Summary of The Room on the Roof — Ruskin Bond
Introduction
The Room on the Roof is the first novel by the renowned Indian author Ruskin Bond, written when he was 17 and originally published in 1956. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Award in 1957. The story follows Rusty, a 17-year-old Anglo-Indian orphan living in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, who longs for freedom from his strict guardians.
Main Characters
The important characters in the novel include Rusty (the protagonist), Mr. John Harrison (his strict English guardian), Mrs. Harrison, Somi and Ranbir (boys who become Rusty’s friends), Mr. and Mrs. Meena Kapoor (Rusty’s employers), and Kishan (Rusty’s neighbour and pupil).
Plot Synopsis
Rusty lives with his guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison, who are strict and dislike Indians. They try to raise Rusty as a complete Englishman and do not allow him to mix with Indian children. Rusty feels suffocated by their behaviour and wants freedom.
One rainy morning while returning home, Rusty meets two boys named Somi and Ranbir. They give him a lift on a bicycle and soon become his friends. When Mr. and Mrs. Harrison are out, Rusty goes to the market with Somi and Ranbir and is punished when he returns home. The following day he plays Holi with them, returns home again, and is punished once more. Frustrated and angry, Rusty fights with Mr. Harrison and runs away from home.
Rusty cries all night outside the house, and in the morning Somi comes to take him home. Somi helps Rusty get a job as an English teacher at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Meena Kapoor. The Kapoors hire him to teach their son Kishan and also let Rusty live freely on their terrace (the “room on the roof”).
Mr. Kapoor is an alcoholic who ignores his young wife Meena. Rusty is attracted to Mrs. Meena Kapoor because of her beauty, and Meena feels flattered by the attention. One day the Kapoors travel to Delhi, and Rusty receives news of a car accident: Mrs. Meena Kapoor has been killed. This loss deeply affects Rusty and Kishan.
After Meena’s death, Rusty becomes effectively alone again and continues to live in his rooftop room. He decides to seek help from the British Embassy and hopes to travel to England. He visits his friend Kishan in Haridwar, only to find that Kishan has turned to a life of petty crime. Rusty urges Kishan to give up theft and to return with him to start a new life in Dehradun. The next morning, Rusty and Kishan leave for Dehradun to try and begin anew.
Themes
The novel explores themes of freedom versus control, adolescence and identity, friendship, cultural conflict (Anglo-Indian identity vs. Indian society), and the search for belonging.