Unsettled lives and Migrant woes in India: Reflections on the Pandemic through the Works of Ruskin Bond

Social mobility of people is a sign of progress in many countries. In India, some unskilled workers migrate internally and a few others travel to different states in search of work. There is poverty and a discrimination of wages and occupation in India based on communities. The social inequality is visible even to this day during the pandemic. Migrants face social inequality due to caste, place, occupation, gender and many others. These unsettled ways of life and their woes have been in news during the pandemic COVID 19 but it is not surprising as this has been prevalent for many decades. Many of the Indian English writings have focused on migration and migrants’ lives. Literature plays great roles, it is intended to teach and educate. An artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and edifying qualities in literature is called Didacticism. Books are an eyewitness to all that has happened, and still, live on as fresh as the day they were written. Ruskin Bond’s stories focus on the simplicity of the lives of Indians on hills; these stories carry depth of sensitivity in a culturally synergistic society like the Indian society. The stories like The Last Truck Ride, Dust on the Mountains carry one into the lives of the migrant workers in the quarries. The values depicted connect one with society and humanity.