This is indeed a historic year as it marks half-a-century of renowned writer Ruskin Bond having made this Himalayan town his home. In 2011, Bond completed 60 years of writing and in 2014, he has completed 50 years of being in landour, Mussoorie. Mussoorie would never be the same without his benevolent presence.
“It is really amazing. I was thirty when I came to landour, following my dream of being a resident of this Himalayan town,” Bond told The Pioneer. Bond's name has become synonymous with Mussoorie and Dehradun, with hills and with stories of simple people, told tongue-in-cheek and with an all-embracing warmth and candour.
Ruskin Bond is no longer just a writer. He means many things to many people. An icon of excellence for some, an inspiration for others, a symbol of simplicity and good humour for many and a weaver of exquisite tales for a lot of his admirers and fans.
This grand old ‘writer on the hill’ believes that he is fortunate that God gave him a long writing life. “I have been writing for 63 years and making a living out of it! I really feel blessed as I have lived the life I wanted to. Not all people can claim to have done that. I consider myself very fortunate and blessed by the gods to have had a life without too much distress and disappointment. I have followed my instinct more than intelligence.”
“I made Mussoorie my home half-a-century ago and for me the prospect of having to leave the hills for more than a couple of days brings discomfort. The mountains are in my blood. The birds and trees, the flowers and even the little insects in the wilderness near my home in landour Cantonment are close to my heart. It is among them that I like to spend most of the time which I get when I am not doing what I love doing best — writing. Ivy Cottage is my little haven in the hills. I always have loved mountains. In Kim, Kipling wrote ‘Who goes to the hills, goes to his mother.’ I cannot agree more with him. living in the hills is like living in the bosom of a strong, sometimes proud, but always comforting mother. Every time I go away from here, the homecoming is warmer and sweeter.”
He says had he not decided to make Mussoorie his home, he may have been a different person today. “There's nature all around me. My shrubbery is my favourite place. Watching nature change its colours with the changing seasons enchants me. The sparrows are here all the year round. And so are the thrushes. It is summer and fruit-eating birds have arrived. The presence of these birds adds tranquility to my life."
The writer-in-residence in this hill town, Bond wrote his first book The Room on the Roof at the age of 16 .The work has the Doon valley as its backdrop and paints an endearing picture of the pristine beauty of the valley in the 1950s. Generations of children have been studying the book as a text in school. “I was 17 when The Room on the Roof was published. Makes me feel quite ancient sometimes,” Bond said.His latest book is Tales of Fosterganj, a novel about a charming Himalayan hamlet which he loves.
“Actually Fosterganj is Barlowganj near Mussooie disguised as a fictional place,” Bond told The Pioneer.
“There are more than a dozen chapters and they all are interlinked,” said the author who has been attending literature festivals in Dubai and Mumbai.
Tales of Fosterganj has several characters whom the author met and knew in the 1960s in Barlowganj. The novel is also set in the 1960s.
Ruskin Bond has a gentle charm. It has kept him going even as he wanders around the hill side identifying wildflowers for children or just listening patiently to the local baker's complaint of poor yeast and as the years have gone by, he has become a living legend, an institution.
Having long ago, effortlessly, crossed his ‘century’ of published titles; Ruskin Bond has maintained his integrity as a writer and has worked towards his goals with single-minded devotion. Perhaps his greatest achievement is that he has persevered in his dream of becoming a full-time writer. And he writes for those ‘gentle readers’ who are interested in the beauty of nature and the dignity in the lives of ordinary people rather than in stormy events.
His stories achieve a universal quality that transcends the regional locale and endorses the human endeavour to survive against odds and to preserve what is beautiful and meaningful.