Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934) is an Indian author and poet. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, published in 1956, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Bond has authored more than 500 short stories, essays, and novels which include 69 books for children. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.

Life

Bond was born on 19 May, 1934 in Kasauli, Punjab States Agency, British India. His father, Aubrey Alexander Bond, who was British, was born in a military camp in Shahjahanpur, a small town in north India. His mother, Edith Clarke, and was buried in the Bhowanipore War Cemetery in Calcutta.

He worked for a few years freelancing from Delhi and Dehradun, sustaining himself financially by writing short stories and poems for newspapers and magazines. About his youth, he said, "Sometimes I got lucky and some [of my works] got selected and I earned a few hundred rupees. Since I was in my 20s and didn't have any responsibilities I was just happy to be doing what I loved doing best." Asked what he likes most about his life, he said, "That I have been able to write for so long. I started at the age of 17 or 18 and I am still writing. If I were not a professional writer who was getting published I would still write." The writing of his first children's book, Angry River, published in 1972, was toned down on a publisher's request for a children's story.

His work reflects his Anglo-Indian experiences and the changing political, social and cultural aspects of India, having been through colonial, postcolonial and post-independence phases of India.

Being a writer for over 50 years, Bond experimented with different genres. His early works include fiction, short stories, and novellas with some being autobiographical; and later he tried out non-fiction, romance

He considers himself a "visual writer" because for short stories, he first imagines them like a film and then notes them down. For an essay or travelogue, however, he finds such planning not needed because he feels the unexpected makes them more exciting.

Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond, an Indian web series released on Zee5, is based on the ghost stories written by Bond.

A short film titled Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan, featuring Vikrant Massey, was later released, which was adapted from Bond’s short story The Eyes Have It.

The Rusty character

Rusty is a popular fictional character created by Bond: a 16-year-old orphaned Anglo-Indian boy living in Dehradun with no real family. Rusty's character offers a teenager's perspective on battling with confusions about life, relationship, happiness and love. He starts living with his guardian John Harrison, who is stern and harsh. Rusty is obliged to follow his guardian's rules and orders and doesn't dare disobey which makes him feel helpless because he knows that if he does, he will get caned. He has no real friends and finds himself very lonely in his guardian's house in the European part of Dehradun. He wants to embrace Indian culture and lifestyle, and so he makes friends with some Indian boys in the local marketplace, hiding this from Harrison, continuing to go on secret adventures with them. Soon he decides to run away from the captivity of Harrison and go to England.

The character of Rusty was based on Bond himself as a teenager. His first book, The Room on the Roof, which he wrote at the age of 17, was a semi-autobiographical story with Rusty being the protagonist. It was based on his friends and the time he spent in a rented room in Dehradun. Most of Rusty's initial years are set in Dehradun, a scenic locale in northern India. Bond was deeply attached to Dehra and most of his stories are inspired by the hills and valleys of this region.

Novels and short stories featuring Rusty include:

  • The Room on the Roof
  • Vagrants in the Valley (a sequel to The Room on the Roof)
  • Rusty, the Boy from the Hills (collection of short stories)
  • Rusty Runs Away (collection of short stories)
  • Rusty and the Magic Mountain
  • Rusty Goes to London
  • Rusty Comes Home
  • The Adventures of Rusty (collection of short stories)
  • Delhi Is Not Far
  • Rusty Plays Holi
  • Rusty and the Leopard

Bibliography

Novels

  • The Room on the Roof
  • Vagrants in the Valley
  • Rusty Runs Away
  • A Flight of Pigeons
  • The Sensualist
  • The Panther's Moon
  • Once Upon a Monsoon Time
  • Delhi Is Not Far
  • Angry River
  • The Woman on Platform 8
  • Strangers in the Night
  • All Roads Lead to Ganga
  • Tales of Fosterganj
  • Maharani
  • Leopard on the Mountain
  • Grandfather's Private Zoo
  • In Grandfather's Garden
  • The Blue Umbrella
  • Too Much Trouble
  • When the Tiger Was King
  • Cherry Tree
  • The Great Train Journey
  • Children of India
  • Owls in the Family
  • Dust on the Mountain
  • The Adventures of Toto
  • He said it with Arsenic
  • A Season of Ghosts
  • The Song of the Forest

Memories

  • Landour Days: A Writer's Journal
  • Scenes from a Writer's Life
  • With Love from the Hills
  • Roads to Mussoorie
  • Looking for the Rainbow
  • Till the Clouds Roll By
  • Coming Round the Mountain
  • A Song of India
  • All the Roads Lead to Ganga
  • Lone fox dancing

See also

  • Ek Tha Rusty, a Doordarshan TV show based on Bond's stories
  • List of Indian writers

References

  • Interview with Ruskin Bond by Atula Ahuja