OCT 2021-DEC 2021 | VOLUME 01 | ISSUE 02
READ
TALES OF FOSTERGANJ
DEHRA TRAIL
RUSTY AND WE
IS REVIEWED
RB TRAIL
GUEST COLUMN
BOOK REVIEW
IN THIS ISSUE
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18
RUSKIN BOND'S
Dew Drenched Words by Mr Bond Mayank Muley, PG 3 Letter to a Father Vandana Bahuguna, PG 4 Ode to the Man with a Golden Pen Murthy KVS, PG 5 A Book of Simple Living Rama Raghavan, PG 6 Regular Features
INDIA'S EXCLUSIVE NEWSLETTER FOR THE FANS OF RUSKIN BOND
Did you Know? PG 7 Pearls of Wisdom PG 8
MESSAGE FROM RUSKIN BOND
Book Review PG 9 World of Ruskin Bond PG 10 Guest Column PG 11 Book Adaptation PG 12 Ruskin Bond’s Trail PG 13 Mussoorie Diaries PG 14 Books that Influenced Bond PG 15 Libraries PG 17 Book Cover of the Quarter PG 16 Ruskin Bond and Nature PG 17 Poster PG 18
Editorial
PG 1
FROM THE DESK OF CHIEF EDITOR
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR You have brought me to the world of literature. I started reading your books when I was in class XI. I was fascinated by your lucid language and powerful descriptions of real life situations. I took up literature as a subject for my higher studies. Till today I keep on reading your books. This pandemic has blessed me with a lot more time for reading.
Fans of Ruskin Bond is the first ever community of its type in India with its own newsletter. Distributed free to all its members, it is an attempt to share our joy and love for Ruskin Bond and his works. We are overwhelmed with the support and encouragement received from all of you. Many have contributed for the newsletter. Unfortunately, limited space we are not able to publish all of them. However, we will definitely try include them in the consecutive issues. The first issue was received enthusiastically by Ruskin Bond and he had kind words of encouragement for the team. In the months to come we have planned several new initiatives. So, keep touch with us on our social media handles. You can write to fansofruskinbond@gmail.com.
Sending affection, Vikas Singh
us
Arunima Sur
I hope you are well. The last edition was a masterpiece and all credit to you and the team. Please give my best regards to Ruskin Sir. Prachi Jha
I'm a 9 year old child and also one of your lovely fans! I am really fond of your writings.
at
Avinanda Ray
Bond is always the best, and it's a blessi-
Ruskin Bond is often hailed as The Indian Wordsworth. Do you think he should be called this? Have a strong opinion on this? Mail your answers in less than 30 words at fansofruskinbond@g mail.com by the 15th November 2021! ng to live in his times. I consider myself fortunate for being able to read and write about Ruskin Bond.
S. Anuradha
You can send your letters at fansofruskinbond@gm ail.com by 28th February 2022. The best ones will be published here.
The Team
PG 2
EDITORIAL VIKAS SINGH,
REHAN SHEIKH
SOUMYA HARICHANDAN
SHIVANI MAKHIJA
Editor-in-Chief
Editor, Creative Head
Illustrator
Editorial Coordinator
Rehan Sheikh is an aspiring writer and reporter at the TTIS- The Telegraph in Schools. Since the age of eight, he has been a committed and fervent reader of Ruskin Bond’s books. This enduring Bond with Bond’s books, has wended his way to having a pleasing pile of rare photographs and books. As a writer, inspired by Bond's works, his works have appeared in a number of leading youth magazines like Kloud9, PCM Magazine, Champak, Youth Connect among others.
Soumya Harichandan is an artist, poet and writer. Amidst the chaos of the world, she finds shade under her sketches and paintings. Her admiration for Ruskin Bond works can be seen through her illustrations that she makes. She feels that Bond 's stories are lullaby for nyctophilic person like her. Currently she lives in Odisha, India.
Shivani Makhija, an MBA in Human Resource Management decided to tap into nature, walking the path laid down by her favorite author Ruskin Bond. Her love and admiration for Ruskin Sir make her intensely associated with the fan page. Just like her mentor, she is in love with the mountains.
