Dr. Shri Kant
Kulshrestha
Asst. Teacher in
P.S. Nagla
Paima, Barauli
Aheer, Agra
Basic Edu.
Deptt., Agra,
Uttar Pradesh,
India
Abstract:
Nature has always been a worldwide subject of studies in which Ruskin
Bond has penned most of his works for the preservation and protection of
Nature; his works connote and replete his grave concerned for flora and fauna.
Moreover, his poetic genius has made great furor among the readers for the
ecological balance; it appears that all his poems about nature, environment and
its natural objects are innocuous, prudent, lucid and worth imbibing.
Key words: Nature, Preservation, Protection, Ecological
balance, Environment and Innocuous
Ruskin Bond has been writing for over sixty years, and now has over 120
titles in print-novels, collection of short stories, poetry, essays,
anthologies and books for children. His first novel The Room on the Roof,
received the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Award in 1957. He has also
received the Padma Shri (1999), Padma Bhushan (2014) and two awards for his
writings for children. In 2012, the Delhi Government gave him its Lifetime
Achievement Award. Born on 19th May, 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in
Jamnagar, Shimla, New Delhi and Dehradun. Apart from three years in United
Kingdom (U.K.), he has spent all his life in India, and now lives in Mussoorie
with his adopted family from where he has been constantly penning his master
pieces for the welfare and preservation of Nature and its natural objects.
Nature has always been a worldwide subject of studies in which Ruskin
Bond has penned most of his works for the preservation and protection of
Nature; his works connote and replete his grave concerned for flora and fauna.
Moreover, his poetic genius has made great furor among the readers for the
ecological balance; it appears that all his poems about nature, environment and
its natural objects are innocuous, prudent, lucid and worth imbibing. Moreover,
Nature forms one of the most prodigious and recurrent themes in his poetry as
each one depicts his utmost concern for nature. The seed of this extreme love
for Nature has been grown up since his childhood when he was dwelling in Dehra
along with his father; he has come in close and meticulous association with
external objects of Nature since then. In his passionate and jovial love for
Nature, he has displayed great affinity like William Wordsworth, the priest on
Nature but Ruskin’s poetry is devoid of mysticism. His poems on Nature are very
brief, concise, simple and engrossing and having song like traits and
qualities.
As a Nature poet, he is especially attracted by the discordant colours
of myriads surroundings of Nature either forests, trees, grass or sky, clouds,
rivers and mountains. His poem Look for Colours of life, particularly
appeals most to the malleable heart of children, as they are new in life and
everything; it is indispensable to make them realize that life around them is
beautiful, charming and promising; they contribute their best towards keeping
this planet free from pollution and contamination.
Colours are
everywhere;
Bright blue
the sky;
Dark green
the forest;
And light
the fresh grass;
Bright
yellow the lights.
Look
for Colours of Life
Ruskin Bond is conceited enough as he wishes to enjoy his whole life
with Nature. Therefore, he writes in Rain in the Mountain, “Yes, I’d
love to have a garden of my own- spacious, and full of everything that is
fragrant and flowering. But if I don’t succeed, never mind – I have still got
the dream.” Thus, garden at Dehra has become the epitome in his concise poem- There
Are In My Garden-
There are
in my garden
the burn
bronze petals
of
shattered marigolds
speaks of
golden rods
blending to
the load
of
pillaging bee
two armored
lizards
a map butterfly.
There
Are In My Garden.
In the description of trees, he is par excellence as there is a close
affinity is found between the poems of Ruskin and Toru Dutt, a great Anglo-
Indian poet. To Toru, trees are just happened to be Indian- the trees she loves.
The same may be penned about Ruskin Bond as he has meticulously depicted all
beautiful Indian trees which have contributed a vital part of his life. He has
jotted some notable poems on trees like- The Cherry Tree, An Island of
Trees, Banyan Tree, Walnut Tree and My Cherry Tree.
In The Cherry Tree, which is also one of his favourite poems
conveys that the cherry tree is a symbol of survival and it escapes almost
eaten by a goat and being cut with the grass. Just as human beings struggle in
life so too does the cherry tree. But the cherry tree displays its great
resilience and the ability to withstand adversities. He writes in The Cherry
Tree-
Eight years
have passed
Since I
placed my cherry seed in the grass.
“Must have
a tree of my own,’’ I said,
And watered
it once and went to bed
And forgot;
but cherries have a way of growing.
