Ruskin Bond

Last updated

Ruskin Bond
Ruskin Bond 2.jpg
Bond during a book release function in Andhra Pradesh (2012)
Born (1934-05-19) 19 May 1934 (age 89)
Kasauli, Punjab States Agency, British India
(now in Solan district, Himachal Pradesh, India)
Occupation
  • Author
  • poet
LanguageEnglish
Alma mater Bishop Cotton School
Notable works The Room on the Roof
Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra
A Flight of Pigeons
The Blue Umbrella
Granny's Tree Climbing
Angry River
Notable awards John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (1956)
Sahitya Akademi Award (1992)
Padma Shri (1999)
Padma Bhushan (2014)

Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934) is an Indian author. His first novel, The Room on the Roof , was published in 1956, and it received the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. Bond has authored more than 500 short stories, essays, and novels which includes 69 books for children. [1] 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 Padma Bhushan in 2014. [2] He lives with his adopted family in Landour, Mussoorie, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. [1]

Contents

Life

Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934, [3] [4] in Kasauli, Punjab States Agency, British India. His father, Aubrey Alexander Bond, [5] was born in a military camp in Shahjahanpur, a small town in north India. [6] Later he became a tutor in a small school in the Jamnagar palace for their princes and princesses, where Ruskin also studied for his first six years. He taught English to the princesses of Jamnagar palace and Ruskin Bond and his sister Ellen lived there till he was six. Later, Ruskin's father joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 and Ruskin along with his mother and sister went to live at his maternal home at Dehradun. Shortly after that, he was sent to a boarding school in Mussoorie. When Ruskin was eight years old, his mother Edith Clarke [7] separated from his father and married a Punjabi Hindu, Hari. His father arranged for Ruskin to be brought to New Delhi where he was posted. He was very close to his father and describes this period (1942–1944) with his father as one of the happiest times of his life. When he was ten, his father died due to malaria, while he was posted in Calcutta. [8] He was buried in the Bhowanipore War Cemetery in Calcutta. [9] Ruskin was at his boarding school in Shimla and was informed about this tragedy by his teacher. He was thoroughly heartbroken. Later, he was raised in Dehradun.

He did his schooling from Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1951. He won several writing competitions in the school including the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize. He wrote one of his first short stories, "Untouchable", at the age of sixteen in 1951.

Following his high school education he went to his aunt's home in the Channel Islands in 1951 for better prospects and stayed there for two years. In London when he was 17 years old, he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof , the semi-autobiographical story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy named Rusty; he did various jobs for a living. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, (1957) awarded to a British Commonwealth writer under 30. He moved to London and worked in a photo studio while searching for a publisher. After getting it published, Bond used the advance money to pay the sea passage to Bombay and settle in Dehradun. [10]

He worked for a few years freelancing from Delhi and Dehradun. [11] He sustained himself financially by writing short stories and poems for newspapers and magazines. On his youth, he said, "Sometimes I got lucky and some [work] 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." [10] In 1963, he went to live in Mussoorie because besides liking the place, it was close to the editors and publishers in Delhi. He edited a magazine for four years. In the 1980s, Penguin set up in India and approached him to write some books. He had written Vagrants in the Valley in 1956, 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 a collection of his non-fiction writings, The Best of Ruskin Bond was published by Penguin India. His interest in supernatural fiction led him to write popular titles such as Ghost Stories from the Raj, A Season of Ghosts, and A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings. Since then he has written over five hundred short stories, essays and novels, including The Blue Umbrella , Funny Side Up, A Flight of Pigeons (Hindi film junoon was based on this story) and more than 50 books for children. He has also published his autobiography: Scenes from a Writer's Life describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India and a further autobiography, Lone Fox Dancing, was published in 2017. The Lamp is Lit is a collection of essays and episodes from his journal.

Ruskin Bond with his sister, Ellen. This photograph dates back to 1938. Ruskin with his sister.jpg
Ruskin Bond with his sister, Ellen. This photograph dates back to 1938.

Since 1963 he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie, a town in the Himalayan foothills in Uttarakhand where he lives with his adoptive family in Landour, Mussoorie's Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since 1980. [12] [13] Asked what he likes the 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." [14] In his essay, "Scenes from a Writer's Life", he explains his Indian identity, "Race did not make me one. Religion did not make me one. But history did. And in the long run, it's history that counts." [3]

His sister Ellen lived in Ludhiana with his stepsister until she died in 2014. He also has a brother, William, who lives in Canada.

