A study of Indian English Novel and Stories
Name:Sarvaiya Devanshiba Bakulsinh
(Class assignment)
- Characters of Toba tek singh :
- Character of Lihaaf:
- Character of the Night of full moon:
- Character of The Night Train at Deoli:
1.The Narrator (The Young Man):
An observant, sensitive college student traveling by train. Kind-hearted, curious, and prone to romanticizing brief encounters. He becomes captivated by the girl, representing universal feelings of longing and the melancholy of missed connections, as he never truly connects with her beyond a few words and a purchased basket.
2.The Girl at Deoli
A young, impoverished girl selling baskets at the Deoli station. Shy, hardworking, simple, with dark, expressive eyes that hold a hint of longing. She embodies fleeting beauty, poverty, and an unknown future, leaving a deep, lasting impression on the narrator despite their brief interaction.
3.Station Master:
A minor character who provides a brief, unhelpful detail about the girl's disappearance on the narrator's return journey, highlighting the indifference of the world to such transient figures.
- Character of How I Taught My Grandmother To Read:
Role: A young, patient, and affectionate teacher who guides her grandmother .Teaches the Kannada alphabet daily, showing empathy and respect for her grandmother's desire to learn.
2.The Grandmother (Krishtakka):
Deeply religious and emotional, she loves stories but regrets not learning to read; she feels ashamed of her dependence and wants to read her favorite novel, Kashi Yatre, herself. Traditional yet open-minded, determined, resilient, hardworking, respectful, and a quick learner.Moves from relying on her granddaughter to becoming an independent reader, achieving her goal with great effort and dedication by Dusshera.
- Character of Karma:
1.Sir Mohan Lal:
Sir Mohan Lal is prejudiced and sees things in black-and-white: he cannot see the negative aspects of the English society and culture, or the good aspects of India and of his life there. The story suggests that being kicked out of the train brings Sir Mohan face to face with reality, and he learns a lesson because of his own arrogance.
2.Lachmi:
Lachmi is depicted mostly as her husband’s opposite, which helps define each of the characters in the story. Lachmi is portrayed as an obedient Indian woman and is not a developing character, as she does not change by the end of the story.
(Home assignment)
Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934
(age 91) Kasauli, Punjab States Agency, British India (now in Himachal Pradesh, India) and is Anglo- Indian. He is a famous Indian writer and poet. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, was published in 1956 and won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.
Ruskin Bond has written more than 500 short stories, essays, and novels. Out of these, 69 books are written for children. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his book Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra.
He was also honoured by the Indian government with the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014 for his contribution to literature.
Summary:
Published:-1988
When the narrator was a college student,he was 18 years old and he used to spend his summer holidays at his grandmother’s house in Dehra. He travelled by night train and passed a small station called Deoli, about thirty miles before Dehra. Deoli was a quiet and lonely station surrounded by jungle. The train always stopped there for ten minutes, even though no one got on or off. There was only one platform, a small station office, a waiting room, a tea stall, a fruit seller, and a few dogs. The narrator felt sorry for the station because it seemed forgotten and unimportant, and he often wondered what life was like there.
One early morning, when the train stopped at Deoli, the narrator noticed a young girl selling baskets on the platform. She was poorly dressed and barefoot, but she walked with grace and dignity. She wore a shawl because it was cold. When she came near his window, their eyes met, and there was a strong, silent connection between them. Without saying much, the narrator felt drawn to her. He got down from the train, went to the tea stall, and finally bought a basket from her, even though he did not really want one. Before they could speak properly, the train started moving, and the narrator had to rush back to his seat. As the train left, he saw the girl standing alone on the platform, smiling at him. He could not forget her face for the rest of the journey.
Two months later, on his return journey, the narrator remembered the girl and hoped to see her again. When the train stopped at Deoli, he felt excited to find her there. She recognized him too, and both were happy, like old friends meeting again. They did not talk much, but their feelings were clear. The narrator strongly wished he could take her away with him. He held her hand and told her he was going to Delhi. She quietly replied that she had nowhere to go. When the train started, he promised to return and asked if she would be there. She nodded, and once again he had to leave her behind as the train moved away.
