Remember the days when playing in the hot sun was no biggie? From eating sweet stolen guavas from the neighbour’s tree to hiding from parents as you are scared to get scolded for your marks to enjoying the summer warmth and breeze from your window, the days spent in pure bliss and innocence of childhood will forever be etched in our memory. Ruskin Bond just immortalises the same by breathing life into those childhood memories with his words in his short story collection The Road to the Bazaar.
The Road to the Bazaar: A Closer Look
Set in Bond’s beloved streets of Dehradun, The Road to the Bazaar, follows the childhood tales and mischiefs of Suraj, Ranji, Koki and their friends. The short stories need not be read in a serial manner but are connected to each other in the sense that they portray the life of one main character in each short story who we have probably met in other short stories as a minor character. Each short story adds a layer of personality to each character overall who was probably introduced in a previous short story. Filled with simple yet joyful moments of childhood, The Road to the Bazaar takes you down memory lane to the times when travelling the world didn’t require you to think about visa applications getting rejected or the foreign exchange rate. All you thought about was getting on a train and just letting it take you anywhere and everywhere.
A simple book saved from the adulteration of adulthood, The Road to the Bazaar is a taste of the past that many of us have lived through and today reminisce with nostalgia. The past that the new generation is tired of hearing as it always starts with a “Woh din bhi kya din they” (Those were the days). The Road to the Bazaar gives today’s generation a chance to relive that past of your childhood without thinking it’s torture or a bore as it doesn’t start with a “Woh din bhi kya din they”.
Afterword
The Road to the Bazaar is like a small time machine. It will teleport you into a time in the past when the concept of electronic gadgets was still out of reach for many people. A time in the past when childhood was spent playing with friends near the house. A time in the past when a beatle race or a zoo managed to hold your attention for long hours. A childhood of pure innocence and simple joys.
It is a book for anyone who is looking to relive their fond childhood past. Or just looking for a way to introduce their kids to the beautiful time that they hold close to their hearts. It’s a set of evergreen tales that is bound to evoke a lot of emotions when you read it for the first time. But will manage to make you hold onto them forever.
