One of Ruskin Bond’s strengths is his ability to portray characters that are so life-like readers can empathize with them. So it is with this tragic story of man so frightfully disfigured by war that he is afraid to leave his room by day, and confines himself to creeping phantom-like around an aging hotel by night. His two loves in life: his books and music. The message of the story: before turning away from the grossly disfigured or disabled, stop to consider the feelings of the human being within. Themes: appearance, fear, despair, the healing power of music.
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