THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

by Ruskin Bond

‘I thought of running away with Kamla. When I mentioned it to her, her eyes lit up. She thought it would be great fun. Women in love can be more reckless than men! But I had read too many stories about runaway marriages ending in disaster, and I lacked the courage to go through with such an adventure. I must have known instinctively that it would not work. Where would we go, and how would we live? There would be no home to crawl back to, for either of us.’
Seldom do we come across a person who leaves behind an impression on our very being. Call it being enamoured or moved, the memories we shared with them can catch us unawares even years down the line. It is not for the world to decipher what bond we shared and nurtured with them, or how real or surreal it was. This is our secret alone, meant to be kept close to the heart.
In The Girl on the Train, we see tales of longing and lost bonds being traced again in Ruskin Bond’s simplistic narration. With these stories, you might once again walk down the memory lane of all those cherished moments gone by.

Genres: Fiction

142 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2022

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Surabhi Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the stories are repetitive. Not all the stories are new. If you have read enough stories from Ruskin Bond, you will find some of them read before in some of his other collections of short stories. But it always good to read Ruskin Bond.

[Soumya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of short stories mostly having train as one of the main characters.
Couple of stories are repitative from The Great Train journey book.
Nevertheless easy, short and good read.

[Disha Singh ;) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit boring in the beginning but as the story moves forward it teaches something in every chapter.

Each chapter holds different meanings. Each lady teaches us something different and new through Bond's writings.

A perfect 4/5 book (one star less for being a bit boring 😅)

[Nandini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Ruskin: descriptive, witty, and transcends you in the story, in the scene. Some stories overlapped with ' The Best of Ruskin Bond' quite unsurprisingly. Overall, loved it. The simplistic and heartwarming nature of the stories with the characters being the highlight is the most enjoyable thing.

[Gowtham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quaint stories. Ruskin is not always a children's author huh

[Jeni Gabriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a collection of many short stories. All stories are as a writer’s life journey with new people in new places. I recommend this for readers who like multiple short stories for a quick read with strong Indian life and background set in 1900s.

[Rohini Krishnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read. The way Ruskin Bond writes, it takes you to another world, you can yourself feel some of the emotions..

[Dhwani · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl on the Train by Ruskin Bond is an anthology of 12 tales revolving around the people he longs for and bonds he misses.

With most of the tales having a backdrop of trains, this collection was special to me for I enjoy travelling via trains and observing and meeting new people.

Mr. Bond recollects people he had met on his train journeys and things/incidents he had seen which were still quite fresh to him. Be it the epileptic Suraj or the blind girl on the train, each story has a specific setting to it that makes us adore sir's writing style.

Part fiction, part real, these tales were each, a personal story, something precious that only the two people it happened to, can remember. With an gorgeous book cover, this book was a treat to read as I reread some my favourite stories by sir here.

My favourites were :
• The Girl on the Train
• Time Stops at Shamli
• The Woman on Platform No. 8
• The Night Train at Deoli
• Bus Stop, Pipalnagar

It made me the happiest to read about trains, the people Mr. Bond met via trains and his adventures.

[Ooha Biddala · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the nostalgic fondness that characterizes Ruskin Bond's writing. It almost transports you to the mountains- a cup of chai, dawn, a hope for new adventure.

The dissonant chord is struck when the same fondness continues while talking about the British occupancy and a few tragedies here and there. As much as Ruskin Bond might be an Indian at heart, his voice, his words are still those of a pukka sahib- a man removed from the "locals", commenting on their drama as an outsider, except, of course, when partaking the kisses of the local exotic beauty. Do note that every one of these ladies is very approachable, while being very unattainable.

And that sets the theme- a dreamy, but short-lived romance, a lasting aftertaste of fond nostalgia and an anthology of manic pixie dream girls.

[Shreyas Shenoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixture of many short stories, they range from everything, comic, horror, tales of hopeful love, friendship, desire and just pure fun.
A good book to pick up if you want to pass time while travelling.

[Nagendra Kumar Yadav T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it across the period of two weeks. Some stories from the collection were nostalgic, some were plain. Overall, it's good.
The stories that I liked the most were below.

Time stops at shamli
The Garden of Dreams
Topaz
The Woman on atform No 8
The Girl on the train

[Scube · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved all of them. They are short yet impactful.
My favourite stories from these are:
The girl on train
A love long ago
Who kissed me in the dark
Time stops at shamli
The year of kissing and other good times

A definite travel companion.

[Siyad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a good book, I thought that it was a book with one story but turns out it had multiple stories. Saw this book as adult fiction but really its a 13+, its well written and communicates the stories well with readers without boring the reader.
A good read 👍

[Ranjani Mitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sublimely Beautiful

As always, Ruskin Bond's writing touches my heart and makes me feel that All is Well in All of the World's Creations.

[Akanksha Tripathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of short stories by Mr. Bond

[Ritika Jakhotiya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

2 short stories are repeated from his other collections (atleast those I have read previously) and didn't like the last story much. Other than the 3, all were entertaining reads.

[Payal Pasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories depicting various emotions. Some felt repetitive. Out of the lot I found 3 stories very good and memorable.

[Nithin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A light hearted read replicating the actual real life experiences, the way Ruskin bond takes these stories in a simple language without much complex thoughts is nice.

[Karan Khatri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good short stories

[Pradeep Chakravarthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful memory

[♡«Annesha»♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a collection of short stories, each featuring trains as an important part of the story. It is a bit dull, yet it is a good read for once.

[Sneha Jaiswal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy to read short-story collection, with a mix of memorable and forgettable tales about meetings with strangers, friends, and lovers.

[Itachi · Rating 3 out of 5]

some stories are good and some are....well doesn't make sense.

[Veena Shelvankar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Charming and simple!

[Hrishika Gupta · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are times when you read something and you pray that the author deserves all the praise in the world. Ruskin Sir is that type of author for me. And I have just read one of his books. The enigmatic and talented author has received Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, and I still wish he should get more recognition than he already has

I read ‘The Girl on the Train’ just out of curiosity, and saying that I love this book from left, right and centre will be an understatement. The way Ruskin Bond visualises nature is so mesmerising. The metaphors he uses are so beautiful that you can want to devour all his books in one sitting.

At times, when you don’t vibe with a book or two, you kind of start loosing faith in reading and eventually find yourself in a reading slump. All it takes to reignite your love for reading is a chapter of this book. I don’t know why, it feels like Ruskin Bond Sir has plucked some part of his soul and added in each of his characters(even I started doing metaphors). There’s not better way of saying this, but I will try my best to force everyone I know to read this book