Ruskin Bond
Encyclopedia
Ruskin Bond, born 19 May 1934, is an India
n author of British
descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist.
In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award
for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Academy, India's National Academy of Literature in India
. He was awarded the Padma Shri
in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour
near Mussoorie
.
Bond spent his early childhood in Jamnagar, Dehradun and Shimla. His parents divorced when he was young and he had a rather solitary childhood. In 1944, Ruskin’s father passed away, succumbing to malaria. He was raised by his mother (who remarried an Indian businessman), and other relatives. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952.
Ruskin’s love for books and writing had come early to him, since father always surrounded him with books and encouraged him to write little descriptions of the nature, as he took Rusty on hikes around the hills. It was after school, that he began to carve out a niche as a writer.
Soon after his schooling, Ruskin left India to live in London. There, he took up odd jobs like working for a travel agency and a photo shop. He lived there for four years, but memories of India continuously haunted and overwhelmed him.
Bond wrote his first story, Room On The Roof at the age of 17. It won him instant recognition and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957, awarded to a British Commonwealth writer under 30. The book captured the vibrant mystique of the Himalayas, and evidently earned him his passage to India too. With the money that he earned from this book, he bought a ticket to India- his home for the rest of his life.
Upon returning, Bond chose to settle in the charming landscape of Dehra Dun and begin his career as a freelance writer. He wrote Vagrants in the Valley, as a sequel to The Room on the Roof. These two novels were published in one volume by Penguin India in 1993. The following year his much-acclaimed collection of his non-fiction writings, Rain In The Mountains, Delhi Is Not Far, The Best Of Ruskin Bond was also published by Penguin India. His interest in the paranormal led him to write popular titles like 'Ghost Stories from the Raj', 'A Season of Ghosts', 'A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings' and more...5 novels, 73 short stories, 10 essays, 6 travel writings, 10 songs and poems.
Bringing the past and present together is Ruskin Bond's specialty. A career now spanning four decades, has won him tremendous critical acclaim. His writing is full with unassuming humour and quiet wisdom. His stories are sensitive and manifest a deep love for nature, Indian people and their eccentricities.
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.
Bond's novel The Flight of Pigeons has been adapted into the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film Junoon. The Room on the Roof was also adapted for a television serial. Short stories from collections such as The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra have been included in school text books.
In the year 2007,the Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj made a heart-warming film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella. The movie won the National Award for Best Children's film.
Ruskin’s latest offering to the world of are a collection of prose and poems bringing out his unique relationship with India and its people. "The India I Love, does not make the headlines, but I find it wherever I go - In field or forest, town or village, mountain or desert - and in the hearts and minds of people who have given me love and affection for the better part of my lifetime," he says.
Media-shy, Bond prefers the quiet fun of the hills and currently lives in Landour, Mussoorie’s well-known Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since 1964
. He has one sister and brother, Ellen Bond and William Bond. When Bond was four years old, his mother was separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu, Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once.
When he was ten years old Ruskin went to his grandmother's house in Dehradun
(he called her the "Culcata Granny") because of his father's sudden death due to frequent bouts of malaria and jaundice.
After his High School education in Shimla
he spent four years in England. In London
he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof, the semi-autobiographical story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty. Bond used the advance money which he got for this book to pay the sea passage to Bombay. He worked for some years as a journalist in Delhi
and Dehradun
. Since 1963 he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie
, a town in the Himalayan foothills.
s at the foothills
of the Himalayas
, where he spent his childhood. His first novel, "The Room On the Roof", was written when he was 17 and published when he was 21. It was partly based on his experiences at Dehra, in his small rented room on the roof, and his friends. The "Room On the Roof" brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
in 1957. Since then he has written over three hundred short stories, essays and novels (including "Vagrants in The Valley","The Blue Umbrella
", "Funny Side Up" and "A Flight of Pigeons
") and more than 30 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.
His writing style is distinct in a way that it tries to make reader understand the landscape and ethos through carefully mastered words. His writings have won him both tremendous critical acclaim as well as a long list of fans throughout the literary world. Replete with unassuming humor and quiet wisdom, his stories manifest a deep love for nature and people. His mesmerizing descriptions about the flora and fauna of Himalayas can not be missed in his 100 something short stories, essays, novels, and more than thirty books of children that he has written.
Bond said that while his earlier autobiographical work, "Rain in the Mountains", was about his long years spent in Mussoorie, "Scenes from a Writer's Life" described his first 21 years. "Looking back, I find that those earlier years of my life have more incidents resulting from youthful enthusiasm," said the writer. "Two-thirds of the book talks about my life in Dehra Dun as a young boy," he added.