A lifelong bibliophile, is passionate about the written word. One of the top reviewers on Goodreads from India, he holds Limca Record for largest collection of books by single author (484 books by Ruskin Bond- All inscribed and signed) and largest multilingual comic collection (Tintin in 124 languages). He has moderated Ruskin Bond talks at several literature festivals including Jaipur Literature Festival. A TEDx and Comic Con speaker he has curated Ruskin Bond walks in Dehradun and Mussoorie. He has interviewed several authors including Amish Tripathi, Ashwin Sanghi, Vineet Bajpai, Christopher Doyle, Reena Puri and Aabid Surti. In 2020 he was Fan guest of honour at Agatha Christie International Festival where he gave a talk on his journey with Agatha Christie’s works
Self-Potrait
There was an old man in Landour,' Who wanted young folk to laugh more; So he wrote them a book, And with laughter they shook, As they rolled down the hill to Rajpore.
- Ruskin Bond, Padma Shri.
Fans Write
PG 3
Dew-Drenched Words by Mr. Bond Mayank Muley "It isn't the time that's passing by. It's you and I, you and I. . " I started reading Ruskin Bond when I was about 12. Mesmerised by the style in which he often brings to life the words he carefully chooses to describe and conjure up the 'wet roads lined with rhododendron shrubs and those pristine mountains' somewhere in the higher altitudes of Mussoorie, I often used to spend hours in the school library reading his books, and drawing a mental picture of how the things in the stories would actually be. Reading his books, I travelled mentally to his world of deserted railway platforms that were often graced by only the lone tea stall, stationmaster’s cabin and a few stray dogs, wondering what lies behind the station wall, to the grassy knolls, to the snowy peaks of the mountains being kissed by the sunshine, the whistling thrush in the mountain forest where the deodars stood tall and still, while the tonk-tonk of the nightjar and cicadas and crickets singing in an orchestra like tiny little musicians of mother earth made sure to lend the otherwise quiet woods a voice of their own, and the fireflies punctured the darkness of the night wherever they can.
His words unfailingly, yet conveniently lend a certain sweet charm that holds the power to create a strong yearning in the readers’ mind to visit the places where Mr. Bond must have walked, spent time in solitary absorbing the nature, letting the leaves touch his face and drenching it with the morning dew.
I believe that dedicating my words to the man who inspired me to let my heart write.... can be the most humble and beautiful way of thanking him for giving us all something so harmlessly, delightfully addictive to immerse ourselves in.
Without even having a real conversation with him, I find myself pretty convinced that a good life is the one in which away from the hustle and bustle of the noisy city life with all amenities just a Playstore app away - I get to live in the mountains, in a humble abode, a hillhouse of my own, built of oak and deodar woods, with a windo-
that opens up to a view of snowclad mountains up ahead at some distance from where the chilly mountain breeze infused with a mild smell of pines kisses my face all over, while one of the branches of the tree nearest to the wall peeps inside, as if the forest is trying to reach out to me. At night, the same window would welcome in the twinkling lights on the hills, while my own corrugated tin roof, bathed with dew, would glisten in the mountain moonlight. This, I believe, has been an impact of his words on my idea of a good life. I am sure I am not the only one to think so. One may rob me of my meagre possessions, but I am sure my words can’t ever be stolen, and I believe that dedicating my words to the man who inspired me to let my heart write, using my hands as a mere instrument for writing, and develop a love for the mountains can be the most humble and beautiful way of thanking him for giving us all something so harmlessly, delightfully addictive to immerse ourselves in. May you live long and strong! Much love to you, my dear Mr. Bond.
