RUSKIN BOND-India’s Wordsworth
INTRODUCTION• Ruskin Bond was born on May 19, 1934 at
Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh.
• He is an Indian author of British descent.
• He is considered to be an icon among Indian
writers and children's authors and a top
novelist.
• Ruskin bond wrote five hundred novels,
short stories ,essays and poetry.
• He was awarded the Padmashri in 1999 for
contributions to children's literature.
LIFE
• Ruskin Bond’s childhood was a lonely one marked
by his parents' divorce and his mother's remarriage.
• He was raised by his mother and grandmother.
• He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School
in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952.
• It was after school, that he began to carve out a niche
as a writer.
• Bond has two sisters, one living in England and one
in India.
• Most of his stories are inspired by the natural
splendor of his hometown, Mussoorie with its
mountains, trees, birds and the simple hill folk who
live in that place.
Career
• Ruskin Bond wrote his first novel,
Room on the Roof, when he was
seventeen, received the John
Llewellyn Rhys memorial Prize in
1957.
• Since then he has written over three
hundred short stories, essays and
novellas (including Vagrants in the
valley and a flight of pigeons) and
more than thirty 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.
AWARDS
• 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.
Some reviewsMr. Ruskin Bond describes his
journeys to and from Mussoorie
over the years, and then delves
into the daily scandals
surrounding his life and friends in
the sleepy hill town.
Collections
•Grandpa tickles a tiger
•Four Feathers
•Garland of Memories
•Ghost Stories from the Raj
•Funny Side Up
•Our trees still grow in Dehra
•Dust on the Mountain
•A Season of Ghosts
•The Night Train at Deoli
•Potpourri
•The Parrot Who Wouldn't Talk
Novels
•The Room on the Roof
•Vagrants in the Valley
•A Flight of Pigeons
•Landor Days – A writers Journal
•The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond
•The Kashmiri Storyteller
•The Blue Umbrella
•The Tiger In The Tunnel
•Funny side up
•Maharani (Book)
•Roads To Mussoorie
•All Roads Lead To Ganga
The Kite maker
• Story of a kite maker and
his last wishes.
Mr Oliver's Diary
A dairy entry by Mr Oliver, a
history teacher, who arrives in
Shimla to start a new
preparatory school.
All Roads Lead to Ganga
• Captures the breathtaking beauty and splendour of this magical landscape, describing with nostalgia and affection the places and people he has lived with and encountered for over forty years.
Bond –truly himself
• Most of his stories have a pleasant start up.
• Stories for all age groups.
• Lots of philosophical description.
• Neither ambiguous nor theoretical.
• Stories are sensitive and manifest a deep love of nature,
Indian people and their eccentricities.
• The sense of humour never deserts his stories.
Adaptations of his novels
• Junoon based on his historical novel-A Flight of
Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian
Rebellion of 1857). by Shashi Kapoor and directed by
Shyam Benegal.
• Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon Maaf, based on his
short story Susanna's Seven Husbands.
• The Blue Umbrella by Vishal Bhardwaj UTV Movies.
