A collection of short stories from my all-time favorite Mr. Bond. This book holds stories of different authors and not just Ruskin Bond alone. I have already read a couple of the stories and traversing through them again was a pleasant revision. As guaranteed with the name Ruskin Bond, the book is a pleasurable and light read. Listing down some of the savory moments captured from the book:
What I liked
- ‘The gift of Magi’ by O. Henry lighted up my old school days memories when we had this chapter included in our curriculum on our 8th grade.
- ‘The Dancing Partner’ by Jerome K. Jerome – is a light-hearted comedy which talks about a robot which was developed as a dancing partner for ladies. At one point the robot accidentally gets rogue and though there was a simple way of pulling off its power to stop it, nobody thinks of that, as a result it causes quiet a mayhem. The author sums up the scenario so “those who are not present think how stupid must have been those who were; those who are present, reflect afterwards how simple it would have been to do this, that or the other if only they had thought of it at that time.”. This statement, when we think about it, can be applied to all similar situations in life.
- ‘The Death of Halpin Frayser’ – Ambrose Bierce – At the middle of the afternoon of the preceding day a little whiff of light vapour – a mere thickening of atmosphere, the ghost of a cloud had been observed, clinging to the western side of Mt. St. Helna, away up along the barren altitudes near summit. It was so thin, so diaphanous, so like a fancy made visible that one would have said : “Look quickly, in a moment it will be gone” – I have seen similar apparitions of clouds and moon and often thought about the same lines and in fact wrote a poem based on the subject as well. These lines hence deeply connected on a personal level.
- ‘Laura’ by Saki was perhaps the favorite of the lot – the story was very fresh, exciting and interesting.
What I did not like
- Contradictorily the chapter by Mr Bond himself ‘The Mussoorie Mystery’ seemed a bit bland and had a kind of abrupt ending and was my least favorite.
Overall, the book is aptly fit for a junior high school student with stories to awaken curiosity and excitement at the same time enriched with academic and artistic standards.
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