The Great Train Journey, by Ruskin Bond.

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The Great Train Journey

by Ruskin Bond

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As author says, he's fascinated by trains, and here's a collection of stories where a train features in each. Other than that its a very diverse collection, although several stories have some factors common with another or two, apart from the train.

Two stories stand out. Snake Trouble is by far the most hilarious story one ever read, not only by this author but generally - it compares well with best of his childhood favourite authir, P. G. Wodehouse, in fact with best of the latter which I'd say is Pigs Hsve Wings. The other is Time Stops At Shamli, where he attempts romance, mystery, suspense, touch of horror, all with his gentle brush, and an air that reminds one of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. Come to think of it, it also feels like something he lived, but not in India.

More than one story here uses his tunnel and leopard experience.

And finally, there is more than one story where he writes in first person but with an Indian protagonist, rendering the imagined dialogues completely unconvincing- often enough he has very English dialogues by characters unlikemy to have spoken English, much less thought in English; one where an Indian schoolboy's thinking and speech sounds more like a much older adult, not young, Englishman.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

The Great Train Journey

The Eyes Have It

Dragon in the Tunnel

Belting Around Mumbai

Going Home

The Long Day

The Tiger in the Tunnel

The Woman on Platform No. 8

Snake Trouble

The Night Train at Deoli

Time Stops at Shamli

The Tunnel

Kipling’s Simla

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Introduction

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‘What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass…’

"William Henry Davies wrote these lines in 1911, and they ring true even over a century later. ... "

Any quarrel with Robert Frost?

"The first time I saw a train, I was standing on a wooded slope outside a tunnel, not far from Kalka. Suddenly, with a shrill whistle and great burst of steam, a green and black engine came snorting out of the blackness. I had turned and run towards my father. ‘A dragon!’ I had shouted. ‘There’s a dragon coming out of its cave!’"

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022

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The Great Train Journey

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"He plunged his hands into the straw and pulled out an apple.

"It was a dark, ruby-red apple, and it lay in the dusty palm of Suraj’s hand like some gigantic precious stone, smooth and round and glowing in the sunlight. Suraj looked up, out of the doorway, and thought he saw a tree walking past the train.

"He dropped the apple and stared.

"There was another tree, and another, all walking past the door with increasing rapidity. Suraj stepped forward but lost his balance and fell on his hands and knees. The floor beneath him was vibrating, the wheels were clattering on the rails, the carriage was swaying. The trees were running now, swooping past the train, and the telegraph poles joined them in the crazy race."

The author takes one gently through a slight panic of a preteen boy who is sure his parents would miss him and worry, but is all too looking forward to going to and across sea - to China, Africa - until the train stops at a station, and he's at his inn hometown, bringing the familiar Gentle smile familiar to readers of Bond.

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Eyes Have It

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For some reason one is reminded of works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, specifically White Nights, as one reads this, beginning shortly after beginning reading this story.

It isn't plot or details, it's an air, a whiff of the atmosphere.

" ... Her voice had the sparkle of a mountain stream. As soon as she left the train she would forget our brief encounter. But it would stay with me for the rest of the journey and for some time after."

"But then, the twist brings one back, and again takes one back to White Nights -

"‘I don’t remember,’ he said sounding puzzled. ‘It was her eyes I noticed, not her hair. She had beautiful eyes but they were of no use to her. She was completely blind. Didn’t you notice?’"

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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Dragon in the Tunnel

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"I turned and run towards my father. ‘A dragon!’ I had shouted. ‘There’s a dragon coming out of its cave!’

"Since then, steam engines and dragons have always inspired the same sort of feelings in me—wonder and awe and delight. I would like to see a real dragon one day, green and gold and—because I have always preferred the ‘reluctant’ sort—rather shy and gentle; but until that day comes, I shall be content with steam engines."

Funny, if he really did want that, why not spend a few weeks at Loch Ness? Reportedly, there haven't been any harms reported to anyone, although some people have been terrified.

He recounts a story familiar from another of his collection.

"We had gone about twenty yards into the tunnel when the light from the lamp fell on the leopard, which was crouching between the tracks, only about twenty feet away from us. It bared its teeth in a snarl and went down on its stomach, tail twisting. I thought it was going to spring. ... "

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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Belting Around Mumbai

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"I have lived to see Bombay become Mumbai, Calcutta become Kolkata, and Madras become Chennai. Times change, names change, and if Bond becomes Bonda I won’t object. ... "

He's lived in India from his childhood on, and talks to locals. Did he never get a clue? That British had distorted two of the names he's claiming are changed now? That Mumbai, and Kaalieghattaa, were the original names, after the major temples?