Now he lives with his adopted family in Ladour, Mussoorie.
"Scenes from a Writer's Life" dwells on Bond's trip to England, his struggle to find a publisher for his first book "The Room on the Roof" and his yearning to come back to India, particularly to Doon. "It also tells a lot about my parents," said Bond. "The book ends with the publication of my first novel and my decision to make writing my livelihood," Bond said, adding, "Basically it describes how I became a writer.
His works has inspired several generations of writers, authors and scriptwriters. His novel named "The Flight of Pigeons" has been adapted into the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film "Junoon". Another less known novel named "The Room on the Roof" has been adapted in to a BBC-produced TV series. Nevertheless his greatest achievement comes from the fact that several of his short stories from his collections have been incorporated in the school curriculum all over India. It includes jewels such as "The Night Train at Deoli", "Time Stops at Shamli", and "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra". In spite of all these successes, Bond can be concluded today as a media-shy and reclusive literary genius. He spends his days with his adopted family at a place close to Dehradun. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India for "Our Trees Still grows in Dehra" in 1992. He has also been conferred with Padma Shri
, one of the most prestigious civil awards in India.
) the Hindi film Junoon
was produced in 1978 by Shashi Kapoor
(directed by Shyam Benegal
).
Ruskin Bond made his maiden foray on the big screen with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj
's film " 7 Khoon Maaf", based on his short story "Susanna's Seven Husbands". Bond appears as a Bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra
, who kills "each of her seven husbands". Bond had earlier collaborated with him in the 'The Blue Umbrella (film)
' which was also based on his story.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n author of British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist.
In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award
Sahitya Akademi Award
Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honor in India which Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of outstanding works in one of the following twenty-four major Indian languagesAssamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, English, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,...
for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Academy, India's National Academy of Literature in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was awarded the Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour
Landour
Landour , a small cantonment town contiguous with Mussoorie, is about from the city of Dehradun in the northern state of Uttarakhand in India. The twin towns of Mussoorie and Landour, together, are a well-known British Raj-era hill station in northern India. Mussoorie-Landour was widely known as...
near Mussoorie
Mussoorie
Mussoorie is a city and a municipal board in the Dehradun District of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located about 35 km from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km north from the national capital of New Delhi...
.
About
Born in pre-independence India, Ruskin Bond is the quintessential Indian writer in English and a lifelong lover of India. He came into this world in a military hospital in Kasauli to Edith Clerke Aubrey Alexander Bond.Bond spent his early childhood in Jamnagar, Dehradun and Shimla. His parents divorced when he was young and he had a rather solitary childhood. In 1944, Ruskin’s father passed away, succumbing to malaria. He was raised by his mother (who remarried an Indian businessman), and other relatives. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952.
Ruskin’s love for books and writing had come early to him, since father always surrounded him with books and encouraged him to write little descriptions of the nature, as he took Rusty on hikes around the hills. It was after school, that he began to carve out a niche as a writer.
Soon after his schooling, Ruskin left India to live in London. There, he took up odd jobs like working for a travel agency and a photo shop. He lived there for four years, but memories of India continuously haunted and overwhelmed him.
Bond wrote his first story, Room On The Roof at the age of 17. It won him instant recognition and the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957, awarded to a British Commonwealth writer under 30. The book captured the vibrant mystique of the Himalayas, and evidently earned him his passage to India too. With the money that he earned from this book, he bought a ticket to India- his home for the rest of his life.
Upon returning, Bond chose to settle in the charming landscape of Dehra Dun and begin his career as a freelance writer. He wrote Vagrants in the Valley, as a sequel to The Room on the Roof. These two novels were published in one volume by Penguin India in 1993. The following year his much-acclaimed collection of his non-fiction writings, Rain In The Mountains, Delhi Is Not Far, The Best Of Ruskin Bond was also published by Penguin India. His interest in the paranormal led him to write popular titles like 'Ghost Stories from the Raj', 'A Season of Ghosts', 'A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings' and more...5 novels, 73 short stories, 10 essays, 6 travel writings, 10 songs and poems.
Bringing the past and present together is Ruskin Bond's specialty. A career now spanning four decades, has won him tremendous critical acclaim. His writing is full with unassuming humour and quiet wisdom. His stories are sensitive and manifest a deep love for nature, Indian people and their eccentricities.
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.
Bond's novel The Flight of Pigeons has been adapted into the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film Junoon. The Room on the Roof was also adapted for a television serial. Short stories from collections such as The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra have been included in school text books.
In the year 2007,the Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj made a heart-warming film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella. The movie won the National Award for Best Children's film.
