Most Beautiful

Most Beautiful

—Ruskin Bond

Introduction

Ruskin Bond is recognised as the best Indian writer in English today He was honoured by Sahitya Academy of India in 1993. He was born o British parents in Kasauli, Hirnachal Pradesh. He was educated at Shimla He has lived in Mussoorie for the last three decades. He loves the Himalaya and the people living in the hills which are a source of inspiration of his short stories.

Most Beautiful is a story about a retarded and deformed boy. He is teased and tormented by the heartless urchins of the city. The narrator takes pity on the boy. He gives him sympathy and love. In the story Bond brings out the boy's bitterness at his own deficiencies and society's indifference towards him.

Summary

In the bazaar of the big, crowded city the narrator saw a boy being teased by urchins. He had his sympathy with the boy but he did not interfere till the boy was hit by a stone pelted by one of the mischief mongers. The urchins dispersed when the narrator interfered.

The boy's name was Suresh. He was about thirteen. He was small with short and stumpy bowed legs. He had a small chest, and made incoherent noises. He was bleeding a little. The narrator wanted to lead him safely to his house. The boy could not tell him where he lived. The narrator accompanied the boy who at last stopped in front of a house. The narrator presumed it to be his house and knocked on the door. A young woman of about 35 opened the door. She was Suresh's mother. As soon as Suresh saw her, he threw his arms around her neck. He burst into tears giving vent to his pent up emotions.

Suresh's mother thanked the narrator and asked him into the house, She told him that Suresh was her only son. She loved him but her husband was disappointed in him. She asked him if he thought that Suresh was very ugly. The narrator gave a philosophical answer. He said beauty and ugliness were relative words. They meant different things to different people. Nothing was absolute in the world except death and birth.

While they were talking, her husband came there. He curtly thanked the narrator for bringing the boy home. Apparently he was indifferent to his son. When the narrator left the house, she asked him to visit again. No one except the narrator had treated the boy as a normal human being. He had given the boy love and sympathy which he craved for.

After a week the narrator went to Suresh's house again. The narrator took the boy for a walk in the field outside the city Suresh saw things that he had never seen before. He saw a group of hermaphrodite musicians. These masculine-looking people dressed in women's clothes and wearing jewellery looked odd to Suresh. He laughed.

The narrator taught him how to swim in stream. Many things, strange and new, aroused Suresh's curiosity.

One day they were coming back from their walk. A kid followed them. It had lost its herd. Suresh took it home. For the next few days he was always with the kid. He fed it and played with it. The kid looked attractive and everyone admired it. Suresh began to feel that people found the kid more handsome than him. He became jealous of it and killed it.

When the narrator visited Suresh's house next, Suresh's mother was very upset because not only Suresh had killed the kid but he had no regrets. Later the narrator took Suresh for a walk to the bank of the stream. He asked Suresh if he had enjoyed killing the kids. He smiled and nodded his head.

Then he took a pen-knife from his pocket, bared his belly, and wanted the narrator to stab him. The narrator took the knife from Suresh and threw it into the stream.

After a few weeks the narrator received an offer of a job in Delhi. He decided to take it. He went to Suresh's house to say goodbye to him and his mother. She was disappointed but Suresh was apparently indifferent. The narrator felt hurt because their friendship seemed to mean nothing to Suresh. He appeared to treat the narrator as if he too was one of these outsiders who tormented him.

The narrator's train was at eight o'clock in the evening. He found a seat near a window in a third-class compartment. The train was about to move when he saw Suresh at the platform looking for him. The narrator called to him.

Suresh hobbled toward him. The train had started to move. The narrator shouted to him, "I'll be back next year."

Suresh waved toward him but stumbled against someone's bedding.

