The Adventure of Toto

Ruskin Bond
• Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British
descent.
• He lives with his adopted family in Landour,
Mussoorie, India.
• He is an Indian author of British descent.
• He is considered to be an icon among Indian
writers and children’s authors and a top novelist.
• He prolifically authored inspiring children’s books
and was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award to
honor his work of literature.
 Introduction
• The Adventures of Toto is an amusing story by Ruskin
Bond highlighting the antics of a mischievous monkey.
• The narrator’s Grandfather was fond of animals.
• One day he bought a baby monkey from a tonga driver
and named it Toto.
• He wanted Toto because he had already possessed
several animals, big and small such as I tortoise,
squirrel, a pair of rabbits and a goat.
• But he didn’t have a monkey. He loved Toto too much.
Slowly I and steadily the monkey grew mischievous and
began to create troubles.
• Finally, Grandfather sold it to the tonga driver.
 Summary
• The narrator’s Grandfather was very fond of animals.
• He had a nice collection of animals such as a tortoise, a
tame squirrel, a pair of rabbits and a goat. But he didn’t
have a monkey.
• So, one day, he bought a baby monkey from a tonga-
driver and named it Toto.
• Toto’s arrival not only gladdened him but also enriched
his private zoo.
• So, it was decided that Toto’s presence should be kept
a secret until Grandmother was in a good mood.
• Toto was an attractive monkey with sparkling
eyes and pearl white teeth.
• He would take special delight in scaring
elderly Anglo-Indian ladies.
• His tail added to his good look, and also
served as a third hand.
• Since Grandmother did not have any interest
in animals, she never welcomed grandfather
with a new bird or animal in the house.
• Toto was temporarily kept in a little closet
opening into the narrator’s bedroom wall, where
he was tied securely to a peg fastened into the
wall.
• Being mischievous by nature, Toto began to
create a nuisance from the very first day. He
removed the ornamental wallpaper, pulled out
the peg and tore off the narrator’s blazer.
• Grandfather was quite happy to see Toto’s
performance.
• Toto was now transferred to a big cage in the servants’
quarters where Grandfather’s other animals lived together.
• But Toto would create troubles for them.
• He did not let them sleep peacefully.
• His pernicious activities were increasing day by day.
• So when Grandfather had to go to Saharanpur to collect his
pension, he carried Toto with him in a big black canvas kit-
bag.
• Since there was no opening in the bag to allow his hands or
face to come out, he would often jump inside the bag,
making the bag roll about on the floor of the Dehradun
railway platform.
• On reaching Saharanpur Toto was caught by the ticket-
collector who classified him as a dog so that Grandfather
had to pay for his (Toto’s) fare.
• Toto was finally accepted by the Grandmother. He was then
shifted to the stable, where Nana, the family donkey lived.
• But Toto continued teasing her as a result of which they
could never become friends.
• Toto loved to take bath in hot water in winter.
• One day, he nearly succeeded in boiling himself alive by
jumping in a large kitchen kettle that had been left on the
fire to boil for tea.
• It was Grandmother who came to his rescue and saved him.
• Toto continued his antics by tearing clothes to
shreds, breaking plated and other utensils.
• Everyone in the family got fed up with his
mischievous activities.
• Even Grandfather began to think seriously about
him.
• And finally he took a hard decision to get rid of
the monkey.
• He found the tonga-driver and sold Toto back to
him for only three rupees.
• 1. How does Toto come to grandfather’s
private zoo?

Answer:Toto was in the captivity of a tonga

owner. The grandfather gets sympathetic
with the monkey and thinks that his private
zoo would be a better place for Toto. So
he purchased Toto from the tongawallah
for five rupees.
• 2. “Toto was a pretty monkey.” In what sense is Toto
pretty?

• Answer:Toto was a pretty monkey. His bright eyes

sparkled with mischief beneath the deep-set
eyebrows, and his teeth, which were a pearly white,
were very often displayed in a smile that frightened the
life out of elderly Anglo-Indian ladies. But his hands
looked dried-up as though they had been pickled in
the sun for many years. Yet his fingers were quick and
wicked and his tail, while adding to his good looks
served as a third hand. He could use it to hang from a
branch and it was capable of scooping up any delicacy
that might be out of reach of his hands.
• 3. Why does grandfather take Toto to Saharanpur and how?
Why does the ticket collector insist on calling Toto a dog?

• Answer:Toto was a real menace for every living soul in the

household. Other animals in grandfather’s zoo were at Toto’s
mercy even during night. So, grandfather decided to provide
some relief to other animals in the zoo and thought of taking
Toto to Shaharanpur.
The ticket collector was following his rulebooks. As there
seems to be no rule for fixing a monkey’s fare so he equated
Toto with dog. Ticket collector’s ingenuity tried to categorize
all pets of a certain size as dogs.
• 4. How does Toto take a bath? Where has he learnt to
do this? How does Toto almost boil himself alive?

• Answer :Toto takes bath in a tub of warm water. It

puts its legs in the water one by one and applies soap
as well. As monkeys are good at aping others, so Toto
has learnt proper steps of bathing while watching the
narrator doing same.
Toto is fond of bathing with warm water. So once
having tested the warmth of water in the kettle Toto
sits in the kettle. Probably he is not intelligent enough
to understand the risk boiling water so he pops his
head up and down in the kettle.
• 5. Why does the author say, “Toto was not the sort
of pet we could keep for long”?