Fans Write
PG 4
Letter to a Father Vandana Bahuguna Dear Mr Aubrey Bond, It’s Father's Day today and I thought of you. Most of the readers of Ruskin often think of you fondly. We are told all about you; the joyful Jamnagar days, your stamp collection and life in barracks with him. Forgive us as we have even read some of the letters you wrote to your son. I relate more to you because I'm a parent and think that you must know all about your little Ruskin as you left him too early The shock and pain of your demise was huge for little Ruskin. You must have imagined his plight during your illness as you knew your relatives well. He did not get the love and care he deserved as a child, but the habit of reading you had inculcated helped him ignore the harsh world. You will be delighted to know that he was the library in-charge of his school, so found solace in the world of books. As you kept showering blessings upon him from somewhere, he kept meeting people who gave him good times, books and cookies; Vu, a young girl from Vietnam, Bibiji, Miss Kellner and Mrs Chill, not so young girls in Dehra, to name a few. He is a loyal friend to young and old with equal ease. No little boy likes the boarding school, but as they grow up they get habitual, so did Ruskin. He made good friends in school. Some of them had to leave the school overnight during the partition of India in 1947, as they came from the other side of the border which was mindlessly drawn by a certain Cyril Radcliffe. I did not see much by him on the Partition of India, though he wrote a book called Flight of Pigeons with the background of the revolt of 1857. Revolts, partition of a country, politics, economy are not the topics he chose to write, but beautiful things of nature; i,e., about ladybirds, leopards, dewdrops, rivers, flowers, and small towns of India. His simple and charming prose is alluring to all age groups. I am his avid fan, so is my student in class 2. No wonder he won three Padma Awards, highest civilian honours of India. Did he marry? You must be eager to know. He didn't, but he does have a lovely family. Prem worked for him when he came to settle down in Mussoorie, more than five decades back. Prem's children and grandchildren were born and grew up in your son's care. Now all of them make a great family that he adores. He is one of us now. He could easily be a Ramesh Baduni or any other Garhwali grandpa, if we just ignore the colour of his skin. Adorable, isn't it? Mr Bond is an octogenarian now, but for his readers, he is an eight year old in a boarding school, a teenager in a dingy room in London saving money for a typewriter, winner of a high flying prize at 18. We readers can never replace the love you would have showered upon him, but we love him a lot, as we know him so thoroughly. His books are the gems we revere. He is in our textbooks, in our bookshelves, in the columns of national daily newspapers, and in our hearts. A role model of the authors, who want to live like him, but you need courage to find happiness in little things in life. I can go on and on about your favourite child and his ever loving daddy. There is so much to share. Someday we all will sit together and talk about your Shimla rickshaw ride, stamp collection and many more things. With regards, Vandana Bahuguna
Fans Write
PG 5
ODE TO THE Man with a Golden Pen Murthy Kvvs There are many reasons to have a special interest in reading Ruskin Bond's writings. Mostly people say that he is a writer for children but in my opinion he is a writer for all ages who have a heart for relishing childhood memories. Who hates one's own childhood and its enchanting hues of experiences..? None, I think. In fact, Ruskin Bond came my way in the phase of grown up, accidentally. The first book I read is a paperback titled "Great stories for kids". Wondered at his crafting of tale telling process. But at the same time ,thrilled being transported into my childhood. In our surroundings, we have some colonial buildings in dilapidated condition with variety of trees, plants and insects around. Whenever visited the place, we felt a chill in the spine. Of course, haunting spirits were always there to get scared of. The same things I found in one of the stories of Ruskin Bond. On the hill top with such old building having lived by a mysterious Anglo-Indian woman. And a small girl tryst with her still makes me imaging like anything.
ILLUSTRATION: woodledoodoledesigns
And the way the writer portrays every insect, plant, tree and other animals is spellbinding and how badly we ignore sometimes nature's bounty though it stands in front of our own eyes. I started observing flora and fauna of our location soon after finishing this book. It made me a new human being in terms of exploring the nature at its best. Now I knew the names of many kinds of insects and its behaviours. And grew interested in whatever the plant come my way. I became nature sensitive in brief. After that, the book I read was " Our trees still grow in Dehra". Escape from Java is the mesmerizing story. It sounds like the first hand experience. An exodus from South East Asia let know us many issues of bygone years. In this book, stories like "The bent double beggar, Coming home to Dehra and other ones attracted me for different reasons. I am planning to read many more of his books in the days to come and my best wishes to the e-magazine, running by the lovers of Ruskin Bond.
Fans Write Illustrations by Rama Raghavan The Ginger Cat Monk. A small ginger cat arrives on my terrace every afternoon, to curl up in the sun and slumber peacefully for a couple of hours. When he awakes, he gets on his feet with minimum effort,arches his back and walks away as he had come. The same spot every day, the same posture, the same pace. There may be better spots—sunnier, quieter, frequented by birds that can be hunted when the cat is rested and restored. But there is no guarantee, and the search will be neverending, and there may rarely be time to sleep after all that searching and finding. It occurs to me that perhaps the cat is a monk. By this I do not mean anything austere. I doubt anyone in single-minded pursuit of enlightenment ever finds it. A good monk would be a mild sort of fellow, a bit of a sensualist, capable of compassion for the world, but also for himself. He would know that it is all right not to climb every mountain. A good monk would know that contentment is easier to attain than happiness, and that it is enough.
