Coming Round the Mountain

Coming Round the Mountain is set during a very memorable year -- the year of India's independence in 1947. The country's freedom and subsequent division saw the author make new friends and lose old ones. The book has lovely scenes from an Indian boarding school life in Dehra Dun -- playing hockey and using the hockey sticks to knock down apples in the headmaster's garden, purchasing Penguin paperbacks for two or three rupees, bicycle rides, movies and members of the opposite sex. Ruskin's friendship with Azhar, Cyrus, and Brian represents a time when bonds ran beyond religious beliefs and differences.