1. Ranji:
- Real Name: Ramesh
- Ranji is a young boy belonging to an affluent urban family, likely from Delhi.
- He and his father are travelling during their summer vacation and waiting for a connecting train at Deoli, a small railway junction amidst hills in northern India.
- Ranji is the first-person narrator of some chapters, allowing readers to see events directly through his eyes.
2. Rusty (Author's Self-Representation):
- Rusty portrays a fictionalized version of author Ruskin Bond as an adult author and former resident of Deoli during his college years.
- Rusty also serves as a narrator and is depicted as friends with Mr. Kapoor, who shares the mysterious stories he collected from Deoli and its locales with an enthralled Rusty.