The name Madras was changed by politics of Tamil state that was turned poisonous by Macaulay policy of British, and further by policy of Jinnah to break India into pieces, both sowing hatred in Tamil people against Sanskrit and its derivative languages, and people who spoke them. Madra is an ancient name, familiar to India since millennia, from Mahaabhaarata. Krishna from Mathura, a name replicated in Tamil Nadu as Madurai, was married to Satyabhaamaa, daughter of Jaambuvanta, and in Tamil Nadu the most loved of all wives of Krishna, even though she was neither first nor best in character - obviously, it was due to her being from the region. So the connection is as ancient as Raamaayana, where Jaambuvanta is first mentioned. But political parties preferred the British and Pakistan policy of pretending tamilians were disconnected from mainstream India, hence wiping out a name that's connected with Mahaabhaarata, Krishna, all of India since several millennia.

"I auditioned for a role in a Tarzan film.

"‘Who do you wish to play?’ asked the casting director. ‘Tarzan, of course,’ I said.

"He gave me a long hard look. ‘Can you swing from one tree to another?’ he asked.

"‘Easily,’ I said. ‘I can even swing from a chandelier.’ And I proceeded to do so, wrecking the hall they sat in, in the process. They begged me to stop.

"‘Thank you, Mr Bond, you have made your point. But we don’t think you have the figure for the part of Tarzan. Would you like to take the part of the missionary who is being cooked to a crisp by a bunch of cannibals? Tarzan will come to your rescue.’

"I declined the role with dignity."

He describes a book event where "Gulzar read Ghalib, ... " and being taken to a market to spend a thousand which he did on two pairs of ladies slippers and two ladies handbags.

"At the airport, one of the Kingfisher staff complimented me on my dress sense; the first time anyone has done so.

"‘Your blue shirt matches your eyes,’ she said.

"After that, I shall definitely fly Kingfisher again."

That dates the writing more than the publication date!

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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Going Home

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A story about a simple, good-natured man being taking advantage of by thugs.

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Long Day

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About a boy spending a day out and returning late, only to realise he's to do it again next day.

"Suraj felt a little lonely now. Somehow, the passing of the train left him with a feeling of being alone in a wide, empty world. He was feeling hungry too. He went back to the field where he had seen some lichi trees, climbed into one of them and began plucking and peeling and eating the juicy red-skinned fruit. No one seemed to own the lichi trees ... "

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Tiger in the Tunnel

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Author begins with a memory of his own, turned into a third person story, details changed.

"The station, a small shack backed by heavy jungle, was a station in name only; for trains only stopped there, if at all, for a few seconds before entering the deep cutting that led to the tunnel. Most trains merely slowed down before taking the sharp curve before the cutting.

"Baldeo was responsible for signalling whether or not the tunnel was clear of obstruction, and his hand-worked signal stood before the entrance. At night it was his duty to see that the lamp was burning, and that the overland mail passed through safely."

" ... He did not have to wonder for long. Before a minute had passed he made out the huge body of the tiger trotting steadily towards him. Its eyes shone a brilliant green in the light from the signal lamp. ... "

And ends very differently.

"He sat down in the darkness to wait for the train, and sang softly to himself. There was nothing to be afraid of—his father had killed the tiger, the forest gods were pleased; and besides, he had the axe with him, his father’s axe, and he knew how to use it."

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Woman on Platform No. 8

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It's a sweet story, written in first person but not with the author's own identity, but the real trouble is, while the protagonist is an Indian boy, the language and thought process of the story is that of an older person and not an Indian. The mismatch is quite definite and not covered enough to be hidden by the sweetness of the story.

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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Snake Trouble

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"The first to see us arrive was Tutu the monkey, who was swinging from a branch of the jackfruit tree. One look at the python, ancient enemy of her race, and she fled into the house squealing with fright. Then our parrot, Popeye, who had his perch on the verandah, set up the most awful shrieking and whistling. His whistle was like that of a steam engine. He had learnt to do this in earlier days, when we had lived near railway stations.

"The noise brought Grandmother to the verandah, where she nearly fainted at the sight of the python curled round Grandfather’s neck."

"We hurried off to the bazaar in search of the snake charmer but hadn’t gone far when we found several snake charmers looking for us. They had heard that Grandfather was buying snakes, and they had brought with them snakes of various sizes and descriptions."

"But the man who had sold it to us had, apparently, returned to his village in the jungle, looking for another python for Grandfather; and the other snake charmers were not interested in buying, only in selling. In order to shake them off, we had to return home by a roundabout route, climbing a wall and cutting through an orchard. We found Grandmother pacing up and down the verandah. One look at our faces and she knew we had failed to get rid of the snake."

"‘He’s gone,’ announced Grandfather.

"‘We left the window open,’ I said.

"‘Deliberately, no doubt,’ said Grandmother. ‘But it couldn’t have gone far. You’ll have to search the grounds.’

