Rusty, an orphan English boy of seventeen from Dehradun, fights with his guardian, who had managed him with an iron fist, and finds friendship with a few lower-middle-class Indian boys. They offered him food, shelter, and found him a job. Rusty stays in the room on the roof of the house of one of his friends. He teaches him English for food and shelter. Interestingly, he grows closer to the boy’s mother and falls in love with the married lady. Rusty’s love passes away in a car accident, her husband remarries in Haridwar, and abandons their son. Rusty finds the boy, who had turned into a rogue bandit in Haridwar. He cajoles the boy, brings him back to Dehradun, and lives in the same room on the roof.
The book was written by Ruskin Bond when he was only seventeen. It has won several awards and established him as an author. It is hard to believe that the story was conceived by a seventeen-year-old. No doubt Bond is such a masterful storyteller. Boys, when faced with the hard realities, grew into strong men. I will consider that as the biggest takeaway. Rusty and Kishen (the boy whose mother he loved) maintain a symbiotic friendship. The story would leave that lingering doubt on what happened next. Unlike other stories, e.g., the Hidden Pool, this was a book about children written with an adult theme.
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