Summary of The Night Train at Deoli By Ruskin Bond
The Night Train at Deoli by Ruskin Bond tells the touching story of a young boy’s encounter with a girl at a small, quiet railway station called Deoli. The station, surrounded by dense forests, always felt strange to the boy and it left an impression on him every time he passed through.
Every summer, the boy would visit his grandmother in Dehra, a town about 30 miles from Deoli. On his way there, the train would always stop at Deoli station for about 10 minutes. It was a lonely stop, no one ever got off the train and no one ever got on. The whole station had an eerie, still feeling.
One summer, during one of his usual train journeys, the boy noticed a girl selling baskets on the platform. She was barefoot, even though the weather was cold and her hair shone in the sunlight. Despite her poor appearance, there was something about her that caught his attention, her bright inviting eyes. At first, the boy just stared at her from the train, but the next time he passed through Deoli, the girl approached him and offered him a basket. He wasn’t interested at first and tried to refuse, but something about her insistence made him buy one, even though he didn’t really need it.
As the boy continued on to his grandmother’s home, he couldn’t shake the image of the girl from his mind. Even after he arrived, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. The girl became a part of his memories, a quiet presence that he couldn’t forget.
Two months later, it was time for the boy to return home. He passed through Deoli again and this time, he saw the girl once more. They spoke, and it felt as if no time had passed between them. He was deeply moved by their brief exchange and filled with feelings he didn’t fully understand, he asked her to come with him to Delhi. But she gently refused. She told him, “Maybe we’ll meet again someday.”
The boy promised to come back to the station soon to see her again. However, when he returned to Deoli, she was nowhere to be found. He asked the locals about her, but they told him she no longer came to the station. Despite searching for her again on his way back from Dehra, he couldn’t find any trace of her.
In the end, the boy had to let go. He realized that sometimes people come into our lives for just a moment and then they leave. Though he was sad, he understood that it was part of life. The girl from Deoli remained only in his memories and he learned not to dwell on the past because life keeps moving forward, whether we’re ready or not.
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