RUSTY MAKES NEW FRIENDS

-An Extract from ROOM ON THE ROOF by RUSKIN BOND

B.
1. On the day of the festival, it seemed that there
was an outbreak of spring. The sun came up,
and the bazaar woke up. The walls of the
houses were suddenly patched with splashes of
colour, and the trees seemed to have burst into
flower. There were armies of rhododendrons
in the forest, and by the river, the poinsettias
danced. The cherry and the plum were in
blossom. The young grass held both dew and
sun, and made every dewdrop resemble an
emerald.

2. The children formed groups at the Clock Tower,

armed with bicycle pumps, or bamboo-stem
pumps, from which they squirted liquid colour.
They paraded the main road, chanting shrilly
and clapping their hands.

3. When Ranbir’s friends first met Rusty, a bicycle

pump was directed at him and a jet of sooty
black water squirted onto his face. Then a
horde of children bore down on him, and he
was subjected to a pumping from all sides.

4. After sooty water was pumped at Rusty, his shirt

and pyjamas, drenched through, stuck to his
skin. Then someone gripped the end of his shirt
and tugged at it until it tore and came away.

5. When his eyes cleared, Rusty blinked and

looked wildly around to see a group of boys
and girls who cheered and danced in front of
him. His body was running mostly with sooty
black colour, streaked with red, and his mouth
seemed full of it too.

6. After the bicycle pump attack, one by one,

Ranbir’s friends approached Rusty. Gently,
they rubbed coloured dust on his cheeks, and
embraced him. This gentle greeting, coming
so soon after the stormy bicycle pump attack,
bewildered Rusty even more.