Maharani Ruskin Bond

Jul 28, 2026

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Maharani by Ruskin Bond introduces readers to H.H., the former Maharani Sahiba of Mastipur, whose life is filled with memories, personal struggles, charm, and contradictions. Living in a large old house in Mussoorie with her dogs and caretaker Hans, H.H. continues to hold onto her independent spirit while facing changing times, complicated family relationships, and the memories of a remarkable past.

Written by one of India’s most celebrated storytellers, Maharani follows the unusual bond between H.H. and Ruskin, her longtime friend and the narrator of the story. Through their conversations and shared memories, the story explores a woman who is proud, emotional, unpredictable, and impossible to forget. Behind her royal background and confident personality lies a deeper story about loneliness, love, aging, and the search for meaning in life.

The novel captures the atmosphere of the Indian hills, especially the changing world of Mussoorie, where old traditions, friendships, and personal histories slowly transform with time. Ruskin Bond combines gentle humor, nostalgia, and emotional observation to portray the life of a woman who refuses to disappear even as everything around her changes. It is a literary fiction work that explores relationships, memories, and human nature through a unique character-driven narrative. Readers will discover a story about friendship, affection, loss, and the complicated connections that remain between people throughout their lives.

Readers who enjoy Indian literature and short story writing can also explore Kotta Bangarulokam Short Story Anthology, a collection that presents the works of Indian author Anisetty Sridhar with its own literary perspective and storytelling style. Similar to Maharani, this anthology highlights the power of short stories to portray human nature, character traits, and everyday experiences through the unique voice of an Indian writer.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages118