The
Cherry Tree
In another poem Walnut Tree, he points out that it is a queer and
strange tree. When it loses its leaves, the fruits are ripened. It proves the rule
of Nature that if it loses something, on the other hand it gives important
things also. As the walnut gives up its skin, the hard nut comes up.
The walnut
tree is the first to lose its leaves,
But at the
same time the fruit ripens,
The skin
splits, the hard shell of the nut stand revealed.
Walnut
Tree
He has also provided an erudite message through his lovely poem Dandelian
where writes that he is extremely disgusted to hear from the people that
dandelion flower is a weed. He considers it as an insult on the part of the
flower. He warns them and expresses that it is divine flower-
I think
it’s an insult
To the
Nature’s generosity
That many
call this cheerful flower
A ‘common
weed’.
How dare
they so degrade
A
flower divinely made!
Sublimely
does it bloom and seed
In sunshine
or in shade.
Dandelion.
His astonishing portrayal of raindrops are worth commending as he has
jotted down in his poem- Raindrop
This leaf, so complete in itself,
Is only a
part of a tree.
And this
tree, so complete in itself,
Is only
part of the mountain.
And the
mountain runs down to the sea.
And the
sea, so complete in itself,
Rests like
a raindrop
On the hand
of God.
Raindrop
For small creature and animals, he has composed some worth messaging
poems such as- Lone Fox Dancing, The Bat, The Owl, The Snake, Butterfly Time
and A Bedbug Gives Thanks etc.
In Lone Fox Dancing, he displays his deep attraction and
fascination towards the fox and compares himself like a lone fox who wanders
for the pleasures of Nature in the early mornings of Dehra.
As I walked
home last night
I saw a
lone fox dancing
In the cold
moonlight.
Lone
Fox Dancing
In another poem, A Frog Screams, he displays his inner most love
and deep sympathy for a frog that is caught by a snake-
I heard a
sound like the creaking
Of a branch
in the wind
It was a
frog screaming
In the jaws
of a long green snake.
A
Frog Screams
He beautifully picturizes the appropriate divinely role of the owl that
summarizes the night is good and sound for sweet sleep.
Then owls
must hoot
They have
the right.
On me it
casts no spell:
Rather, it
seems cry,
The night
is good- all’s well, all’s well.
The
Owl
The beautiful and charming description of an innocent creature the bat
is highly praiseworthy and laudable as he has explained in his poem The Bat
that he knows one bat whom he has developed the distant relationship as
regularly visits him during his lonely nights and provides him interesting as
well as entertaining company. Moreover, it may be considered that hardly any
human being gives the company during the restless nights and that is the
generosity of the creature that it comforts him and neither demands anything
nor complains. Thus, animals are better than humans because they are not
selfish and provide unconditional love and affection which fills the life with
godlike bliss and wipe out the stress from the hustle- bustle of life.
He appeals
to the paradox in me.
And when
sometimes
He settles
upside down
At the foot
of my bed,
I let him
be.
On lonely
nights, even a crazy bat
Is company.
The Bat
In another spell bounded poem of his, So Beautiful the Night, he
depicts the significant role of night as during this time the natural objects
such as trees and all human beings take rest to make them rejuvenate themselves
for another day. He wishes from the Almighty to see the armies of trees like-
Pines, Firs, and Oaks to walk on the mountains during moonlight.
The trees
are stretching their arms in the dark
and
whispering to the moon.
But if the
trees could walk, Lord,
What a
wonderful sight it would be-
Armies of
pines and firs and oaks
Marching
over the moonlit mountains.
So
Beautiful the Night
In his poem Silent Birth, he has explained the milky heart,
endurance, sufferance and silence of a small seed when it gives birth to the
plant. Here, he beautifully touches the core part between nature and human. The
seed displays its agony and suffering as it sacrifices itself to provide a new
life in the world. He unfolds the two worlds- the Eco world and the world of
humans. He considers the Eco world as the affirmative and human world as
negative one. He compares the earth and human that both give birth but the
objects of Nature gives birth mutely and silently like the plants give birth to
the buds and transforms into a charming flower and flowers turn into the fruits
without any agony whereas humans make noises while producing child and are
surrounded by many people.
When the
earth gave birth to this tree,
There came
no sound:
A green
shoot thrust
In silence
from the ground.
Our births
don’t come so quiet-
Most lives
run riot-
But the bud
opens silently,
And flower
gives way to fruit.
Silent
Birth
In another poem the picturization and comradeship with firefly is
astonishing and worth observing. In the poem Firefly in My Room, he
talks about that firefly which arrives in his room when he lays down
sleeplessly. Thus, an uninvited friend firefly appears in his lonely room which
refreshes him up to great extent. He points out the importance of its friendly
presence that removes all his tiredness and grief of whole day. In this way
Nature plays a prominent role in soothing the person during his grieved period.
