‘We took the railcar from Kalka. It glided over the rails without any of the huffing and puffing of the steam engine that dragged the little narrow gauge train up the steep mountain. I would be travelling in that train in the years to come, but on this, my first to Shimla, I was given the luxury of the railcar.’
There is the past, just out of reach; fog-obscured yet perceptible. The stories of school-time spent in a chaotic prep school in Chotta Shimla in the company of ‘The Four Feathers’, or the sumptuous stopover ‘Breakfast at Barog’ on the way. And there is also the time spent in ‘Grandfather’s Garden’, a lavish green expanse where the epic dramas of the animal kingdom are everyday occurrences.
Ruskin Bond’s Glimpses of the Past are—at once—hilarious tales of a richly-lived life and poignant peeks into Mussoorie’s storied history and culture. But, above all, it is an invitation to experience a time gone by, delicately remembered and recorded by an author whose entire life is mired in the mountain mists.
