Ruskin Bond: Tale Of A Storyteller

A favorite of an entire generation and beyond, Ruskin Bond and his imagination have never failed to keep a child hooked on his books like candy. His books are often reminiscent of his own childhood. Filled with mystic tunes of Mussoorie, his stories are a real treat for us.

Ruskin Bond: Pied Piper Or Story Piper?; Image Source: Indiatimes

A bright and beautiful day may be seen from his modest window. He observes time passing: loud young boys coming from school, birds singing in a neighbouring bush, cows returning to their homes, their neck bells jingling. Padma Shri and now Padma Bhushan novelist, Ruskin Bond is seated in his favorite chair in his lovely small hamlet in Mussoorie's Landour region. A tiny flight of steps leads to the area, which features a few classic Hollywood pictures on the walls and nice cane chairs for guests to relax on.

His story started long back in the magical town of Kasauli, where snow covers the mountains and the wind has some mysterious charm to it.

Ruskin Bond was born to Edith Clarke and Aubrey Alexander Bond. The arrival of the finest storyteller of the century brought joy to the charming town of Kasauli. The snow covered mountains of Himachal Pradesh greeted Ruskin Bond with open arms. Aubrey Alexander Bond, Ruskin's father, taught English to the princesses of Jamnagar Palace. Perhaps Ruskin inherited his father's flair of writing and speaking great English.

They were a happy family until Ruskin's father enlisted in the Royal Air Force. It had been just him and his mother since then. They went on to live at their maternal home in Dehradun. However, his stay at Dehradun was not extended, as he was sent to a boarding school in Mussoorie. When he was just an eight-year-old kid, his mother left Aubrey and married another man named Hari.

However, Ruskin was very attached to his father and recalled his time with him as being one of the best of his life. His father died in a war when he was ten years old while stationed in Calcutta. Ruskin was at his school in Shimla when his instructor informed him about the incident. He was very heartbroken. Later, he was taken care of in Dehradun by his mother and stepfather.

Penguin opened up shop in India in the 1980s and approached him about writing some novels. In 1956, he wrote Vagrants in the Valley as a companion to The Room on the Roof. Penguin India released these two works in one volume in 1993. The following year, Penguin India released The Best of Ruskin Bond, a compilation of his nonfiction publications.

His interest in eerie literature led to the release of well-known works such as Ghost Stories from the Raj, A Season of Ghosts, and A Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings.

Ruskin Bond barely needs an introduction to Indian readers — a literary fiction virtuoso who's authored over 500 books, novels, poetry, fiction and non-fiction titles, the octogenarian seldom finds writing a hardship. Instead, he stitches sentences together in his Landour home, breathing in fresh Himalayan morning air.

Bond's work, which is beloved by readers of all ages, appears intimate because of its intrinsic capacity to tug at your emotions - stories about a child's loneliness, lonely train stations, and natural sights such as a bubbling brook or the towering mountains.

His style of writing, in general, is rather sensory in nature, owing to his upbringing in hill stations in the foothills of Himalayas. His works are marked by his close observation of India's shifting political, social, and cultural characteristics during its many stages of colonialism and post-independence scenarios. But the most intriguing part is how varied and unusual they are from one another, which can be linked to the writer's experimental bent.

Many of us can attest to the notion that Ruskin Bond's works have always seemed like a safe haven. His works frequently transports us back to our carefree summer vacation days, when we peacefully lie on the cool floor, absorbing his novels and savoring a simple portion of summer fruit like melons, mangoes, or litchis.

Ruskin Bond was and always will be a remarkable author for many of us, filling our childhoods with the warmth of his writings. And his endearing personality and humor will always be the icing on the cake in the distinct literary space that he has carved out for himself.

In 1951, after finishing high school, he traveled to his aunt's home in the Channel Islands (UK) in pursuit of better possibilities and stayed there for two years. In London, he chose to write his first book, The Room on the Roof, a semi-autobiographical tale about an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy named Rusty; who worked at several jobs. It was awarded the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for a British Commonwealth author under the age of 30.

While hunting for a publisher, he traveled to London and worked at a photographic studio. Bond utilized the advanced resources to finance the ship's voyage to Bombay and reside in Dehradun when it was published.

One of the most compelling characters developed by him was Rusty. Rusty, a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian lad from Dehradun, is an orphan with no genuine relatives. Mr. John Harrison, his guardian, who is gruff and unpleasant in his manners, takes him in. Rusty is obligated to respect his guardian's directions and rules and cannot defy him. He feels helpless since he knows he will be caned if he refuses to obey Mr. John. He doesn't have any true pals, and he feels lonely at his guardian's home. He lives in Dehradun's European district but wishes to embrace the Indian culture and way of life. In the local market, he becomes friends with some Indian guys.

He keeps the truth from Mr. John and continues to join them on covert expeditions. He quickly resolves to flee Mr. John's imprisonment and return to England. Rusty's persona represents a kid struggling with his feelings about life, relationships, happiness, and love.

Ruskin Bond developed Rusty to write stories of his history. It was rooted in the advice of his friends and the time he spent in leased lodgings in Dehradun. Most of Rusty's early years are spent in Dehradun, a picturesque town in northern India. Ruskin Bond was profoundly devoted to Dehra, and the mountains and valleys of this area inspired many of his novels.

He freelanced from Delhi and Dehradun for a few years. He made a living by writing short tales and poetry for newspapers and publications. He reflected on his youth, saying, "Sometimes I got fortunate, my work was chosen, and I made a few hundred bucks. I was in my 20s and had no obligations, so I was glad to be doing what I enjoyed the most." He relocated to Mussoorie in 1963 because, in addition to enjoying the area, it was close to the editorial staff and publishers in Delhi. He worked as a magazine editor for four years.

Ruskin in his abode; Image Source: The Indian Express

A book that brings Rusty to life; Image Source: Amazon