MY NAME IS BOND! RUSKIN BOND! (4) BOOK 12#

Title – ‘Chachi’s Funeral’

Publisher, Year, Place- Penguin India,1988, Mussoorie

Grade-  9th and above

Genre - Fiction, Young Adult

Author - Ruskin Bond

Brief Biography

Ruskin Bond is one of India's most renowned children's author. His writing career spans over six decades, he has written over 500 short stories and novels including the much-acclaimed 'Room on the Roof', and 'Vagrants in the Valley'. His stories 'The Blue Umbrella', 'A Flight of Pigeons' and 'Susanna's Seven Husbands' have also been adapted into successful Bollywood films. He received the ‘Sahitya Akademi Award’ in 1993, the Padma Shri in 1999 and the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2014.

Synopsis

Chachi’s Funeral is a part of short story anthology ‘The Night train at Deoli and other short stories’. This short story is about a boy named Sunil who is mad at his aunt for being too harsh towards him.

What follows is a cleverly written short story that is quirky and yet very innocent.

Reading - Writing Strategies

This story can be used to introduce the way Creative Opening Lines are written to the students. Opening lines or Hooks, are one of the most important part of the story as they help us capture the attention of a reader.

Pre- reading

You can pick up famous opening lines from popular novels and show them to the students.

Some examples are-

• "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife"- Pride and Prejudice
• "Call me Ishmael"- Moby Dick
• "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair" – A Tale of Two cities
• "In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since"- The Great Gatsby
• "It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen"- 1984
• "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth"- The Catcher in the Rye

You can also ask the students to share a famous or interesting opening line that they know.

A few things to keep in mind while writing opening lines could be-

1. It piques readers curiosity.
2. It creates an emotional connection.
3. It provides entertainment, most often via humor.
4. It has shock factor.

5. It adds to the mood of the story

There are various ways to use opening lines -

• They open with dialogue.

"'I've watched through his eyes, I've listened through his ears, and I tell you he's the one.'" - Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card

• They open with action.

“When he grabs mama’s wrist and yanks her toward the wall-hanging like that, it must hurt.”-Bitterblue, Kristin Cashore

• They open with a statement. 

“The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle."-Paper Towns, John Green

During reading

• Read the first two lines of the story - ‘Chachi died at 6 p.m. on Wednesday the 5th of April, and came to life again exactly twenty minutes later. This is how it happened’.
• Ask the students if they find the lines catchy? Are they intrigued?
• Ask them to predict the story plot from the first two lines.

 

Post reading

1. Ask the students if their prediction about the story plot came true?
2. Ask them to reflect on the way opening lines set the story in motion.
3. Ask them what type of opening line is this?
   
4. Ask them to write 2 sentence opening lines of their own.
5. You can also give them the following lines and them to write a complimentary line to them-

• I didn’t mean to kill her but….
• The date was 13th July, my 345th birthday….
• The clock stopped... 74 minutes past 18...it was time to…
• Peeking through the window her surprise turned to horror...
• Just after he died, he sat up.

 

Reflection

Growing up, every one of us had at least one relative that hated us for absolutely no reason. The child in this story is also going through a love- hate relationship with his Aunt or Chachi, who takes care of him when his parents are at work. She often rebukes him and is quite harsh towards him. But as a child, Sunil’s feelings are so hurt that he wishes she vanishes from his life completely.

The opening lines of the story are quite catchy and as the story progresses  you will realize that they are quite cleverly written.

 

Sources-

http://ruskinbond.tripod.com/listofworks.htm

https://www.well-storied.com/blog/write-strong-opening-lines