Ruskin Bond Famous Poems

[Joslyn Moreci]

RuskinBond and Sarojini Naidu were two famous Indian writers. Ruskin Bond was born in 1934 in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh and his mother's name was Elizabeth Bond and father's name was Aubrey Bond. He studied at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. Sarojini Naidu was born in 1879 in Hyderabad and her father was a scientist-philosopher and her mother was a poetess. She attained national fame for entering Madras University at age 12 and later studied in London. Some of Ruskin Bond's famous poems are "Leopard on the Mountain" and his books include "The Lamp is Lit". Sarojini Naidu's poems include "WonderingRead less

I distinctly remember when my class in school was introduced to a collection of short stories written by an author named Ruskin Bond. Mountains blushing in the evening sun, fires crackling merrily in wooden lodges, and a motley crew of strange characters. It marked the first time a school textbook took a willing pride of place on my lap. But the author, to me, remained a mythical wordsmith who wrote amazing books for children.

The first book I ever read was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so it's very special to me; as is Peter Pan. As I grew older, I started favoring adventure stories like Treasure Island. When I was 12, I read David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. It made a great impression on me because young David grows up to be a writer and he became my role model. Did you know the protagonist David was based on Dickens himself? When I was 14, I got my hands on Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I also remember enjoying Three Men in a Boat! Anton Chekov and Henry James introduced me to the short story medium. These authors influenced my own writing in a big way.

I think I was 40 when I wrote a short novel that my publishers in England thought was too short to be a novel for adults. But, they said it would make a great children's story if I changed it just a bit to make it more appealing for children. It was called Angry River. So, you see, my writing for children started off purely for practical reasons.

Young readers want to be able to identify with the main character. They like the supporting characters to be funny. One of my most popular characters is Uncle Ken, who is always getting into trouble and making a fool of himself. Children love to read about an adult who is an idiot!

Yes, it is. The idea can come from anywhere - other people, their experiences, something I hear or read about. Before I put pen to paper, I have the entire story written in my head. Then, I write at a small desk near my bedroom window. I still write by hand. If it's a short story, I am done in a day or two. Novels can take a few months. Sometimes, I write poems on the spur of the moment.

Jane Austen lived in a small village in England and all her books are set there. It's the same with RK Narayan and his beloved Malgudi. Having spent more than two-thirds of my life in the hills, it's natural for me to base my stories on the hills.

Once, when I was in school, I came home and my mom asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I wanted to be a writer. She said, "Don't be silly, join the army." Back then, unless you became famous, you didn't make money as a writer. But today, because of the media and the Internet, writers are celebrities!

I read a book a week. I read for light entertainment. I go back to old favorites. I love detective stories and crime fiction, as well as good biographies of other writers. I read Somerset Maugham's new biography some weeks ago and quite enjoyed it.

I used to trek a lot. Now, I take short walks in the hills. When I used to live in Delhi in the 60s, I used to walk from Connaught Place to Rajouri Garden. The best way to get to know a city is to walk through it. But, you won't see me walking around Delhi now. I would get knocked over by a vehicle.

When I was a boy, some great movies were made, based on books by Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, and Daphne du Maurier. It depends a good deal on the director. Vishal (Bhardwaj) adapted my Blue Umbrella to film and it was lovely. Two-three years ago, 7 Khoon Maaf was made and I even had a small role in it. It was great fun!

Sometimes, I have to go underground. I have too many people knocking on my door every single day. But I like a bit of a warning. I don't want people catching me in a banyan (vest) or when I am mid-siesta.

Having written across varied genres for over half a century, Ruskin Bond, born in 1934 in Kasauli, continues to win the hearts of readers around the world, and especially those in India. Packed with emotional highs and lows, with the spirit of adventure and appreciation for nature being prominent themes in his stories, reading books by Ruskin Bond is like being invited to a private storytelling session with the author. His writings are a flight into a world, very much like ours, where readers become a part of thrilling escapade, meet ghosts, learn to admire flora and fauna, and, most importantly, end up with a feeling of warmth and happiness.

