Rumer and Jon Godden were prolific writers, especially the former. The sisters spent their childhood and then a few years of their adult lives in India, even remaining in the country after Independence. Indian Dust Stories, a collection of short stories, a Ruskin Bond collection, features two poems and thirteen short stories. The two poems are by Rumer Godden, while three of the short stories are by Jon Godden and the rest by Rumer Godden. The poems talk about the harsh reality of life even if it is in the midst of what may seem as great beauty to the eye—the river in Bengal and the winter in Kashmir. In ‘Bengal River’ we come across pearl diving in the river Ganga (or one of its distributaries) with its vast expanse of land with its birds, crocodiles and propoises in the midst of fine white sand and deltas of cool mud—and as the boat leaves there is no giving from the world here.
November 2016, volume 40, No 11