The Room on the Roof

 

The Room on the Roof is the story of Rusty, seventeen-year-old Anglo – Indian kid who has lost his parents at an early age. He now lives with his guardians, Mr. Harrison, and his wife, in the European community that borders the outskirts of Dehra (Dehradun). They have no kids of their own, but they have Rusty, who is basically ‘owned’ by Mr. Harrison as he has gradually become a slave to his guardian’s authoritarian command over the family through stiff rules and regulations. In some ways, Mr. Harrison resembles Maharani- the queen of bazaar cows, persistent and intolerant. There are barely any hearty exchanges, emotional connect, or any other occurrence of sweet family moments.

 

“EVERY DAY HE WALKED AIMLESSLY ALONG THE ROAD, OVER THE HILLSIDE, BROODING ON THE FUTURE, OR DREAMING OF SUDDEN AND PERFECT COMPANIONSHIP, ROMANCE AND HEROICS; HARDLY EVER CONSCIOUS OF THE PRESENT.”

 

Such being the situation at home, Rusty has learned to cope by escaping into his mind's imagination and fantasies. This way he is doing well in his own world until one rainy day, while walking home, he is noticed by a local cyclist. The cyclist is interested in this uncommon sight of a European kid(Rusty) walking alone in the streets of Dehra. That guy on the cycle is the friendly and jovial Somi, a Sikh kid, who within a couple of encounters becomes Rusty’s first and ‘best favorite’ friend in Dehra. Somi becomes the starting point of this new unexpected life that awaits Rusty. He leads Rusty into this unexplored world of India and it’s culture, something which Rusty has only wondered in his daydreams.

 

“..EXPLORE, GET LOST, WANDER AFAR; EVEN IF IT WERE ONLY TO FIND NEW PLACES TO DREAM IN. HE THREW HIMSELF ON THE BED AND VISUALIZED THE MORROW…WHERE SHOULD HE GO-INTO THE HILLS AGAIN, INTO THE FOREST? OR SHOULD HE LISTEN TO THE DEVIL IN HIS HEART AND GO INTO THE BAZAAR? TOMORROW HE WOULD KNOW, TOMORROW…..”

 

Somi brings a sudden change in Rusty’s life by introducing him to meet new people, participating in worldly frolics, encountering some loving and amusing relationships, few unsought romances, following an amusing and winding path, filled with a series of events, all of which come together and help free Rusty from the bounds of his own people and lead him to the vast open-world full of possibilities that lay before him.

 

“HE WANTED THIS TO GO ON FOREVER, THIS DAY OF FEVERISH EMOTION, THIS LIFE IN ANOTHER WORLD. HE DID NOT WANT TO LEAVE THE FOREST; IT WAS SAFE, ITS EARTH SOOTHED HIM, GATHERED HIM IN, SO THAT THE PAIN OF HIS BODY BECAME A PLEASURE.”

 

There is one big major cliched twist that has a significant impact on Rusty and other related characters which also changes the flow of the story. Even though the event becomes predictable as you progress through the story, it does not feel that dull and superficial either, but its harshness is surely gut-wrenching. This incident leads Rusty to a brief yet pervasive period of depression.

 

“THEY WALKED BACK THROUGH THE DAPPLED SUNLIGHT, SWINGING THEIR CLASPED HANDS LIKE TWO CHILDREN WHO HAD ONLY JUST DISCOVERED LOVE.”

 

Ruskin Bond has, through such flair and skill, easily sketched the readily absorptive nature of the teenage mind, the wanderlust bug that it is prone to catch, and the weight and resilience of emotions that it passes through.

“AT NIGHT HE SLEPT BROKENLY, THINKING AND WORRYING ABOUT THE FUTURE. AND QUESTIONS WOULD COME TO HIM, DISTURBING QUESTIONS ABOUT LOVING AND LEAVING AND LIVING AND DYING, QUESTIONS THAT CROWDED HIS SLEEP.”

Rusty is everybody. Everyone has been that kid, the one seeking out his own identity, one looking for a purpose, for something to call his own, even when one may or may not have had all the family and comforts they can ever imagine. What Rusty shares with us is an emotional roller coaster, a transitional yet significantly influential part of life that all of us go through. And through Rusty, the author speaks with that part of you.

 

“WE DON’T KNOW WHY WE LIVE. IT IS NO USE TRYING TO KNOW. BUT WE HAVE TO LIVE. BECAUSE WE REALLY WANT TO. AND AS LONG AS WE WANT TO, WE HAVE GOT TO FIND SOMETHING TO LIVE FOR AND EVEN DIE FOR IT.”

 

Through his charming writing, Ruskin Bond ensured that the reader lives and breathes each moment with Rusty, be it in the crowded and disorderly bazaar, the hot and steamy chat shop, the colored streets of the town during Holi, or the remote and dense forests, the myriad rivers, the vast mountains, the big maidans. Each scene is handled well and the book is supplied with many other beautiful sights and places in and around Dehradun. Being of British- origin, Ruskin Bond balances so well between those two stances. A suave British narrative blended with such pure and astute Indian-ness, that you will be left asking for more of such a fine literary delicacy.

 

“YOU ARE AFRAID TO DIE WITHOUT HAVING DONE SOMETHING. YOU ARE AFRAID TO DIE… BUT YOU HAVE HARDLY BEGUN TO LIVE.”

 

And, finally, the best of all is that the journey does not end there, instead, it begins at the end of “The Room on the Roof.” It continues in the form of a sequel to this book titled “Vagrants in the Valley”.