What better way to know more about the most famous children's author in India than to read Ruskin Bond's autobiography? In Lone Fox Dancing, he opens up about his dreams, aspirations, his first attempt at writing, and personal relationships like never before. Ruskin Bond shares anecdotes from his childhood years, the time he spent in Delhi, his short break in England, and the moment he started to fall in love with Dehradun, enough to make him live in Landour permanently later in life. Adding to these individual stories are exclusive photos from Bond's past that make the book a collector's read, especially for all his fans.

Many of Ruskin Bond books cover extensively his time spent exploring the mountainous region of Garhwal, where he's been visiting and living for quite a few decades. Landour Bazaar is a compilation of Ruskin Bond's famous works, featuring the hilly area prominently, where he travels between fact and fiction, filling the pages with classic stories that made him the beloved Indian writer he is today. In A Hill Station's Vintage Murder, he investigates a homicide that took place in 1909, whereas A Face in the Dark is one of his most loved ghost stories that still gives readers, young and old, the chills. Landour Bazaar is a homage to the simple, yet colourful life in the hills, and a reminder that Ruskin Bond is a magician when it comes to knitting tales that captivate and entertain bibliophiles beyond belief.

The fictional adventures of Rusty, a young boy living with his grandparents in Dehradun, reflect in part to Ruskin Bond's real life, making these stories part autobiographical but wholely amusing. Rusty's desire to be out and about examining and discovering the world around him, whether it is animals, plants, rivers, or roads less taken, has resonated with teenage readers from the very beginning. Add to that a host of eccentric characters, some lovable, others not so, and Adventures of Rusty by Ruskin Bond comes alive with moments of humour, playfulness, thrill, and an alluring and desirable sense of childhood innocence.

There's always been a subtle poetic disposition to most of Ruskin Bond's stories, irrespective of whether he is writing a travelogue or telling a macabre tale set in the mountains. When it comes to his poems, there's a child-like delight in his verses that make them incredibly engaging to read. Hip Hop Nature Boy is an assortment of poems by Ruskin Bond that appeal to all ages. From the realistic portrayal of Indian bureaucracy in We are the Babus, and the fantastical If Mice Could Roar, to the short and hilarious Do You Believe in Ghosts, Hip Hop Nature Boy is an ode to daily occurring, nature, friendship, the supernatural, and the little things in life we occasionally forget to acknowledge.

With more than a hundred books to his name, it's no surprise that Ruskin Bond is part of several anthologies that he has compiled and edited. One notable must-read Ruskin Bond book is A Mussoorie Mystery, in which he picks some of the best works from writers like O Henry, Mark Twain, and Edgar Allen Poe. All the short stories have a hint of mystery as a common thread that binds them. Still, Bond is ingenious enough to pick tales that dabble with strong emotions and desires, like those associated with love, doom, mortality, and death, making A Mussoorie Mystery an excellent read for lovers of short stories.

Be it the dreams of his childhood or anecdotes of Rusty and his friends, the Ripley-Bean mysteries or Ruskin Bond's days in India, accounts of his life with his father or his adventures in Jersey and London, this book is full of beauty and joy -- the two things Bond's writing is most famous for.

But there were many good things that couldn't get into it; and there have been many stories, essays, poems and memories written in recent years, from which a selection of the best' can easily be made," writes Bond in the introduction of the book.

Bond, born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) and grew up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Shimla, is the recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi''s Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan among other prestigious awards.

According to the publishers, the book, a consolidated anthology of a selection from all of Bond's major books -- including his complete novella "A Handful of Nuts" -- is a perfect gift to all the ardent readers and lovers of Ruskin Bond's effervescent writing.

Known as the "Indian William Wordsworth", Ruskin Bond's wide range of short stories, novels, essays and poems have inspired many budding writers for the past many decades. The Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awardee is known especially for his works of children's literature and he has often revealed that his lonely childhood has a lot to do with this theme.

He has authored over 500 short stories, essays and novels, more than 50 books for children, and two volumes of autobiography, Scenes from a Writer's Life and The Lamp is Lit.advertisementHere are some interesting facts you should definitely know about the Sahitya Akademi Award winner:1. Ruskin Bond was born to Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond. Bond saw his parents getting divorced when he was only four years old. His mother then married an Indian.

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