• Answer Though Toto was pretty and clever, he was

very mischievous. He brought a lot of damage to the
house by breaking dishes, tearing clothes and
curtains. He also scared the visiotrs by tearing holes
in their dresses. Furthermore, he didn’t get along
well with other animals in the house too. One day
Toto crossed the limits by picking up a dish of pullao
and running on a branch to eat it. When scolded he
threw off the plate and broke it. That’s when
grandfather decided he had had enough of Toto
because he couldn’t bear the losses that he
incurred because of Toto’s mischief.
 Iswaran the Storyteller
• waran’s story was told to Ganesh by Mahendra who worked as
a junior supervisor at different construction sites.
• As Mahendra was unmarried, he was able to live in the
temporary shelters provided by the construction company.
• Iswaran accompanied Mahendra wherever he went.
• He was an advantage to him as he provided him company,
cooked food for him and even washed his clothes.
• Mahendra says that Iswaran would gather all the things
required to prepare a meal within no time.
• Every morning Mahendra would get ready, eat his breakfast,
take his lunch along and go for his work.
• In the meantime, Iswaran would clean the living place, wash
the clothes, take a bath, eat his lunch, read his favourite Tamil
story book and take a nap.
• In the evening, Iswaran would entertain Mahendra with his
stories.
• He had the art of storytelling as he would use his body
gestures, facial expressions and voice modulation in order to
bring his characters to life.
• Even though the stories seemed untrue, Iswaran narrated
them in such a unique way that Mahendra listened to him
with curiosity.
• Iswaran would start a story with an introduction, he would
lay the background of the character, followed by the story.
• He described a simple incident in such detail, along with
actions that it would create suspense in the listener’s mind.
• Once he told Mahendra the story of an elephant that had
escaped from the jungle and entered the town. The beast
reached Iswaran’s school.
• As it destroyed the school property, all the students locked
themselves up in the classroom.
• At that time, Iswaran was studying in one of the junior
classes. He was watching the incident from the rooftop.
• He took a stick from the teacher and came down
stairs, in the ground. He walked towards the
elephant as it threatened to attack him.
• Iswaran was not scared of it. He gathered all his
strength and hit the elephant on its toenail quickly.
• This attack stunned the elephant, it fainted and fell
on the ground.
• He did not complete the story and said that he was
getting late for the dinner.
• He went to get the dinner but Mahendra was
curious to know what happened next.
• As Iswaran did not continue with the story,
Mahendra had to remind him that the ending was
pending.
• Then Iswaran said that a veterinary doctor was called.
He brought the elephant back to consciousness and
after two days a mahout was called who took the
elephant back to the jungle.
• Mahendra asked Iswaran that how did he manage to
overpower the huge beast.
• Iswaran replied that he used the technique of a
Japanese martial art which was either Karate or
Jujitsu.
• He had read about it somewhere, that the martial art
was able to make a person unconscious by paralyzing
the nervous system.
• Everyday Iswaran would narrate one or the other
story which was entertaining for him and fulfilled the
absence of a television in his living quarter.
• One morning Iswaran asked permission to cook a special dinner
as it was the day when they cooked meal for the dead elders of
the family.
• That evening Mahendra enjoyed a tasty meal and complimented
Iswaran on his cooking skills.
• As Mahendra was relaxing after the meal, to his dislike, Iswaran
started narrating a story related to ghosts and supernatural
powers.
• He said that the factory area where they lived was earlier a
burial ground.
• on the very first day, he had seen a human skull lying around.
• He added that he was not afraid of ghosts and saw many bones
and skulls
• .On a full moon night, he saw an ugly ghost of a woman who had
a shrunken face, matted hair and held an unborn baby in its
arms.
• Mahendra was uneasy and scolded Iswaran for talking nonsense.
• He said that Ghosts did not exist and ordered him to get himself
examined as he thought that he had gone mad.
• Since that day, Mahendra felt uneasy and would peep out
of the window in order to check the presence of any ghost
around.
• One night, Mahendra woke up from his sleep as he heard
someone crying.At first, he thought that it was a catlooking
for mice.
• As the sound became more harsh and deep, Mahendra
could not ignore it and gave into the desire of peeping out
of the window.
• As he looked out, he saw the white moonlight and a dark
shadow holding a bundle in its arms.
• As he saw the ghost he started sweating, breathing heavily
and fell back on the bed.
• After sometime, Mahindra thought that probably his
subconscious mind was playing a trick on him and actually
there was no ghost.
• He got ready the next morning and had forgotten the
incident of the previous night.
• Iswaran greeted him and gave him his lunch
bag. He said that a few days ago Mahendra had
scolded him for discussing the ghost but last
night he saw it himself.
• Iswaran had heard Mahendra crying at night.
• It was confirmed that Mahendra had seen the
ghost the previous night and it was not a trick
played by his mind.
• Once again, Mahendra was frightened, he left
in a hurry and resigned from the job.
• He could not live at a haunted place for a single
day.