Ruskin’s latest offering to the world of are a collection of prose and poems bringing out his unique relationship with India and its people. "The India I Love, does not make the headlines, but I find it wherever I go - In field or forest, town or village, mountain or desert - and in the hearts and minds of people who have given me love and affection for the better part of my lifetime," he says.
Media-shy, Bond prefers the quiet fun of the hills and currently lives in Landour, Mussoorie’s well-known Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since 1964
Early life
His father was with the Royal Air Force in IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has one sister and brother, Ellen Bond and William Bond. When Bond was four years old, his mother was separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu, Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once.
When he was ten years old Ruskin went to his grandmother's house in Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
(he called her the "Culcata Granny") because of his father's sudden death due to frequent bouts of malaria and jaundice.
After his High School education in Shimla
Shimla
Shimla , formerly known as Simla, is the capital city of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared the summer capital of the British Raj in India. A popular tourist destination, Shimla is often referred to as the "Queen of Hills," a term coined by the British...
he spent four years in England. In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof, the semi-autobiographical story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty. Bond used the advance money which he got for this book to pay the sea passage to Bombay. He worked for some years as a journalist in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
and Dehradun
Dehradun
- Geography :The Dehradun district has various types of physical geography from Himalayan mountains to Plains. Raiwala is the lowest point at 315 meters above sea level, and the highest points are within the Tiuni hills, rising to 3700 m above sea level...
. Since 1963 he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie
Mussoorie
Mussoorie is a city and a municipal board in the Dehradun District of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is located about 35 km from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km north from the national capital of New Delhi...
, a town in the Himalayan foothills.
Literary style
Most of Bond's writings show a very strong influence from the social life in the hill stationHill station
A hill station is a town located at a higher elevation than the nearby plain or valley. The term was used mostly in colonial Asia , but also in Africa , for towns founded by European colonial rulers as refuges from the summer heat, up where temperatures are cooler...
s at the foothills
Foothills
Foothills are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills to the adjacent topographically high mountains.-Examples:...
of the Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, where he spent his childhood. His first novel, "The Room On the Roof", was written when he was 17 and published when he was 21. It was partly based on his experiences at Dehra, in his small rented room on the roof, and his friends. The "Room On the Roof" brought him the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
John Llewellyn Rhys Prize
The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize is a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature by an author from the Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and published in the United Kingdom...
in 1957. Since then he has written over three hundred short stories, essays and novels (including "Vagrants in The Valley","The Blue Umbrella
The Blue Umbrella
The Blue Umbrella is a children's novel written by Ruskin Bond. The story is set in a small village of Himachal Pradesh, where a little girl, Binya, trades her leopard claw necklace for a pretty, frilly blue umbrella...
", "Funny Side Up" and "A Flight of Pigeons
A Flight of Pigeons
A Flight of Pigeons is a novella by Indian author, Ruskin Bond. The story is set in 1857, and is about Ruth Labadoor and her family who take help of Hindus and Muslims to reach their relatives when their father is brutally murdered in a church by the Indian rebels...
") and more than 30 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.
His writing style is distinct in a way that it tries to make reader understand the landscape and ethos through carefully mastered words. His writings have won him both tremendous critical acclaim as well as a long list of fans throughout the literary world. Replete with unassuming humor and quiet wisdom, his stories manifest a deep love for nature and people. His mesmerizing descriptions about the flora and fauna of Himalayas can not be missed in his 100 something short stories, essays, novels, and more than thirty books of children that he has written.
Bond said that while his earlier autobiographical work, "Rain in the Mountains", was about his long years spent in Mussoorie, "Scenes from a Writer's Life" described his first 21 years. "Looking back, I find that those earlier years of my life have more incidents resulting from youthful enthusiasm," said the writer. "Two-thirds of the book talks about my life in Dehra Dun as a young boy," he added.
Now he lives with his adopted family in Ladour, Mussoorie.
"Scenes from a Writer's Life" dwells on Bond's trip to England, his struggle to find a publisher for his first book "The Room on the Roof" and his yearning to come back to India, particularly to Doon. "It also tells a lot about my parents," said Bond. "The book ends with the publication of my first novel and my decision to make writing my livelihood," Bond said, adding, "Basically it describes how I became a writer.
His works has inspired several generations of writers, authors and scriptwriters. His novel named "The Flight of Pigeons" has been adapted into the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film "Junoon". Another less known novel named "The Room on the Roof" has been adapted in to a BBC-produced TV series. Nevertheless his greatest achievement comes from the fact that several of his short stories from his collections have been incorporated in the school curriculum all over India. It includes jewels such as "The Night Train at Deoli", "Time Stops at Shamli", and "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra". In spite of all these successes, Bond can be concluded today as a media-shy and reclusive literary genius. He spends his days with his adopted family at a place close to Dehradun. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India for "Our Trees Still grows in Dehra" in 1992. He has also been conferred with Padma Shri
Padma Shri
Padma Shri is the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan...
