Rungli-Rungliot

One of my favorite authors is Rumer Godden; she was born in India, eight years before Gandhi landed in India, and lived there many years.  

I had tremendously enjoyed reading a worn out copy of "Rungli-Rungliot" a couple of years ago.  I like old books, the yellowed paper, the smell, and enjoy holding them.  "Two Under the Indian Sun", which is autobiographical, was beautiful as well.

A year ago I watched "The River", a novel written by Rumer Godden, which was made into a movie in 1951 by a French film director named Jean Renoir.  It was a visual delight to watch it; found out that Satyajit Ray had met Jean Renoir in 1949 in Calcutta when Jean Renoir was scouting for locations. 

As a child I did not particularly enjoy reading; I developed a reading passion about 15 years ago after watching an episode, from a six part miniseries, on PBS about Queen Victoria's India; more specifically about 1857 massacre in Cawnpore.

It is only befitting that I would understand viscerally the following quote from Rumer Godden:

 "When you learn to read you will be born again...and you will never be quite so alone again."