Geraniums and Contemplation Geraniums are good companions. I can meditate upon a geranium. That is, I can spend a long time gazing at one. Andas I can get geraniums to flower in my sunny bedroom,summer and winter, I have every opportunity to do so.The geranium that has done best is the one I have grown in an old plastic bucket standing on the chest of drawers and facing the early morning sun. Here, protected from wind and rain,this generous plant has produced no less than eight florets of soft pink confetti. Other shades are appealing too—the salmon pink, the cerise, the flaming red—but this pale pink is restful,intimate. From my bed or desk I can gaze at it and have pleasant thoughts. Is that meditation? Or is it contemplation?
The Ladybird and the Lover of Solitude I am not, by nature, a gregarious person. Although I love people, and have often made friends with complete strangers, I am also a lover of solitude. Naturally, one thinks better when one is alone. I prefer walking alone to walking with others. That ladybird on the wild rose would escape my attention if I was engaged in a lively conversation with a companion. Not that the ladybird is going to change my life. But by acknowledging its presence, stopping to admire its beauty, I have paid obeisance to the natural scheme of things of which I am only a small part.
PG 6
Did you Know/Contest
PG 7
CONTEST ALERT Describe Ruskin Bond's writings in one word and win a book by him! Send your entries at fansofruskinbond@gmail.com by 15th November 2021!
WRITING
MOVIES
LIFE
Vagrants in the Valley was published in The Weekly.
The soundtrack for Junoon was composed by Vanraj Bhatia.
As a boy, Ruskin Bond was wary of monthly haircuts.
The Hidden Pool was first children's book by Ruskin Bond.
The movie was nominated for the Best Story in 1980 Filmfare.
Ruskin Bond had a cat called Suzie when he was a Maplewood.
Writing for my Life, a new book by Bond, will be coming soon.
Junoon is set on the Indian Revolution of 1857.
Ruskin Bond absolutely loves Garhwali songs!
A warrant was issued against Bond for a short story The Sensualist.
Junoon was shot in parts of Lucknow, Malihabad and Kakori.
In the final years in BCS, Bond did a play called, Borrowed Blooms.
Pearls of Wisdom
PG 8
One way to get over a failed love affair is to get married. Another is to trek into beautiful, deserted places
On books and friends I spend my money; For stones and bricks I haven't any.”
....
I am still on my zigzag way, pursuing the diagonal between reason and heart.
....
As a boy, loneliness. As a man, solitude. The loneliness was not of my seeking. The solitude I sought. I found.
ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END, AND WHEN THE TIME COMES TO MY EXIT I HOPE I CAN DO SO WITH GOOD GRACE AND HUMOUR.
Book Review
TALES OF FOSTERGANJ
PG 9
"I forget what took me to Fosterganj in the first place. Destiny, perhaps; although I’m not sure why destiny would have bothered to guide an itinerant writer to an obscure hamlet in the hills. Chance would be a better word" One fine morning in May, Ruskin Bond found himself in Fosterganj, a ‘forgotten hamlet in the outskirts of Mussoorie’. A writer always wants to live like a hermit, write a handful of stories and make a living out of it, as Bond believes. A solitary life, is what a writer requires. And this is what made him retire to this quaint town once again the next day after the first visit. Attracted by the place’s serenity and tranquillity, he discovered a room and readily accepted it
for a ‘bathroom with a view’. The bathroom opened up to an open vista, a lush green valley and ascending mountains poached with sunlight. ‘Appearances can be deceptive’, writes Bond. After his return from Delhi when he finally decides to settle here permanently, he gets entangled in the tapestry of unusual adventures. He encounters a man-eating leopard, spends a night at a locked room in the sinister Fairy Glen Palac-
e on a rainy night and stumbles through several other adventures. We are introduced to characters, charming and rascal, that bring this book to life. Bond’s stories are known for being easily lashed with the reality, and this book is the ideal example of that. The book may have nothing out of the world, but this book will keep you caught up till the very end. The characters are the jewels of this book. A must read for every Ruskin Bond aficionado, this book one of the best books by Bond- comforting, warm and humorous.
