Summary of Fire on the Mountain

 Summary of  Fire on the Mountain

Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai is a sensitive and powerful novel about loneliness, freedom, and emotional pain. It tells the story of three women — Nanda Kaul, her great-granddaughter Raka, and her old friend Ila Das — whose lives reflect isolation and suffering in different forms.

1. Nanda Kaul’s Life of Solitude

The story begins in a quiet hill station in northern India, in a place called Kasauli. Here, an old woman named Nanda Kaul lives alone in a cottage called Carignano. The cottage is situated among pine trees and hills, far away from the noise and crowd of the city.

Nanda Kaul is a widow, and after her husband, the Vice-Chancellor of Punjab University, died, she chose to live in complete silence and loneliness.

During her husband’s lifetime, she had lived a busy and social life, organizing parties and meeting people. But that life had tired her. Her husband had also been unfaithful to her, keeping a mistress named Miss David, which deeply hurt Nanda Kaul. Now she wants nothing but peace and isolation. Her only companion is her old servant Ram Lal, who cooks and looks after her basic needs.

2. The Arrival of Raka

One day, Nanda Kaul receives a letter from her daughter, Asha, saying that her great-granddaughter Raka will come to stay with her for some time. Raka has been sick with typhoid fever, and her parents want her to recover in the clean mountain air.

Nanda Kaul feels disturbed and irritated by this news. She does not want company; she wants to live alone. But she cannot refuse her family, so she prepares for Raka’s arrival.

When Raka finally comes, Nanda Kaul is surprised. The girl is quiet, thin, and very reserved. She does not talk much and likes to wander alone among the rocks, forests, and hills. She seems to enjoy solitude even more than her great-grandmother.

Raka spends hours exploring a dangerous ravine below the cottage, which is said to be full of snakes, jackals, and evil spirits. Nanda Kaul tries to show love and care, but Raka does not respond. The old woman feels both hurt and curious. She wants to win Raka’s affection and begins to tell her stories from her own childhood — but Raka listens silently, without interest.

3. Raka’s Inner World

Raka is a strange, lonely child. She comes from a broken and painful home. Her father drinks heavily and often beats her mother, Tara. Those memories have made Raka fearful and withdrawn. She finds comfort only in nature — in the hills, trees, and wind — where she can be free and alone.

One night, Raka secretly visits the Kasauli Club, where she sees a masquerade ball full of people wearing masks, dancing, and shouting. The noise and drunken laughter remind her of her father’s violence at home, and she runs away in terror. After that night, she becomes even quieter.

Sometime later, she notices a wildfire burning on a distant hill — a natural fire caused by the dry summer heat. She is strangely fascinated by it, as if it represents her own hidden anger and energy.

4. Ila Das – The Old Friend

Meanwhile, Nanda Kaul receives a letter from her childhood friend, Ila Das. Ila Das, once from a rich family, is now poor and struggling. Her brothers wasted all the family money, and she had to work hard to survive. At first, Nanda Kaul’s husband helped her get a job at the university, but after his death, she lost that job and later found another one as a government welfare officer. Her work involves visiting villages and persuading people not to follow old customs like child marriage.

One afternoon, Ila Das comes to visit Nanda Kaul at Carignano. The two women talk about the past and remember their school days. For a while, they feel young again. But soon the conversation turns sour when Ila Das mentions Miss David, the woman who had been Nanda Kaul’s husband’s mistress. The mention of that painful memory makes Nanda Kaul angry and embarrassed. She ends the meeting coldly and does not offer any help, even though she knows Ila Das is poor and lonely.

5. The Tragic End

That evening, Ila Das starts her journey back to her small home in the valley. On the way, she stops at the bazaar, but she cannot afford to buy anything. As she walks through a lonely path, a violent villager named Preet Singh attacks her. He is angry because she tried to stop him from marrying off his little daughter, only seven years old. In his rage, he rapes and kills Ila Das and leaves her body by the roadside.

Later, the police call Nanda Kaul and ask her to come and identify the body. The shocking news breaks her completely. The peaceful world she had built for herself collapses in a moment.

6. The Fire and the Symbolism

While Nanda Kaul is still trying to understand the horrible death of her friend, Raka knocks on her window. She calls her great-grandmother to come and see something. When Nanda Kaul looks out, she sees a wildfire blazing in the ravine below their cottage — the same ravine that Raka used to visit.

It becomes clear that Raka has started the fire herself with a stolen box of matches. The fire spreads wildly, lighting up the hills and filling the night with red flames.

This final scene is symbolic. The fire represents Raka’s inner anger, rebellion, and emotional release, as well as the destruction that loneliness and repression can cause. It also mirrors the “fire” that burns in the lives of all three women — their pain, their struggle for freedom, and their silent suffering.

7. Themes of the Novel

Anita Desai’s Fire on the Mountain explores several important themes:

Loneliness and isolation — both Nanda Kaul and Raka want solitude but end up suffering from it.

Female suffering and silence — all three women (Nanda Kaul, Raka, and Ila Das) experience neglect, oppression, or violence.

Freedom and rebellion — Raka’s act of lighting the fire shows her protest against the world that has hurt her.

Nature and escape — the mountains, ravine, and fire symbolize emotional states and the desire to escape human cruelty.

In the end, Fire on the Mountain is a deep and emotional story about three generations of women, each trying to find peace in her own way but meeting pain and tragedy instead. The novel beautifully portrays the quiet desperation of women’s lives, their hidden strength, and their longing for independence. The mountain fire that ends the story becomes a burning symbol of both destruction and freedom, echoing the emotional fires that burn within the hearts of Nanda Kaul, Raka, and Ila Das.