Reading Time3 h 2 min

AccessFree to download

About the Author

Also by Ruskin Bond

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Author’s Note

Follow Penguin

‘I think I’m dying, Ruskin,’ said H.H. as I took her hand and kissed it in themanner of some knight of old. She loved these little feudal courtesies.
‘You must have said that a hundred times during the last ten years,’ Isaid. ‘You’re dying for a drink, that’s all. Shall I ask Seema to make somecoffee? Then we can talk about these mortal coils that bind us.’
‘You can’t discuss life and death over a cup of coffee. Ask Seema tomake a salad, and you go to the cabinet and fetch the bottle of vodka thatdear old Sardar sahib from Faridkot brought me last week.’
H.H. (my old friend, the Maharani Sahiba of Mastipur) seldom boughtany liquor, but her cabinet was full of bottles of wine, whisky, gin, sherryand various other liquids designed to make life more agreeable andinteresting. These had been given to her by admirers, old and new, as wellas those seeking funds or favours from her less-than-generous nature.
H.H. took her vodka neat, and I poured her a three-finger Patiala peg. Ipreferred mine with orange juice, but as I couldn’t find any fruit juice in thecabinet, I took my Simla peg (two fingers) with soda and a slice of lemon.H.H. could drink me under the table, so I had to go carefully.
Soon we were in the throes of reminiscence.
H.H. (Neena to her close friends) always spoke in gloomy terms aboutthe future, and spoke bitterly about her children and their deficiencies; butshe grew quite animated when talking about the past, especially her ownpast and its more amorous episodes, of which there were many.
She had known me for years, ever since our school days, and as ourrelationship had never been a physical one, she found it easy to confide inme—knowing I would not make any overt demands—demands on hermoney (as from her many relations and dependants), or demands on heremotions (as from those who had been lovers). Sometimes she used me as afather confessor, but on this spring morning—April in the hills and thehorse chestnut trees in blossom—she evinced one of those rare moments ofconcern for my own future and well-being.
‘What on earth made you come back from England?’ she asked. (It was aquestion she’d asked me many times.) ‘You were young, you had a job, youhad written a book—the future was all yours, if you wanted fame andmoney
.’
‘I followed my heart, not my head.’
‘You were always thickheaded. What was it about India that brought youback all those years ago?’
‘Romance,’ I said.
‘Romance!’ She burst out laughing. ‘There’s nothing in the least romanticabout you. You can’t even kiss a girl properly
.’
‘It was the romance of India that brought me back.’
‘Nothing romantic about this country. It’s all politics, my dear
.’
‘Well, I’ve never bothered with the politics. Kept away from politiciansand babudom as far as possible. But the romance that has been here forcenturies, that’s still here. The great plains, the desert, the forests, the seasbreaking on our coasts, the mountains, the rivers, the down-to-earth peoplewho belong to the land, the land itself … Do you know, I’ve never owned asquare foot of land—not even enough for a grave—but I feel as though Iown every square inch of land in this country. It’s all mine, and no one cantake it from me!’ I wasn’t usually so effusive, but Neena had got me going.
‘The last romantic!’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Well, you were romantic enough when you wrote to me after that schoolsocial in Simla—how many years ago?’
‘Hundreds.’
‘Yes, it’s better not to count. I was just fifteen then.’
‘And I was a year older
.’
H.H. was now well into her second Patiala peg, and I was just about tostart on my second chotta Simla. A flood of memories overcame both of us.
‘Do you remember that letter you wrote to me after the school social?’
‘Of course I remember
,’ I said. ‘It got me into trouble.’
Neena was in her final year at a residential school for girls. I was at anall-boys’ boarding school—the ‘Eton of the East’ as someone once called it,although it had in fact been founded by a master from Rugby. We were thepride of Simla. All the ‘royals’ (the children of recently derecognizedprincely families) went to these schools. I was far from being ‘royal’—mymother had some difficulty in paying my school fees—but I had donealmost all my schooling in this most traditional of public schools, and as asenior prefect I felt I was on an equal footing with any prince or princess.
The senior boys had been invited to see a performance of The Merchantof Venice put on by the senior girls. To watch Shakespeare performed byamateurs is always a painful experience. We yawned and fidgeted throughmost of the play, but I was quite taken by the spirited performance of abouncy, bright-eyed, rather squeaky-voiced girl who played Portia.
A week later we were invited to a ‘social’, a sort of dance party, at thegirls’ school, and the princess Neena very sportingly accepted my invitationto do the foxtrot. Sounds exciting, but the foxtrot was done at a crawl ratherthan a trot, and there was nothing foxy about it. Still, it gave you anopportunity to hold a girl in your arms while you shuffled slowly around thedance floor. A waltz would have been more invigorating, but the waltzrequired a certain amount of skill. Anyone, even the clumsiest of schoolboys, could foxtrot.
I was clumsy enough but I made up for this with what I thought wasintelligent conversation. The princess did not say much, but she laughedeasily, and she made no attempt to keep me at a distance. Soon her smallbreasts were pressed against me, her lips and cheeks within kissing range.Some enterprising soul turned off the lights, and in the darkness andconfusion I gave her a quick peck on the cheek. I expected a slap in return,
but instead I felt her salty lips (she’d been eating potato chips) pressed tomine. It was a sensation that sent a shiver down my spine (and elsewhere)and I wanted it to last forever. At sixteen, we want everything to lastforever.
Back in school, I dashed off a sweetly worded love letter (those were thedays of handwritten love notes)—I was good at them, and functioned as aletter-writer for other love-struck youths—and gave it to a day-scholar whohad a sister in the girls’ school. It was duly delivered, but no reply wasforthcoming. I dashed off another, equally fervent, epistle; I evenplagiarized a few lines from Jane Austen. No response. Perhaps I shouldhave tried Shakespeare. Love’s Labour Lost would have been appropriate.
Finally I sent a verbal message through the same courier service. Therewas an immediate response.
‘What did she say?’ I asked the messenger. ‘What did she tell yoursister?’
‘She said you had pimples.’
‘Just the sort of thing you would say
,’ I remarked as we launched intoanother round of vodkas. Our conversation ran on like a river.
‘But your letters were very nice, very romantic,’ said H.H.
‘I hope you didn’t keep them.’
‘You’d find them a bit embarrassing now, wouldn’t you? I should havekept them, just for a laugh. And to pass around at parties.’
‘But you destroyed them, didn’t you?’ I asked anxiously.
‘Yes, unfortunately. All that gushing nonsense.’
‘A good thing love letters have gone out of fashion.’
‘You weren’t very good at kissing either. You slobbered all over me.’
‘Well—never again.’
‘Oh, but I like you when you’re romantic. It reminds me of all thoselovely films I saw when I was a girl. Love Letters, Always in My Heart,
Sweethearts, Bitter Sweet … And those beautiful songs. I still sing themsometimes.’
She got up and moved unsteadily to the Steinway piano that took up onecorner of the room. She sat down on the piano stool and banged out a fewnotes. ‘Come on, sing with me, you romantic old fool!’And she beganwarbling the words of a Noël Coward song from Bitter Sweet:
I’ll see you again,
Whenever spring breaks through again.
Time may lie heavy between,But what has beenIs past forgetting …
Halfway through we broke down laughing. Seema appeared in thedoorway, holding a tray on which lay a plate overflowing with slicedtomatoes.
H.H. shrieked with laughter.
‘Where were you all this time, you silly girl? What took you so long?’
‘There were no tomatoes, Rani-ma, so I went out to get some.’
‘Clever girl. Can’t have a salad without tomatoes.’‘But there’s no lettuce. I couldn’t find any lettuce.’
‘Never mind, dear. Lettuce is really meant for rabbits. That’s why theyreproduce so quickly
.’
And she broke into peals of laughter again.
‘Come on, Ruskin, have some salad.’
‘No, it’s time for me to go. It’s nearly four o’clock. But your guests—what do they have for lunch?’
‘If they want lunch, they prepare it themselves. Take the salad away, dear.
Give it to the monkeys. I’ll go to bed for an hour or two.’
But before she could do so, there was a commotion downstairs. Someonewas standing at the gate and shouting up at the open window.
‘It’s Kartik,’ said Seema anxiously. Kartik was H.H.’s elder son.
Neena rose from her chair and went to the window, hands on her hips.

