A Little about the Writer
Ruskin Bond is one of the most celebrated children’s authors in India. He has been actively writing since 1951. In his five decades of writing career Ruskin Bond has lost track of number of books he has written, and he is still active in the literary field enriching them with the tales from Himalayas where he has spent most of his life. Ruskin Bond has been felicitated by Sahitya Akademi Award and Padma Shri.
The Book
The Room on the Roof is Ruskin Bonds first novel, written at the age of seventeen. This novel is winner of 1957 John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and is a delight to read.
It is story of an Anglo-Indian, 16 year old boy, named Rusty from Dehra. After his parents’ death, Rusty had to live with his English guardian, who wants to turn Rusty into a complete Englishmen, and is very Victorian when it came to discipline. Rusty on the other hand, fascinated by the colours of India, the Bazaar near their home (needless to say, where he is never allowed to go) and colourful festivals, decided to break free.
With his newly found friends, who come from all walks of life, Rusty embarks on an adventure of lifetime.
This book is about the friendship, caring, the youth- when anything is possible, and a sense of loneliness, as Rusty puts it “Inside of me … I am all lonely”. This book portrays Indian in its true bright colours, may it be a bazaar, fields, people bathing at a well, or a railway compartment.
This is the first of many adolescent novels featuring Rusty.