World of Ruskin Bond
PG 10
GHOSTLY TALES Over these years, Ruskin has tried his hand on various genresfiction, nonfiction, memoirs, romance and horror. However, out of this sundry variety of genres, he is more regular at ghost stories. Bond tells that when he runs out of ideas, he invents ghosts. Bond believes that ghosts do not turn up without any reason. They catch up just because they are unhappy. “The purpose of ghost stories is that they can make you ponder upon the mysteries of human existence", Ruskin writes. If you have not read any of his ghostly tales, then don’t jump into them if you think they are the same as Stine’s, Horowitz’s or James’.
Bond’s style of writing horror, is contrasting to the style of writing horror that we know; rather, his ghosts are charming, old and endearing. The stories have a gentle flow and you won’t find anything extraordinary in them. Yet- they are gripping- they will leave you spellbound. Each of them has an elucidating end or beginning, just like in The Haunted Bicycle: "When I recovered consciousness, I noticed that the moon had risen and was sparkling on the waters of a stream. The children were not t-
o be seen anywhere. I got up from the ground and began to brush the dust from my clothes. And then, hearing the sound of splashing and churning in the stream, I looked up again”. A horror story without any terror. A horror story with a gripping end that makes the entire story condensing. Bond’s horror- it’s an entire new genre and style!
Guest Column
PG 11
Ishani Roychaudhuri, Bengali Translator of ‘The Adventures of Rusty’ writes about Rusty in her article, Rusty and We.
We all live in the present and hope for a better future but none of us can let go of our past. We cherish our unfulfilled dreams, our childhood friends and all the familiar flora and fauna. We ponder over our long lost wish to run away from our school and home, the incessant scolding from our elders and every bit of our mischief, fun and frolic. Rusty is actually just like us, or to be more precise, he is one of us. We hold his hand firmly and move around in hilly areas, in narrow city lanes, amidst trees and shrubs in a forest, wade together across a bubbly stream and most importantly, learn not to mistrust people around us. He teaches us the lessons of unconditional love and friendship. We learn to appreciate various shades of human character and learn about many unknown things. Our entire expedition with Rusty is like a long and pleasant train journey with our faces plastered on the window relishing the constantly moving scenario outside. Rusty helps us nurture the vibrant flow of life residing secretly inside us. Ruskin Bond is an author, who can pen down a perfect blend of reality and dream and then successfully serve it on silver platter. He has the rare quality of
making everyone identify with Rusty in every nook and corner of one’s childhood and adolescence. Every time the readers are astonished to find themselves in his shoes and start to live his life and dream his visions. At times, I personally feel Ruskin Bond and Rusty are each other’s namesake, one is just the shadow of the other and I can visualize them coming towards us hand in hand with a lovely glittering smile. Kids and young adults alike welcome Rusty with open arms as their best friend. The adults embrace him with a twinkle in their eyes and may be, occasionally, with a pearly drop of tears as Rusty resembles them in one way or other, recollecting their bygone years. This might be the reason why I felt completely at ease, bringing to life the stories of Rusty, albeit in a different language! Rusty guided me through all the alleys of his journey towards adulthood with Ruskin standing at a distance, enjoying our camaraderie. Our emotional bonding was surreal as we smiled, cried, laughed and held hands together from the beginning till the very end.
Book Adaptation
PG 12
7 KHOON MAAF 7 Khoon Maaf is a Hindi black comedy film directed, cowritten and co-produced by Vishal Bhardwaj. The film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead role, with Irfaan Khan, Vivaan Shah, Annu Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Alekzsandr Dyachenko, John Abraham, Naseeruddin Shah, and Usha Uthup. It was shot in Kashmir, Puducherry, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Russia The story revolves around a Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes, an Anglo-Indian woman who causes six deaths in her unending quest for love. The movie is an adaptation of the short story Susanna's Seven Husbands by Ruskin Bond. It was originally just a 4-page story and Bhardwaj (he has a house next to Bonds cottage) requested Bond to develop the story for a film adaptation. Bond expanded his four-page short story into an 80-page novella, and later Bhardwaj co-wrote the script with Matthew Robins and shaped it into a 200-page script. Bond also helped with
Ik baar to yun hoga, thoda sa sukoon hoga ... na dil mein kasak hogi, na sar mein junoon hoga (For once this time, it will be such that there would be peace… Neither there will be any pain in my heart nor any passion in my mind)
- 7 Khoon Maaf the script. It changed and was not upto his liking he has admitted. It was released on 18 th February 2011. The book was released a day later on 19th February. The movie received a special recognition for Priyanka’s performance but the film did not do so well at the box office. It had a weak plot line.
