Ruskin Bond was my childhood. I distinctly remember reading ‘A Face in the Dark’ when my interest in literature was still budding. On reading that account, I felt something change in me and then literature beckoned me in a way I was never beckoned before. I took that leap of faith only to find myself thoroughly enjoying the world of books ever since.

I owe my beginnings to Ruskin. That’s not gonna change.

But now that I’ve grown up I feel a lot of his work was and is always directed toward children. Many of his works I feel today aren’t as profound. They feel to be targeting those certain readers trying to bargain a good chuckle. Most of Ruskin’s works are rooted in his experiences. When you read those you know for a fact that it’s a memory that Ruskin tried to toy with.

A lot of that memorabilia settles down in the leaflets of ‘The Great Train Journey’. Some of them are drooling with ‘if only’ feelings, you know, like had I done this I would have been a different person. Almost like Ruskin revisiting places that he skipped during his journeys. All of the short stories are laced on a common ground er platform – i.e. train, hence the name of the assembly.

Some of the short stories are quaint and utterly beautiful. My favorites among the short stories were ‘The Night Train at Deoli’ and some later reminiscing bits from ‘Time Stops at Shamli’. The Eyes Have It is a classic with a climax. The rest of them felt quite puerile.

Found four of the chapters related to the tunnel to be repetitive, played again and again by Rupa Publications. I wonder who didn’t pay attention to such an apparent mistake. It’s almost as if someone decided to reiterate the same stuff over wondering that it would anyways fall into the hands of children; they rarely complain.

Overall a good read if you are a child or if you have a kid at home who enjoys reading Ruskin Bond. Not for those who are into gut-wrenching gravitas.