Word Meanings

Claustrophobic = concerning morbid dread of confined spaces;
Congested = crowded;
Tormenting = torturing;
Retarded = backward;
Jeering = jibing, taunting;
Attitude = posture;
Pitted = pocked, scarred;
Gibberish = meaningless speech;
Out of reach = out of range, beyond reach;
In high spirits = full of enthusiasm;
Observer = onlooker; Discretion I = prudence, freedom of act;
Scattered = dispersed;
Clouting = hitting with hand;
Mumbled = spoke indistinctly;
Incoherent = indistinct; difficult to make out;
Presumed = took for granted;
Strikingly = remarkably;
Haunches = buttocks;
Bow legs = curved or crooked legs;
Grotesque = comical, distorted;
Posture = position of body;
Thrusting = pushing;
Squatted down = sat down on heels;
Slink = moved away stealthily;
Curtly = rudely;
Preoccupied = obsessed;
Resigned = gave up;
Deformed = distorted;
Indifference = disinterestedness;
Mentor = teacher, adviser;
Stuffed = filled;
Gobbling = eating hastily;
Morose = sad, unhappy; I
Uncommunicative = not inclined to speak;
Slipped = left unnoticed; I
Thumped = beat heavily and noisily;
Consented = agreed;
Set off = started I to go;
Awkward = clumsy; Squabbling = quarrelling noisily;
Wallowing = I rolling;
Hermaphrodite = having characteristics of both male and female I sexes;
Gaunt = lean;
Rouge = red powder to colour cheeks;
Mascara = cosmetic for darkening eyebrows or eye lashes;
Deriding = ridiculing, scoffing;
Sub-tropical = regions bordering on the tropics;
Beckoned = I called;
Misshapen = deformed;
Waded = walked through water;
Afloat = keep floating;
Spluttered = spoke quickly and angrily;
Circumspection = prudence;
Squat = thick and short;
One-dimensional = having only one I side;
Tripping = jumping and skipping;
Persisted = continued;
Obsession I = complete domination of the mind by one idea;
Resentment = bitterness, I indignation;
Relieved = released from anxiety;
Anxiously = worriedly, I eagerly;
Shrugged = raised with a jerk;
Vigorously = violently, rapidly; I
Untrammeled = uncontrolled;
Primitive = uncivilized;
Undisguised = naked;
Restraints = checks;
Remorse = compunction, regret;
Conspired I = made a secret plan;
Unpredictable = unfareseable; difficult to anticipate;
Displayed = showed;
Scuffle = confused, struggle;
Hobbling = limp along;
Run the gauntlet = undergo unpleasant experiences;
Stumbled = tripped;
Frantic = agitated;
Gesture = movement to convey meaning

Questions You May Be Asked.

1. Explain the significance of the title of story.

The title of the story is 'Most Beautiful'. But who is the most beautiful? In fact there is no one who is beautiful in the ordinary meaning word. The story revolves round the retarded boy Suresh. He is not only mentally retarded but physically misshapened also. His legs are short and his arms are long. His chest is thin. His face is pocked. He looks ape-like. The narrator comes in contact with him only by chance. He feels deep sympathy for the helpless boy. Gradually their friendship grows. When Suresh's mother asks the narrator if Suresh is ugly, he replies that beauty and ugliness are not absolute. We can not define beauty and cannot tell who is the most beautiful. Every mother thinks her child is the most beautiful. Suresh proves to be most beautiful in the heartless town. When the narrator is leaving for Delhi, Suresh takes a hazardous journey to the railway station. He goes through the crowded bazaar and risks being tormented by the bazaar boys. Though he cannot express his love in words towards the narrator, his action speaks louder than words. The narrator finds him most beautiful and promises to come to see him again next year.


2. Comment on the relationship between the boy and the author. Apparently there is nothing common between Suresh and the author. Suresh is a retarded boy, and suffers from speech-defect. The author is a grown up person and writer.

The author was pained to see the retarded boy being tormented by the heartless boys in the bazaar. He rescued him. Since then their friendship began to grow. The narrator took the boy for walk in the open country-side. The boy saw things that he had never seen before. He saw trees, birds and animals. He also found a kid but later he killed it out of jealousy. But Suresh was ever unpredictable. The author was going to Delhi and he went to meet Suresh before he left. But Suresh was incommunicative, cold and distant. The author was hurt because their many weeks long friendship appeared to mean nothing to Suresh. But Suresh really loved him. He hobbled to the railway station to say goodbye to the narrator. The narrator's sympathy for the boy was complete, and the boy got the love he had got from nobody else. This was the foundation of their relationship.