Writing life

Most of his works are influenced by life in the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood.The Room on the Roof, was written when he was 16 and published when he was 21. It was partly based on his experiences at Dehradun, in his small rented room on the roof, and his friends. His earlier works were written without it being meant for any particular readership. [14] [15] His first children's book, Angry River , published in 1972, had its writing toned down on a publisher's request for a children's story. [14] On writing for children, he said, "I had a pretty lonely childhood and it helps me to understand a child better." [16] Bond's 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. [3]

Ruskin Bond said that while his autobiographical work, Rain in the Mountains, was about his years spent in Mussoorie, Scenes from a Writer's Life described his first 21 years. Scenes from a Writer's Life focuses 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". [17] [ citation needed ]

Being a writer for over 50 years, Bond experimented with different genres; early works include fiction, short stories, novella with some being autobiographical. Later, he tried out non-fiction, romance [10] and books for children. He said his favourite genres are essays and short stories. [14] He considers himself a "visual writer" because for short stories, he first imagines it like a film and then notes it down. For an essay or travelogue, such planning is not needed for him. He feels the unexpected there makes it more exciting. [14] Bond likes Just William by Richmal Crompton, Billy Bunter by Charles Hamilton and classics such as Alice in Wonderland and works by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. [14]

Filmography

The 1978 Bollywood film Junoon is based on Bond's novel A Flight of Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian Rebellion of 1857). It was produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Shyam Benegal.

The Rusty stories have been adapted into a Doordarshan TV series Ek Tha Rusty . Several stories have been incorporated into the school curriculum in India, including The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra.

In 2005, the Bollywood director Vishal Bhardwaj made a film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella . The movie won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.

Ruskin Bond made his maiden big-screen appearance with ain Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon Maaf in 2011, based on his short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. Bond appears as a bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra playing the title role. [18] Bond had earlier collaborated with Bharadwaj in The Blue Umbrella which was also based on one of his works.

Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond , an Indian webseries on Zee5 based on ghost stories by Bond, has also been released.

Rusty

Rusty is a popular fictional character created by Ruskin Bond. Rusty is a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy living in Dehradun. He is orphaned and has no real family. He starts living with his guardian Mr. John Harrison, who is stern and harsh in his manners. Rusty is obliged to follow the orders and rules of his guardian and doesn't dare to disobey him. He feels helpless because he knows that if he disobeys Mr. John, he will get caned. He doesn't have any real friends and he finds himself very lonely in his guardian's house. [19] He lives in the European part of Dehradun, but wants to embrace Indian culture and lifestyle. [20] He makes friends with some Indian boys in the local marketplace. He hides the fact from Mr John and continues to go on secret adventures with them. Very soon he decides to run away from the captivity of Mr John and go back to England. Rusty's character offers a teenager's perspective who is battling with his confusions about life, relationship, happiness and love.

Inspiration for the character

Rusty was created by Ruskin Bond to write stories about his own past. 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. [21] It was based on his friends and the time he spent in a rented room, when he was in Dehradun. [22] Most of Rusty's initial years are set in the location of Dehradun, a scenic place in northern India. Ruskin 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

  • The Room on the Roof
  • Vagrants in the Valley (a sequel to 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
  • Delhi is not far
  • "Rusty plays Holi"
  • "Rusty and the leopard"

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
  • 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
  • Adventures Of Toto
  • The House Of Strange Stories'
  • Big Business
  • When the Night Falls

Memories

Non-fiction

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nirmal Verma</span> Renowned Indian Novelist

Nirmal Verma was a Hindi writer, novelist, activist and translator. He is credited as being one of the pioneers of the Nai Kahani literary movement of Hindi literature, wherein his first collection of stories, Parinde (Birds) is considered its first signature.

Anita Desai, born Anita Mazumdar, is an Indian novelist and the Emerita John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As a writer she has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times. She received a Sahitya Akademi Award in 1978 for her novel Fire on the Mountain, from the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters. She won the British Guardian Prize for The Village by the Sea (1983). Her other works include The Peacock, Voices in the City, Fire on the Mountain and an anthology of short stories, Games at Twilight. She is on the advisory board of the Lalit Kala Akademi and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dehradun</span> Winter capital of Uttarakhand, India

