Ruskin Bond has written over 100 short-stories, six novels and 30 books for children, along with two well-received memoirs. As he celebrates his 79th birthday, SOUMEN MUKHERJEE tracks the life of this great storyteller from Mussoorie
On May 19, 2013, Ruskin Bond celebrated his 79th birthday amid good wishes from all and sundry. An Indian novelist of British descent, Bond has written more than 100 short-stories, six novels, three compilation of doggerel and more than 30 books for children, along with two autobiographies. The first,Scenes from a Writer’s life, records the first 21 years of his life. The succeeding book, The lamp is lit, recounts Bond’s homecoming to India after a couple of years of sojourn in England.
Bond was born on May 19, 1934, at Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh. He is the eldest son of late Aubrey Bond and Edith Clerke. Since his father had a ‘transferrable’ job, Ruskin grew up in many cities — Jamnagar, Dehradoon and Shimla. He had his primary education in the boarding school of Mussorie and Shimla. When Bond was eight, his mother left him under the guardianship of his father. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952. While in school, he won several writing competitions like the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey literature Prize. After graduating, he continued writing and tried to realise the aspirations of his father. In fact, his father’s indomitable faith on his writing skills inspired Bond to become an ingenious writer in his later life.
Bond has been a voracious reader of all kinds of books since his childhood, which may be ascertained by the simple fact that he read around 15,000 books during his school days. Some of his favourite authors include Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, TE lawrence, Rudyard Kipling and Rabindranath Tagore.
Subsequently, to make a better livelihood and develop his inventive flair for writing, Bond made up his mind to go to England. At St Hailer he worked as a junior clerk and later switched to two more jobs. He also took the Jersey Civil Service examination and was ranked fourth in order of merit. In Jersey, at the age of 17, he wrote his first successful novel The Room on the Roof. It got instant recognition in the literary circle and Bond was awarded the celebrated John llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. It was the premier award for a young writer in Britain during that time. Nevertheless, the alien culture of Jersey could not impress Bond, and he became intolerably nostalgic for India. He returned to the country of his birth after spending almost four years in England and instead of choosing any glamorous city, he started living in Dehradun. His immense fascination for this beautiful hill station is depicted in hundreds of his articles, chronicles, drawings and verse.
His debut novel, Nine Months, written in Shimla, was impounded by a teacher and was never published. In the short story My First love, Bond expresses his adoration for his maid who was like a mother figure to him. He writes mainly on serious themes but they are never monotonous, as his stories are always composed in a well-knit manner. Actually, his parents’ conjugal discords and his father’s soreness and solitude propelled him to select topics related to the struggle of the poor middle class. Most of his stories are the residue of his own thoughts and are autobiographical in nature. In the short story Once Upon a Monsoon Time, he narrates his early experiences; and in the novella The Room of Many Colours, Bond describes his experiences of Jamnagar. In his stories, the focal point of interest is mostly ordinary people and beggars residing in the hamlets, but who live their life with dignity.
A great votary of nature and its flora and fauna, Bond portrays a grandfather’s care for the natural world and animals in All Creatures Great and Small. InTime Stops at Shamli, he protests against animal hunting. Here Bond is very much anxious with the quick fading away of forests and the creatures. Three anthologies of his short stories, The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli, and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra have been widely appreciated for their vivid description of the natural world. Some of his stories have been made into films, too. In 1978, Junoon and in 2007 Blue Umbrella were made into films. Recently, his short story ‘Susannah’s Seven Husbands’ was made into the movie Saat Khoon Maaf, directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, where Bond had a cameo role as well.
Another favourite theme of Bond is unreciprocated love. In most of his romantic stories, the lovers are never able to consummate their love. Their mutual attraction for each other, unlike other romantic novels, could never guarantee their ultimate physical unison. In fact, his wretchedness and penchant for seclusion that almost shrouded his entire life compelled him to lead a life of celibacy. Hence, most of his stories are related to unrequited love.
In 1963 Bond went to live in Mussorie, where he still resides, with his extended family members. This proves the extent of his emotional attachment to the Indian society. His essays and articles, written on varied themes and topics, continue to get published in the leading newspapers and magazines of the day. He has also edited two omnibuses, The Penguin Book of Indian Ghost Stories and The Penguin Book of Indian Railway Stories. Both the anthologies have been widely appreciated by the readers.
Bond received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India in 1993, the Padma Shri in 1999, and the Delhi Government’s lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. No doubt, he is a living legend in the world of literature in general and children’s literature in particular.
The writer is Associate Professor, NIET Business School