"A careful search was made of the house, the roof, the kitchen, the garden and the chicken shed, but there was no sign of the python."

"Sure enough, the python began to make brief but frequent appearances, usually up in the most unexpected places.

"One morning I found him curled up on a dressing table, gazing at his own reflection in the mirror. I went for Grandfather, but by the time we returned the python had moved on.

"He was seen again in the garden, and one day I spotted him climbing the iron ladder to the roof. ... "

"The major met me on the steps of his house.

"‘And what has your kind granny sent me today, Ranji?’ he asked.

"‘A surprise for your birthday, sir,’ I said, and put the basket down in front of him. The python, who had been buried beneath all the guavas, chose this moment to wake up and stand straight up to a height of several feet. Guavas tumbled all over the place. The major uttered an oath and dashed indoors.

"I pushed the python back into the basket, picked it up, mounted the bicycle, and rode out of the gate in record time. And it was as well that I did so, because Major Malik came charging out of the house armed with a double-barrelled shotgun, which he was waving all over the place."

"‘Thank you for the lovely surprise,’ he wrote. ‘Obviously you could not have known that my doctor had advised me against any undue excitement. My blood pressure has been rather high. The sight of your grandson does not improve it. All the same, it’s the thought that matters and I take it all in good humour…’

"‘What a strange letter,’ said Grandmother. ‘He must be ill, poor man. Are guavas bad for blood pressure?’

"‘Not by themselves, they aren’t,’ said Grandfather, who had an inkling of what had happened. ‘But together with other things they can be a bit upsetting.’"

" ... Dehra railway platform was thrown into confusion by the shrieks and whistles of our parrot, who could imitate both the guard’s whistle and the whistle of a train. People dashed into their compartments, thinking the train was about to leave, only to realize that the guard hadn’t blown his whistle after all. When they got down, Popeye would let out another shrill whistle, which sent everyone rushing for the train again. This happened several times until the guard actually blew his whistle. Then nobody bothered to get on, and several passengers were left behind."

"Whenever we stopped at a station, Popeye objected to fruit sellers and other people poking their heads in through the windows. Before the journey was over, he had nipped two fingers and a nose, and tweaked a ticket inspector’s ear."

"‘Well, I’m hungry,’ I said. ‘What did Granny make for us?’ ‘Stuffed samosas, omelettes, and tandoori chicken. It’s all in the hamper under the berth.’

"I tugged at the cane box and dragged it into the middle of the compartment. The straps were loosely tied. No sooner had I undone them than the lid flew open, and I let out a gasp of surprise."

"Placing the hamper on the table, she lifted the lid and peered inside. And promptly fainted.

"Grandfather picked up the python, took it into the garden, and draped it over a branch of a pomegranate tree."

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Night Train at Deoli

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"In the last few years I have passed through Deoli many times, and I always look out of the carriage window half-expecting to see the same unchanged face smiling up at me. ... "

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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Time Stops at Shamli

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It's unclear if he's using the name Shamli for Deoli, latter has been used by him several times, or there are two separate similar stations with seminaries clise to Dehradoon.

"The Dehra Express usually drew into Shamli at about five o’clock in the morning, at which time the station would be dimly lit and the jungle across the tracks would just be visible in the faint light of dawn. Shamli is a small station at the foot of the Siwalik hills, and the Siwaliks lie at the foot of the Himalayas, which in turn lie at the feet of God."

"It was a small white bungalow, with a garden in the front, banana trees at the sides, and an orchard of guava trees at the back. We came jingling up to the front verandah. Nobody appeared, nor was there any sign of life on the premises."

Ruskin Bond has set the story in India in a small village where there's a train station but nobody gets off despite a ten minute stop, and used characters with Duan names who speak presumably in hindiwigh him, but then the dialogues ought to have sounded plausible in Hindi and they not only don't, they're quite hard to imagine in an I fian language. He's thinking it all as he sits at his desk writing, but thinks in English. And his characters are supposedly Indian, fir mist part, but even those unlikely to have known any English, have dialogues in this story that are very English in spirit, not just words or level of language.

"The person at the piano had distinctive Mongolian features, and so I presumed he was Mr Lin. He hadn’t seen me enter the room, and I stood beside the curtains of the door, watching him play. He had full round lips, and high slanting cheekbones. His eyes were large and round and full of melancholy. His long, slender fingers hardly touched the keys."

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As it proceeds, one begins to get a feel of there being an air of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, what with a leopard and forest and the lonely house that's falling to pieces, and people who move fearlessly about - all but the proprietor.

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"‘I’m looking for a friend called Major Roberts.’

"Lin gave an exclamation of surprise. I thought he had seen through my deception.

"But another game had begun.

"‘I knew him,’ said Lin. ‘A great friend of mine.’

◆

"‘Yes,’ continued Lin. ‘I knew him. A good chap, Major Roberts.’

