BY:

RUSKIN BOND

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ruskin Bond, born in 1934 at Himachal Pradesh is an

Indian writer of British descent. A prolific and

powerful writer, he has added huge stack of short

stories, essays, novels and children books to the

library of contemporary Indian English writers. Dehra

has been the setting of most of his novels. The story

is a first person narrative and keeps the reader

elevated from beginning to the end!

A versatile writer and a man of colorful personality, he

is still active. No surprise that the short stories are

timeless, let his powerful pen run long!

The narrator of this story is a blind man on his

way to Mussoorie by train. He is alone in the

train when a girl boards his compartment.

The girl’s parents bid her goodbye at the

station, anxious about her well-being and

advising her regarding where to keep her

belongings, not to lean out of the windows and

to avoid talking to strangers.

Once the train leaves the station, the narrator

starts a conversation asking if she too is going

to Dehradun. The voice startles her as she

thinks herself to be the only occupant in the

compartment. She answers in the negative and

tells him that she is en route to Saharanpur to

visit her aunt. He informs her that he is

travelling to Mussoorie.

After conversing for quiet some time now,

the narrator appreciates her daringly

saying that she has an interesting face. She

is happy at this and surprised as it was a

welcome deviation from the often repeated

phrase: "You have a pretty face".

Soon it’s time for the girl to bid goodbye as

her destination comes into view. After her

departure, a man enters the compartment and

apologizes, for not being as attractive a

travelling companion as his predecessor.

When the narrator asks him if the girl had her

hair long or short, he replies with interest that

he had noticed only her eyes, which were

beautiful but of no use, as she was

completely blind.

It is only then that the narrator realises that

the girl too, was blind.

In this story the narrator’s eyes was sensitive only to light and darkness.

While going to Dehradun by train he comes across a girl. He starts

conversation and gradually becomes interested in her. He tactfully hides his

blindness from the girl to impress her. But the conversation does not last

long. The girl bids him good-bye as the train arrives at her destination. After

her departure, a new male passenger comes into the compartment. From

that man the narrator learns that the girl was completely blind. The

revelation shocks the narrator. He feels that he has deceived himself. This

is an ironical twist that makes the end of the story so appealing.

CHARACTER SKETCH

The narrator was blind and fond of talking, he wished to hide his blindness from

girl. While the girl was smart and and focused.

The narrator was a romantic fool who was ready to believe a girl by her ringing

laughter and vibrant voice. The narrator represents men in common who love

the company of a woman.

While, the girl represents women in common who love the safety in the

presence of a man and vanish without a goodbye because she has reached

safely.

Ruskin Bond kept the pulse of the reader high with the narrator’s attempts to

escape the chances of his being caught by the girl’s smart questions and

remarks.

At the end, the reader realizes that it was not the girl that the narrator had been

fooling but it was the reader that the author had just fooled.

IRONY IN THE STORY

• This story is an excellent example of situational irony.

• Ironically, the author employs two blind people as his main characters, yet neither knows that the other is blind.

• Even after listening to the parent’s conversation with the daughter, the narrator could not distinguish any unusual advice or information that led him to believe the girl had any handicap herself.

• Hoping to keep her from realizing that he is blind, he describes the scenery from his memories.

• To continue the ruse, the narrator tells the girl that she has an interesting face.

• The narrator fooled himself. Apparently, he also misleads the girl because she did not realize that

her fellow traveller was blind either.

PRESENTED BY:DEEKSHA RAINA (A2305213046)

NAVLEEN KAUR(A2305213036)

MANDVI KACKER(A2305213487)

MARPREET KAUR(A2305213069)