Dehradun, also known as Dehra Doon, is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly holding its winter sessions in the city as its winter capital. Part of the Garhwal region, and housing the headquarters of its Divisional Commissioner. Dehradun is one of the "Counter Magnets" of the National Capital Region (NCR) being developed as an alternative center of growth to help ease the migration and population explosion in the Delhi metropolitan area and to establish a smart city in the Himalayas. It is the third largest city in the Himalayas after Kathmandu and Srinagar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mussoorie</span> Hill station in Uttarakhand, India

Mussoorie is a hill station and a municipal board, near Dehradun city in the Dehradun district of the Indian state Uttarakhand. It is about 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the state capital of Dehradun and 290 km (180 mi) north of the national capital of New Delhi. The hill station is in the foothills of the Garhwal Himalayan range. The adjoining town of Landour, which includes a military cantonment, is considered part of "greater Mussoorie", as are the townships Barlowganj and Jharipani.

Indian English literature (IEL), also referred to as Indian Writing in English (IWE), is the body of work by writers in India who write in the English language but whose native or co-native language could be one of the numerous languages of India. Its early history began with the works of Henry Louis Vivian Derozio and Michael Madhusudan Dutt followed by Rabindranath Tagore and Sri Aurobindo. R. K. Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand and Raja Rao contributed to the growth and popularity of Indian English fiction in the 1930s. It is also associated, in some cases, with the works of members of the Indian diaspora who subsequently compose works in English.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dehradun district</span> District in Uttarakhand, India

Dehradun district is a district in Garhwal which is a part of Uttarakhand state in northern India. The district headquarters is Dehradun, which has also served as the interim capital of Uttarakhand since its founding in 2000. The district has 6 tehsils, 6 community development blocks, 17 towns and 764 inhabited villages, and 18 unpopulated villages. As of 2011, it is the second most populous district of Uttarakhand, after Haridwar. Dehradun district also includes the prominent towns of Rishikesh, Mussoorie, Landour and Chakrata. The district stretches from the Ganges river in the east to the Yamuna river in the west, and from the Terai and Shivaliks in the south and southeast to the Great Himalaya in the northwest. During the days of British Raj, the official name of the district was Dehra Dun. In 1842, Dun was attached to Saharanpur district and placed under an officer subordinate to the Collector of the district but since 1871 it is being administered as separate district.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landour</span> Town in Uttarakhand, India

Landour, a small cantonment town contiguous with Mussoorie, is about 35 km (22 mi) 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 the "Queen of the Hills". The name Landour is drawn from Llanddowror, a village in Carmarthenshire in southwest Wales. During the Raj, it was common to give nostalgic English, Scottish, Welsh or Irish names to one's home, reflecting one's ethnicity. Names drawn from literary works were also common, as from those by Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Hardy, Robert Louis Stevenson and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Alter</span> Indian actor (1950–2017)

Thomas Beach Alter was an Indian actor. He was best known for his works in Hindi cinema, and Indian theatre. In 2008, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St George's College, Mussoorie</span> School in Mussoorie, India

St. George's College, Mussoorie, is an all-boys boarding and non-boarding school in Mussoorie, in the state of Uttarakhand, India, affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations board. The school, an all-boys residential and non-residential institution, spreading over 400 acres (1.6 km2) of land, was founded in 1853 by the Capuchin Fathers and entrusted to the Society of the Brothers of St. Patrick (Ireland) in 1894. It was opened in a cottage known as Manor House; the name by which the campus is still known. The students are known as Manorites.

The Woman on Platform 8 is a short story written by Indian author Ruskin Bond. It is narrated in first person by a schoolboy named Arun, and recounts an encounter with a mysterious woman in a train station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Dehradun</span>

Dehradun is the capital of The Indian state of Uttarakhand, and has a rich and eventful history, it also finds mention in scriptures as well.

The Savoy, is a historic luxury hotel in the hill station, Mussoorie, in Uttarakhand state of India, owned by Mr. Kishore Kaya and Managed by the ITC Hotels. Established in 1902, built in English Gothic architecture style mostly in wood, the hotel is spread over 11 acres (45,000 m2) with 50 rooms at present, and overlooks the Himalayas. After the railway reached Dehradun in 1900, Mussoorie became more popular, and was the chief summer resort for European residents of the British Raj, from the plains of the United Provinces. Its bar, known as the 'Writer's Bar' remained famous for many decades after the independence of India in 1947.

<i>The Room on the Roof</i> 1956 book by Ruskin Bond

The Room on the Roof is a novel written by Ruskin Bond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy Valley, Mussoorie</span> Hill station in Uttarakhand, India

Happy Valley is an area situated within the hill station of Mussoorie with majority of Tibetans settled in area in Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India.