However, it has received four nominations to the 57th Filmfare awards. It also featured in the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. Internationally it was released as ‘7 sins forgiven’. The song ‘Darling’ sung by Rekha Bhardwaj and Usha Uthup has worn Screen Awards and Mirchi Music Awards Ruskin Bond played a guest appearance in the role of a priest who marries off Susanna and one of her husbands. It was shot in a beautiful old church in Byculla in Mumbai. Ruskin Bond on his experience in acting in this film said that, “The film crew were very friendly and nice and I just had to be myself. It’s just a couple of scenes. I didn’t have a name or anything. I was just there, beaming upon everybody.”
Ruskin Bond Trail
PP 13
Dehra's Bond~ Bond “Formally, it’s known as Dehradun, but in the 1940s and 1950s, when we were young, everyone called it Dehra. That’s where I spent much of my childhood, boyhood and early manhood, and it was the Dehra I wrote about in many of my books and stories”, writes Ruskin Bond in an introduction of his book- A Town called Dehra. Ruskin’s association with Dehradun can be divided into four periods- He spent his early childhood here in his maternal grandmother’s house, the period when he used to come back from his school in Shimla and stay with his mother and step father each time in a different house in Dehradun (1944-1951), then again when he returned from London (1955-58) and finally the brief period he stayed here (1961-62) before s-
hifting permanently to Mussoorie and then Landour in 1963. White house hotel Located at 15/7 Subhash Road, this art deco styled hotel finds mention in his book- The India I love. Ruskin writes- “…. And there was old Colonel Wilkie, living on a small pension in a corner room of the White house hotel”. When he resigned from his job at CARE in Delhi and came back to Dehra, Ruskin stayed for some ti-
WHITE HOUSE HOTEL
me at this hotel. The hotel further finds mention in his book- When darkness falls and other stories “But here’s a quiet corner. A nice old building with a patch of grass in front…. Ah, it’s the old White house hotel! A bit rundown now, like the rest of us survivors from that era, but I can still find lodging for the night…” And in the morning I shall sit on the veranda where a frond of bougainvillea trails, and write this little memoir”.
Mussoorie Diaries
PG 14
KEMPTY FALLS Kempty Falls was developed as a tourist destination by British officer John Mekinan, around 1835. The name Kempty is probably derived from the word 'camp-tea' because it was a favourite place amongst British officers to camp for their afternoon tea! A stream of water running throughout the year starting from the southwest of the village of Banglow ki kandi moves northwest and falls from 4,500 ft. Splitting into five other cascades, the water falls a further 40 feet. A big draw for the tourists, the place gets too crowded during the tourist season. Concrete constructions and numerous shops have cluttered and destroyed natural beauty of the place.
Ruskin Bond writes about this fall in his book Miracle at Happy Bazaar." And this time I was taking no chances. I engaged a taxi, drove to the Kempty Waterfall with the rat in its trap. And there flung the protesting rat into the waterfall, much as the villainous Moriarty had flung poor Sherlock Holmes over another waterfall. The last I saw of the rat; he was swimming strongly downstream towards the Yamuna Bridge".
In his short story, The Black Dog published in Death under the Deodars, the protagonist lives in Kempty village. Often, he hikes to the hotel Royal, a walk of around five kilometres, to converse with Miss Ripley-Bean and Mr. Lobo. On two occasions when he went to Kempty village at night, much to his surprise he found that a black dog of good height, usually taller than street dogs, was chasing him. The dog neither barked nor sniffed at him. Ruskin reached the entrance and turned to look back, the dog was nowhere to be found and even after that he never saw that dog neither in his village nor in Mussoorie!
Books That Influenced Bond
PG 15
PART I “A lot of my writing was influenced by books I read in my childhood. It influenced my will to be a writer", Ruskin Bond once said.