FAQs

Apa cerita utama Maharani by Ruskin Bond?

Maharani by Ruskin Bond menceritakan kehidupan H.H., seorang mantan Maharani Sahiba of Mastipur yang tinggal di Mussoorie bersama anjing-anjingnya dan caretaker Hans. Cerita mengikuti kehidupannya, hubungan dengan Ruskin, kenangan masa lalu, serta perubahan yang terjadi seiring waktu.

Siapa karakter utama dalam Maharani Ruskin Bond?

Karakter utama Maharani Ruskin Bond adalah H.H. atau Neena, seorang wanita bangsawan yang memiliki kepribadian kuat, penuh pesona, dan menjalani kehidupan yang kompleks setelah masa kejayaannya berlalu.

Apa hubungan Ruskin Bond dengan Maharani dalam cerita?

Dalam Maharani, Ruskin Bond hadir sebagai narator sekaligus teman lama H.H. Hubungan mereka menggambarkan persahabatan panjang yang dipenuhi kenangan, percakapan, humor, dan pengamatan terhadap kehidupan masing-masing.

Tema apa yang dibahas dalam Maharani by Ruskin Bond?

Maharani by Ruskin Bond mengangkat tema persahabatan, cinta, kematian, nostalgia, perubahan zaman, kehidupan bangsawan, dan hubungan manusia yang bertahan melewati waktu.

Apakah Maharani by Ruskin Bond cocok untuk pembaca sastra India?

Ya. Maharani by Ruskin Bond cocok bagi pembaca yang menyukai sastra India, cerita karakter kuat, novel reflektif, dan kisah dengan suasana nostalgia.

Di mana bisa membaca dan mengunduh Maharani by Ruskin Bond?

Maharani by Ruskin Bond dapat dibaca dan diunduh langsung melalui halaman ini secara gratis untuk menikmati kisah H.H. dan Ruskin Bond secara lengkap.

Jul 28, 2026

149

Upload by Aria