Arup Kumar Datta is an Indian writer and Journalist from Guwahati, Assam. He has written 18 books for adults and 17 adventure novels for young people. In 2014 he was awarded the Life Time Achievement Honour by Association of Writers and illustrators for Children, New Delhi, the Indian chapter of the International Board of Books for Young People. He has also won numerous awards including the Shankar's Award in 1979, conferred to mark The International Year of the Child. He has been awarded the civilian award Padma Shri by Government of India in 2018.

Ek Tha Rusty is a Doordarshan show based on the stories of writer Ruskin Bond, broadcast in 1995, 2012-2013 and 2014-2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kipling Trail</span> Walking route in India

Kipling Trail is the old walking route that connects Dehradun with the hill station of Mussoorie in India. It was the only means of reaching Mussoorie before the cart roads, for tongas, or roads for automobiles were constructed. It is named after the English novelist Rudyard Kipling, who is believed to have walked the trail in the 1880s, though there is no definite evidence. The trail fell out of use when cars or buses became the preferred mode of transport, but the route is being revived by nature, colonial history and hiking enthusiasts.

<i>Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra</i> Book by Ruskin Bond

Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra is a collection of 14 short stories written by Ruskin Bond. It was published in 1991. He was awarded Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for it.

Raj Kanwar was an Indian journalist, writer and entrepreneur based in Dehradun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Wilson (Raja)</span>

Frederick Wilson also known as Raja of Harsil, Pahari Wilson or Shikari Wilson was a British sportsman, army deserter, and settler in the Himalayas. He was a keen hunter and naturalist who wrote in sporting magazines under the pen-name "Mountaineer". He obtained the rights to lands around Harsil from the local rule and was involved in cutting down trees in to supply the early railways in India with sleepers. He was treated as a local king in the Harsil region, and even minted a currency of his own. It has been claimed that Rudyard Kipling's story The Man Who Would Be King was based on him.

References

  1. 1 2 "Can't Run Out Of Stories In India": Ruskin Bond Celebrates 88th Birthday". NDTV .
  2. ↑ "Padma Awarded" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Khorana, Meena G. (2003). Praegar, Greenwood. p. 1–10. ISBN   9780313311857 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ya3H1uOXkmAfe.{{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Pant, Neha (19 May 2015). "At 81, Ruskin Bond's tryst with his tireless pen continues". Hindustan Times . Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  5. ↑ "The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond". Hindustan Times. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "Ruskin's Daddy bond". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond". Hindustan Times. 5 April 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "A BOND THAT ENDURES". democraticworld.in. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  9. ↑ "Ruskin's Daddy bond". www.telegraphindia.com. Retrieved 3 July 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 Mishra, Prachi Raturi (19 May 2014). "The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Sinha, Arpita (18 May 2010). "The name is Bond, Ruskin Bond". Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  12. ↑ Bond, Ruskin (24 November 2012). "Walk the Talk with Ruskin Bond" (Interview). Interviewed by Shekhar Gupta. Delhi: NDTV . Retrieved 18 July 2013.
  13. ↑ Dhir, L. Aruna (2 April 2018). "The interview that Ruskin Bond called his finest". DailyO.in. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Kumar, Ramendra (10 December 2010). "A Landour day with Ruskin Bond". Business Line. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
  15. ↑ Zachariah, Preeti (2 December 2019). "How Ruskin Bond keeps the magic of boyhood alive". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 13 January 2020. Though 'Children's Author' is a tag that he is usually associated with, Bond began writing for children only in his forties. "I was always good at writing about children. But I wrote those stories without a reader in mind",
  16. ↑ "My writings reflect my lonely childhood: Ruskin Bond – Firstpost". Firstpost. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  17. ↑ Bond, Ruskin (29 August 2017). Scenes from a Writer's Life. Penguin UK. ISBN   978-81-8475-450-6.
  18. ↑ "Ruskin Bond to do a cameo in 'Saat Khoon..'". The Times of India. IANS. 24 January 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2011.
  19. ↑ Adya@Youngbookreporters (21 March 2016). "Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond – review". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  20. ↑ "The Room on the Roof by Ruskin Bond". The Hindu. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  21. ↑ Singh, Tanaya (3 January 2016). "Ruskin Bond Brings Back Rusty. After More than a Decade". The Better India . Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  22. ↑ "5 popular books by Ruskin Bond you shouldn't miss : Art and Culture". India Today. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.