Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He spent most of his childhood in Dehradun with his grandmother. All his works were based on his own experiences while staying in Dehradun. His first novel was ‘The Room On the Roof’ and his first short story was ‘Angry River’, which he wrote on his publisher’s request.
Every time I have visited my grandfather’s village in India, I have returned with a lot of memories and many life lessons learnt. On one such visit, I happened to meet a friend of my grandfather’s who told me how life has been cruel to him by taking from him what was most important, his family and still he lived not losing courage.
‘Angry River’ is about a girl, Sita, who lives with her grandparents on an island in a mud hut with her three goats, hen and a peepal tree. On a cloudy day, her grandmother falls very ill and her grandfather decides to take her grandmother to the hospital in town, leaving Sita alone with the promise he will be back in some days.
Soon after their departure, the water levels in the island rise due to a high flow from the mountains, causing a flood. Remembering her grandfather’s advice to climb the peepal tree in an event of high water levels, Sita packs some food, her grandmother’s saree and grandfather’s hookah and climbs the tree. But, she forgets her doll, Mumta with whom she used to share all her feelings. When sitting on the top branches of the tree, Sita witnesses a very comforting sight, a crow trying to protect her eggs even in a situation of suffering. Just when she loses hope of survival, a boy saves her. Later on, Sita finds out her grandmother is no more and she returns to the island with her grandfather to continue her life without her grandmother and her doll.
The crow’s act of saving her eggs taught me to try my best in whatever life puts in front of me even if I can’t think of the right solution. I have learnt a very important lesson not to give up and move on with life however bad the situation is.
— The reader is a university student based in Dubai.
