How far is the River - BC 3

image source: https://www.governmenteuropa.eu/river-biodiversity-analysed/93961/

Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934) is an Indian author of British descent. He lives with his adopted family in Landour, in Mussoorie, India. The Indian Council for Child Education has recognized his role in the growth of children's literature in India. He got the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, for his published work in English. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014. Most of his works are influenced by life in the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, was written when he was 17 and published when he was 21. Summary Ruskin Bond’s short story ‘How far is the River’ is taken from a volume of his collection. The short story reflects the writer’s understanding of the psychology of a 12-year-old boy who longs to go out and explore Nature. Between the boy and the river stood a mountain. The boy was young, and the river was small, but the mountain was high. The mountain concealed the river and so the boy had never seen the river but had heard a great deal about it, of the fish in its waters, of its rocks and currents and waterfalls. The boy felt a great desire to touch the water of the river and ‘know it personally’. This short story deals with an unnamed twelve-year-old boy, a sturdy boy with untidy black hair and shining eyes, sharp features and clear brown skin. How he undertakes a long and arduous walk to locate the river in the absence of his parents in the house that day forms the plot of the short story. As he walks towards the river, he meets woodcutters, a grass cutter girl, milkman and mule drivers. Unfortunately, the boy is not able to get clear directions about the river and its exact location. But he still continues to walk, suddenly he encounters a village boy who smiled in a friendly way and told him that the river was not very far away. They have lunch together and then walk for some time. Soon his companion had to diverge along another path and the boy was again on his own. He felt tired, lonely, miserable and hungry and tempted to return to his house. But if he failed, he would always be ashamed of the experience. Finally, to his great delight, the boy heard a sudden roaring sound, the sound of the river. It tumbled over rocks and the boy gasped and ran towards it. Although he slipped and tumbled, he still ran forward. Then he was ankle-deep in the bitterly cold mountain water which was blue and white and wonderful. At last, the boy fulfilled his dream. Ruskin Bond describes the water as “blue and white and wonderful”