunkard husband enjoys the adoration of a teenaged
boy.They are kindred souls they find relief in each.They find relief in other's
company and arms. "Rusty puts his arms around
Meena.....and she made no effort to free herself.She laughed into his face and
her eyes danced in the shadow and he stlfled her laughter with his lips… "2 The love that is presented in the present
novel is away from practicality and reality of life.It is a love affair between
a matured married woman and an inexperienced adolescent boy His love brings
with it resurgence of Oedipal feelings that prompt him "to ldolize his mother (or a mother figure ) and to believe that she
is more appropriative to him or she responds to him in a more ap propriate
manner than(to) his father ..."3 The writer has very clearly expressed the
relation of Rusty with Meena in these lines... "For one year, he had led an idyllic
life, he had loved,almost worshipped,Kishen's mother,Meena_loved her with all
the mute and helpless fervour of a sixteen year old_and she had loved him too
but only as a woman loves a homeless child…"4 But love of Rusty cannot be complete without
experiencing the pangs of separation.Rusty is forced soon enough to realise the
reality.Mrs Kapoor dies in a car accident.He is left alone with only the
memories of the time he has spent with her. Faced with the dark reality of
life, the young adolescent is dumbfounded. "Rusty is overcome by a feeling of
impotence and futility of life,every moment, he told himself, someone is born
and someone dies....."5 Thus the euphoria of new love gets
transformed into the nostalgia of lost love. Meena is dead, he told himself Meena is
dead,if there is god,then God will look after her,if God is love, then my love
will be with her.She loved me.I can see her so clearly,her face speckled with
sun and shadow when we kissed in the forest,the black waterfall of her hair, her
tired eyes,her feet like jade in the lamp light,she she loved me, she was
mine..."6
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Conclusion
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The Room on the Roof was Ruskin Bond's first novella and the theme of dealing with the people in love or in need of love that started from his first book continues up till now.His style of treating the various themes is always undeniably clear,simple and lucid.love never dies,it may be lost,but it definitely alters the life of the person in many ways and contributes to the further growth of the character. |
References
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1.Ruskin Bond:The Room On the Roof(Delhi,Penguin Books,1987),p.86
2 Ibid.,p86
3 Judith Rich Harris and Robert M.Liebert:The Child Development From Birth To Adolescence(Prentice Hall Eaglewood Cliffs,1984,p484
4 Ruskin Bond:Vagrants in The Valley.collected Fiction(New Delhi,Penguin Books1996),p669
5 Ruskin Bond:The Room On The Roof,Collected Fiction,New Delhi:Penguin India,1999.p632
6 Ruskin Bond:The Room on The Roof, p107 |