All Roads lead to Ganga Ruskin Bond - review

All Roads lead to Ganga review

englishlanguage-lit.blogspot.com

" All Roads lead to Ganga" is a fascinating nostalgic travel memoir.  Ruskin Bond records his travel experiences enroute from Dehra to Ganga, depicting rivers,rivulets ,temples and pens the beauty in the smallest things in a vivid manner. Breathtaking description of landscape,  mist filled hills, crops and culture in the Garwhal HImalyan region are seen in this book. We hear

local folk songs, little birds chirping, red headed parakeets singing, cheerful bulbuls,quarrelsome mynas, brain  fever bird nagging cry, mouse-hare sounds and see plants such as pine,deodar(deva daru) rhododendron forests, walnut, oak, jack fruit peepal  found in Garwahal region.

The writer draws our attention to history of Dehradun rulers and how Gun hill in musoorie got its name.
 Prominent place in the book is given for early plant collectors,who were prepared to risk their health and lives in the pursuit of knowledge, especially about Mr. Jacquemont.

I  enjoyed reading 'The Writer on the Hill' and 'Bird Song in the Hills' chapters as they describe Bond's love and  association  with the mountains, flora and fauna unique to Himalayan region.
Reading this book gave me an immense pleasure and it transported me to the beautiful hills of Garwahal . Bond's  lucid writing keeps us hook to the book. 
For Bond, living in hills is  laying on mother's lap.He would not have written wonderful stories, if he had lived in noisy metro cities.
" who goes to hills. goes to his mother" - Rudyard Kipling.

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her." -William Wordsworth

Published by Rupa publication india Pvt .Ltd.New Delhi.1992

englishlanguage-lit.blogspot.com

Rajesh kumar