After this meeting, the girl stayed in the narrator’s thoughts for a long time. When his college term ended, he travelled to Dehra earlier than usual, eager to see her again. But when the train reached Deoli, she was not there. He searched the platform and asked the station-master about her, but the man knew nothing. The narrator felt disappointed and uneasy. He returned to his grandmother’s house but could not stay long because he felt restless. He decided to go back and ask more questions at Deoli.
On his next visit, the station-master had changed, and the new one also knew nothing about the girl. The tea stall owner remembered her but said she had stopped coming and did not know why. Once again, the narrator had to leave without any answers. Still, he comforted himself by thinking that one day he would stop at Deoli, search the town, and find the girl.
Years passed, and the narrator travelled through Deoli many times. Each time, he looked out of the train window, hoping to see the girl again, even though he knew she would probably not be there. He never gathered the courage to get down at Deoli because he was afraid of discovering the truth—that she might be married, sick, or gone forever. He preferred to keep the memory and hope alive. For him, Deoli remained a place of dreams, longing, and unfinished love. He continues to pass through the station, always waiting and wondering, but never stopping
How I Taught My Grandmother to Read is a short story written by the famous Indian author Sudha Murty. It was first published in 2004 in the book How I Taught My Grandmother to Read and Other Stories by Penguin Books, India.The story is included in the Class 9 English Communicative CBSE syllabus.
The story How I Taught My Grandmother to Read is a touching real-life account of the author’s childhood and her special relationship with her grandmother. When the author was about twelve years old, she lived in a village in north Karnataka with her grandparents. Life in the village was simple, and transport facilities were poor. Newspapers arrived only in the afternoon and weekly magazines came a day late. Everyone in the household waited eagerly for the bus that brought letters, newspapers, and magazines.
At that time, Triveni was a very famous writer in the Kannada language. One of her novels, Kashi Yatre, was being published as a serial in the weekly magazine Karmaveera. The novel was about an old woman who strongly wished to go to Kashi (Varanasi), which is believed to be the holiest place for Hindus. However, in the end, the old woman gives all her savings to help a poor orphan girl’s marriage, believing that helping someone is more important than a religious pilgrimage.
The author’s grandmother was named Krishtakka, and the author affectionately called her “Avva,” meaning mother in the local Kannada dialect. Avva was sixty-two years old and had never been to school, so she was illiterate. Even though she could not read, she had a sharp memory and a deep interest in stories. Every Wednesday, when the magazine arrived, the author would read the new episode aloud to Avva. Avva listened with full concentration, forgetting all her household work, and later could repeat the story word for word. She identified strongly with the old woman in Kashi Yatre because she herself had never gone to Kashi.
Once, the author went to a neighbouring village for a wedding and stayed away for about a week. During that time, the magazine arrived, but Avva could not read it. This made her feel helpless, dependent, and embarrassed. Although she was financially well-off, she realized that money without education cannot give independence. She waited eagerly for her granddaughter to return and felt deeply hurt by her inability to read.
One night, under the full moon, Avva shared her life story with her granddaughter. She spoke about losing her mother early, never getting an education, marrying young, and spending her life caring for her family. She explained that she always ensured her children and grandchildren were educated, even though she herself remained illiterate. That night, she firmly decided to learn the Kannada alphabet, despite being sixty-two years old. She set a goal to read a novel independently by Saraswati Pooja during the Dassara festival.
Though the granddaughter laughed at her age at first, Avva remained determined. From the next day, the granddaughter began teaching her. Avva proved to be a disciplined and hardworking student, practising reading, writing, and reciting daily. The granddaughter became her first teacher, and Avva became her first student.
On Dassara day, Avva performed the pooja and then surprised her granddaughter. She gifted her a frock material and then touched her feet as a mark of respect. This was unusual because elders do not touch the feet of youngsters. Avva explained that she was touching the feet of a teacher, not her granddaughter, because a teacher deserves respect regardless of age or gender.
In return, the granddaughter gifted Avva a copy of Kashi Yatre in book form. Avva immediately read the title, author’s name, and publisher on her own, proving that she had successfully learned to read.
The story beautifully conveys that education brings independence, learning has no age limit, and teachers deserve the highest respect. It also highlights the strong emotional bond between a grandmother and her granddaughter.
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