THE PICKWICK PAPERS
DAVID COPPERFIELD
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY
“In my school days, one of the first books I read was David Copperfield. This book gave me the feeling that it would be good to be a writer when I grow up. Even young David grows up to be one. My favourite, though, was Nickleby, full of humour, pathos and memorable scenes. I could identify with Nicholas in the same way that I could identify with David Copperfield; both sensitive young men trying to make their way in the literary or theatrical world, and encountering the most extraordinary characters along the way. On the other hand, I could not identify with young Oliver Twist, because I could not see him growing up; or the self-sacrificing Sydney Carton of A Tale of Two Cities: I couldn't see myself going to the guillotine to save my rival in love. No - off with his head! After reading The Pickwick Papers, I became a Dickens fan. I enjoyed Pickwick Papers due to the humour in it”-Ruskin Bond
To Be Continued
Book Cover of the Quarter
PG 16
FIRST INDIAN EDITION OF THE ROOM ON THE ROOF Penguin India was launched in November 1987. The first title it published was Biography of Krishnamurthy by Papul Jaykar. Among the first ten titles published in 1987 was The Room on the roof by Ruskin Bond.
EXCERPT "One day you'll be great, Rusty. A writer or an actor or a prime minister or something. Maybe a poet! Why not a poet, Rusty?" Rusty smiled. He knew he was smiling, because he was smiling at himself. "Yes," he said, "why not a poet?" So they began to walk. Ahead of them lay forest and silence- and what was left of time....
Libraries/Ruskin Bond and Nature THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS The Library of Congress, located in Washington DC, USA is the largest library in the world and the official national library of the United States housing some of the country’s most important documents. The collection includes over 39 million books and other printed materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14.8 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 8.1 million pieces of sheet music, and 72 million manuscripts. It has the largest collection of rare books in North America and the largest collection of 15th century books of any library in the Western Hemisphere. In addition to being a centre for research and storing books, it also issues copyrights through its U.S. Copyright Office. It has registered more than 450,000 copyright claims. It provides digital, microfilm & paper copies, as well as custom reproductions for a fee from the library’s collections. The basement of the British Library is over 24.5 meters (80.4 feet) deep, which is equivalent to an eight-story building. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated librarian Carla Hayden, chief executive officer of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore, Maryland, to be the 14th Librarian of Congress. The first woman and African-American to serve as Librarian, she inherited a unique, global institution, widely known for its free, non-partisan service to Congress, librarians, scholars, and the public—in the United States and around the world.
PG 17
OVER THE HILLS When Ruskin Bond at the age of 16 left India for London, he missed the Himalayas. He once penned that though he felt separated from them by thousands of miles, he could not get rid of them from his system observing that once you have lived with the mountains for any length of time, you belong to them. There is no escape. He had memories of the mountain path which led his feet into a cool sweet forest of oak and rhodendron onto a hilltop called ‘Clouds End’ which commanded a view of the plains on one side and of the snow peaks on the other. “If someone were to ask me to choose between writing an essay on the Taj Mahal or on the last rose of summer, I would take the rose- even if it was down to its last petal” remarks Bond. A fantastic affinity for nature indeed. His writings reflect experiences of his mind and soul with relevance to nature. His propinquity for nature soaks readers in an awareness to the beautiful aspects of nature such as the sounds of the falling rain drops on roof tops, independent flying birds, insects and animals, their voice. His observation and fascination for creatures big and small is apparent by this poem, "Walk Tall’: You stride through the long grass, Pressing on ever fallen pine – needles. Up the winding road to the mountain pass: Small red ant, now crossing a sea Of raindrops, your destiny To carry home that simple, slender Cosmos seed, Waving it like a banner in the sun If only we could absorb a fraction of his fondness and kindness towards nature, we would realise this beauty seen through the eyes of Ruskin Bond in God’s every creation.
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BRING MUSSOORIE, THE QUEEN OF THE HILLS, TO YOUR ROOM! In the heart of Landor lies the brilliant LAL TIBBA, the highest point in Musoorie bestowing a mesmerizing view of the stunning and picturesque Himalayan mountain ranges. The telescope installed here in 1972 lends a view of the peaks of mountains such as Kedarnath, Badrinath and Bandarpunch as well as the incomparable scenic beauty of dense deodar forests that surround them. One of the most popular and prominent spots in Mussorrie, the hometown of Ruskin Bond, Lal Tibba proves to be a relaxing refuge by the side of nature. This beautiful attraction has been illustrated on our LAL TIBBA TAPESTRY with 100% environment friendly pigments and fine machine embroidery to highlight elements of awe in this original designed product. Experience the composure of nature in your own space with this 22"x22" piece of art. Available exclusively on ruskinbond.in! Order yours today! Check out a variety of products on our website or click on the WEBSITE button on our Facebook page!
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