, one of the most prestigious civil awards in India.
Filmography
Based on Bond's historical novella A Flight of Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
) the Hindi film Junoon
Junoon (1978 film)
The soundtrack features 4 songs, composed by Vanraj Bhatia, with original lyrics from Yogesh Praveen and other lyrics by Amir Khusro, Jigar Moradabadi and Sant Kabir.#"Khusro rain piya ki jaagi pee ke sang" – Jamil Ahmad...
was produced in 1978 by Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor , born Balbir-Raj Prithviraj Kapoor on 18 March 1938 in Calcutta , is an award-winning Indian film actor and film producer. He has also been film director and assistant director in Hindi Films. He is a member of the Kapoor family, a film dynasty in India's Bollywood cinema...
(directed by Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...
).
Ruskin Bond made his maiden foray on the big screen with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj
Vishal Bhardwaj is an Indian film director, writer, screenwriter, music composer and playback singer.-Early life:Bhardwaj was born in Bijnor but raised in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh to Satya Bhardwaj, a homemaker, and Ram Bhardwaj, a popular poet and lyricist. His father was a government employee and...
's film " 7 Khoon Maaf", based on his short story "Susanna's Seven Husbands". Bond appears as a Bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra
Priyanka Chopra is an Indian actress and former Miss World. Before starting her acting career, she worked as a model and gained fame after winning the Miss World title in 2000. She is often referred to by the nickname "Piggy Chops", which was given to her by co-stars on the set of the film...
, who kills "each of her seven husbands". Bond had earlier collaborated with him in the 'The Blue Umbrella (film)
The Blue Umbrella (film)
The Blue Umbrella is a 2007 Indian film based on the novel, The Blue Umbrella, by Ruskin Bond and directed by Vishal Bhardwaj. It starred Shreya Sharma and Pankaj Kapur in lead roles...
' which was also based on his story.
Short stories
- The Eyes Have It
- The Wish
- Angry RiverAngry RiverOne of Ruskin Bond's most famous books, the epic Angry River was published in India, France, Germany, Italy and Denmark.Angry River is about Sita, a girl who lives with her grandparents in a hut on an island. Her grandfather is a fisherman. Their hut is made partly of mud with one of the walls...
- Boys Will Be Boys
- Delhi Is Not Far
- The Woman on Platform 8The Woman on Platform 8The Woman on Platform 8 by Ruskin Bond is a story about love and affection that transcends all barriers of kinship. It is narrated in the first person by a school going boy Arun. All the events are seen from his point of view....
- Dust On The Mountains
- The Road to Shimla
- Ranji's Wonderful Bat
- Rusty Runs Away
- The Blue UmbrellaThe Blue UmbrellaThe Blue Umbrella is a children's novel written by Ruskin Bond. The story is set in a small village of Himachal Pradesh, where a little girl, Binya, trades her leopard claw necklace for a pretty, frilly blue umbrella...
- Night of the Leopard
- Granny's Tree Climbing
- Mountains of Dehra
- The last truk ride
- The fightThe FightThe Fight is a band founded in 2000 in Dudley, UK. The band consists of singer and guitarist Kate Turley, drummer Jack Turley , Scott Milner also on guitar and bassist Tom Calder. In 2002, New Found Glory’s road crew overheard them busking outside a gig in Leicester...
- The kite maker
Collections
- Tiger in the kjhg
- Garland of Memories
- The boy who broke the bank
- Funny Side Up
- Night Train at Deoli
Novels
- Room On The Roof
- Scenes from a Writer's Life
- Susanna's Seven Husbands
- A Flight of PigeonsA Flight of PigeonsA Flight of Pigeons is a novella by Indian author, Ruskin Bond. The story is set in 1857, and is about Ruth Labadoor and her family who take help of Hindus and Muslims to reach their relatives when their father is brutally murdered in a church by the Indian rebels...
- Landour Days - A writers Journel
- The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond
- The Road To The Bazar
- The Panther's Moon
External links
- Profile and books by Ruskin Bond
- A review of Scene's From a Writer's Life
- Interview with Ruskin Bond by Atula Ahuja
- Let's Meet Ruskin
- Bond Reminisces
- Ruskin Bond in a Video reciting 2 of his Poems
- A Landour Day with Ruskin Bond by Ramendra Kumar
- The skeleton in the cupboard:Short Story Published in the Times of India
- Ruskin Bond in RightBooks.in