"Well, there I was, inventing people to suit my convenience, and people like Mr Lin started inventing relationships with them. I was too intrigued to try and discourage him. I wanted to see how far he would go.

"‘When did you meet him?’ asked Lin, taking the initiative.

"‘Oh, only about three years back. Just before he disappeared. He was last heard of in Shamli.’

"‘Yes, I heard he was here,’ said Lin. ‘But he went away, when he thought his relatives had traced him. He went into the mountains near Tibet.’

"‘Did he?’ I said, unwilling to be instructed further. ‘What part of the country? I come from the hills myself. I know the Mana and Niti passes quite well. If you have any idea of exactly where he went, I think I could find him.’ I had the advantage in this exchange, because I was the one who had originally invented Roberts. Yet I couldn’t bring myself to end his deception, probably because I felt sorry for him. A happy man wouldn’t take the trouble of inventing friendships with people who didn’t exist, he’d be too busy with friends who did."

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Author uses another figure after this, or at least a name and idea familiar from another story or sketch that seemed, as one read it, autobiographical but now reading this one wonders. Perhaps did love someone by that name and it's unclear if he met her again or kept imagining it.

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January 18, 2022 - January 18, 2022.

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The Tunnel

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"The train went into the tunnel and out again; it left the jungle behind and thundered across the endless plains; and Suraj stared out at the darkness, thinking of the lonely cutting in the forest, and the watchman with the lamp who would always remain a firefly for those travelling thousands, as he lit up the darkness for steam engines and leopards."

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January 19, 2022 - January 19, 2022.

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Kipling’s Simla

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"Every March, when the rhododendrons stain the slopes crimson with their blooms, a sturdy little steam engine goes hufﬁng and puffing through the 103 tunnels between Kalka and Simla.

"This is probably the most picturesque and romantic way of approaching the hill station although the journey by road is much quicker. But quite recently I went to Simla by a little-used route, the road from Dehra Dun via Nahan and Solan, it takes one ﬁrst through the sub-tropical Siwaliks, and then after Nahan into the foothills and some beautiful and extensive pine forests, before joining the main highway near Solan. By bus it is a tedious ten-hour journey, but by car it is a picturesque ride, and there is very little trafﬁc to contend with…

"But those train journeys stand out in the memory—the little restaurant at Barog, just before the train reaches Dharampur, where the roads for Sanawar and Kasauli branch off; and the gorge at Tara Devi, opening out to give the weary traveller the splendid and uplifting panorama of the city of Simla straddling the side of the mountain."

"Simla is worth a visit at any time of the year, even during the monsoon. The monsoon season is one of the most beautiful times of the year in the Himalayas, with the mist trailing up the valleys, and the hill slopes, a lush green, thick with ferns and wild ﬂowers. The call of the kastum, or whistling-thrush, can be heard in every glen, while the barbet cries insistently from the treetops."

"they set off ‘through the mysterious dusk, full of the noises of a city below the hillside and the breath of a cool wind in deodar-crowned Jakko, shouldering the stars.’

"Shouldering the stars! That is how I always think of Simla—standing on the Ridge and looking up through the clear air into the vault of the heavens, where the stars seem so much nearer… And they are reﬂected below, in the myriad lights of the shops and houses.

"For those who want a bit of history, Simla came into being at the end of the Anglo-Gurkha War (1814–16), when most of the surrounding district—captured by the Gurkhas during their invasion—was restored to various states; but the land on which Simla stands was retained by the British—‘for services rendered!’ ... "

" ... All this during the short summer break when my father (on leave from the Air Force) came up to see me. He told me stories of phantom rickshaws and enchanted forests and planted in me the seeds of my writing career. I was only ten when he died. But he had already passed on to me his love for the hills. And even after I had ﬁnished school and grown to manhood, I was to return to the hills again and again—to Simla and Mussoorie, Himachal and Garhwal—because once the mountains are in your blood, there is no escape.

"Simla beckons. I must return. And, like Kim, I will take the last bend near Summer Hill and look up and exclaim: ‘Ah! What a city!’"

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January 19, 2022 - January 19, 2022.

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January 11, 2022 - January , 2022

Purchased January 10, 2022.

Kindle Edition, 136 pages

Published July 27th 2018

by Rupa Publications

ASIN:- B07FYGJK3S

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The Great Train Journey

Ruskin Bond

Published by Rupa Publications India Pvt. Ltd

2018

7/16, Ansari Road,

Daryaganj New Delhi 110002

The Great Train Journey Kindle Edition

by Ruskin Bond (Author)

Format: Kindle Edition

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07FYGJK3S

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Rupa Publications

(27 July 2018)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4487657429

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Wednesday, January 19, 2022

The Great Train Journey, by Ruskin Bond.

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