RUSKIN BOND-India’s Wordsworth

INTRODUCTION• Ruskin Bond was born on May 19, 1934 at

Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh.

• 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.

• Ruskin bond wrote five hundred novels,

short stories ,essays and poetry.

• He was awarded the Padmashri in 1999 for

contributions to children's literature.

LIFE

• Ruskin Bond’s childhood was a lonely one marked

by his parents' divorce and his mother's remarriage.

• He was raised by his mother and grandmother.

• He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School

in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952.

• It was after school, that he began to carve out a niche

as a writer.

• Bond has two sisters, one living in England and one

in India.

• Most of his stories are inspired by the natural

splendor of his hometown, Mussoorie with its

mountains, trees, birds and the simple hill folk who

live in that place.

Career

• Ruskin Bond wrote his first novel,

Room on the Roof, when he was

seventeen, received the John

Llewellyn Rhys memorial Prize in

1957.

• Since then he has written over three

hundred short stories, essays and

novellas (including Vagrants in the

valley and a flight of pigeons) and

more than thirty books for children.

• He has also published two volumes of

autobiography, “Scenes from a Writer’s

life”, which describes his formative years

growing up in Anglo-India, and “The

Lamp is Lit”, a collection of essays and

episodes from his journal.

AWARDS

• In 1987, the Indian Council for

Child Education recognized his

pioneering role in the growth of

children's literature in India, and

awarded him the Sahitya Akademi

Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still

Grow in Dehra.

• He won the Padma Shri in 1999.

Some reviewsMr. Ruskin Bond describes his

journeys to and from Mussoorie

over the years, and then delves

into the daily scandals

surrounding his life and friends in

the sleepy hill town.

Collections

•Grandpa tickles a tiger

•Four Feathers

•Garland of Memories

•Ghost Stories from the Raj

•Funny Side Up

•Our trees still grow in Dehra

•Dust on the Mountain

•A Season of Ghosts

•The Night Train at Deoli

•Potpourri

•The Parrot Who Wouldn't Talk

Novels

•The Room on the Roof

•Vagrants in the Valley

•A Flight of Pigeons

•Landor Days – A writers Journal

•The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond

•The Kashmiri Storyteller

•The Blue Umbrella

•The Tiger In The Tunnel

•Funny side up

•Maharani (Book)

•Roads To Mussoorie

•All Roads Lead To Ganga

The Kite maker

• Story of a kite maker and

his last wishes.

Mr Oliver's Diary

A dairy entry by Mr Oliver, a

history teacher, who arrives in

Shimla to start a new

preparatory school.

All Roads Lead to Ganga

• Captures the breathtaking beauty and splendour of this magical landscape, describing with nostalgia and affection the places and people he has lived with and encountered for over forty years.

Bond –truly himself

• Most of his stories have a pleasant start up.

• Stories for all age groups.

• Lots of philosophical description.

• Neither ambiguous nor theoretical.

• Stories are sensitive and manifest a deep love of nature,

Indian people and their eccentricities.

• The sense of humour never deserts his stories.

Adaptations of his novels

• Junoon based on his historical novel-A Flight of

Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian

Rebellion of 1857). by Shashi Kapoor and directed by

Shyam Benegal.

• Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon Maaf, based on his

short story Susanna's Seven Husbands.

• The Blue Umbrella by Vishal Bhardwaj UTV Movies.