Last night,
as I lay sleepless
In the
summer dark
With window
open to invite a breeze,
Softly a
firefly flew in
And circled
round the room
Twinkling
at me from floor or wall
Or ceiling,
never long in one place
But
lighting up little spaces….
A friendly
presence, dispelling
The settled
gloom of an unhappy day.
Firefly
in My Room
The poem Once You Have Lived with Mountain, he expresses that
there is an enchanting effect of Nature because if a person pays the visit to
the mountain, there he finds eternal bliss of unique trees like- deodars, and
the milky atmosphere makes him rejuvenate throughout his life as he realizes it
when he comes down the plain and wishes to go there once more to attain the
divinely ecstasy of mountains.
Once you
have lived with these,
Blessed,
God’s favourite then,
You will
return,
You will
come back
To touch
the trees and grass
And climb
once more the windswept mountain pass.
Once
You Have Lived with Mountain
In the poem The Whistling Schoolboy, the poet exposes the
religious sentiments and beliefs of the people about the birds and animals;
these play a vital role in Hindu mythology as in it there is a young boy who
whistles near by sea in Kochi; one day Lord Krishna was sleeping and he stole
the flute of Him and starts playing as Krishna plays but he fails. Thus, Lord
Krishna becomes angry with him and turns him into a bird; therefore, that boy
now sings like the whistling thrush.
He was a
whistling schoolboy once,
Who heard
god Krishna’s flute,
And tried
to play the same sweet tune,
but
touched by a faulty note.
Said
Krishna to the errant youth-
A bird you
must become,
And you
shall whistle all your days
Until your
song is done.
The
Whistling Schoolboy
In another ecological poem Tigers Forever, he prays to the Almighty to
have a number of tigers in forests, roaring, hunting and leaping; he also prays
for their security and safety as they are very much essential for the earth
because they balance the rest of the ecology. Still, he wishes that there may
not be the excessive growth of the tigers by which they may start swallowing
the humans.
May there
always be tigers, Lord.
In the
jungles and tall grass
May the tiger’s
roar be heard,
May his
thunder
Be known in
the land.
…………………………………….
…………………………………….
But not so
many that one of them
Might be
tempted to come into my bedroom
In search
of a meal!
Tigers
Forever
In his poem, Don’t Be Afraid
of the Dark, he expresses his utmost love for the little child and advises
him not to afraid from the darkness as it is an appropriate and apt time for
our motherland to take sound rest. Moreover, he also asks him to make most of
the use of moonlight because it does not fade away at night. This is the time
when calmness and serenity prevail in the whole world.
Don’t be
afraid of the dark, little one,
The earth
must rest when the day is done.
The sun may
be harsh, but moonlight- never!
And those
stars will be shining forever and ever,
Be friends
with the Night, there is nothing to fear,
Just let
your thoughts travel to friends far and near.
By day, it
does seem that our troubles won’t cease,
But at
night, late at night, the world is at peace.
Don’t
Be Afraid of the Dark
Ruskin’s innate quality is exhibited from the myriad sources of Nature.
In this poem Night thoughts, he regards the mountain as his mother and
considers the vast sea as his father because these natural objects are the perennial
source of inspiration and motivation for him. He reveals the secret truth that
the rivers which flow from the high mountains never plays the melancholic music
to him instead they provide him the eternal bliss of life.
This
mountain is my mother,
My father is the sea,
This river
is the fountain
Of all that
life may be……..
………………………………………
………………………………………
Play no sad
songs for me,
The day has
gone, sweet night comes on,
Its
darkness helps me see.
Night
Thoughts
Thus, it is encapsulated by his above-mentioned anthologies that Ruskin
Bond has unique, unparalleled, unbreakable and everlasting bonding with
Nature and its myriads natural objects. His passionate love, affection and
fascination towards them all is worth mentioning and imbibing for the
protection and preservation of flora and fauna. Moreover, people must display
their utmost reverence and respect towards the discordant natural objects which
have deep rooted religious significance too.
Works Cited
Bond, Ruskin. Look For Colours Of Life, a poem from A Little Night
Music: Rupa and Company, New Delhi, 2004. Print.
Bond, Ruskin. There Are In My Garden, a poem from Rain In The
Mountain: Penguin Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1993. Print.
Bond, Ruskin. Book of Verse: Penguin Books Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi,
2007. Print.