A major chunk of your childhood was spent reading his stories. Recenlty, the great Ruskin Bond spoke about his childhood and that it was his lonliness which made him put his thoughtsand dreams in journals. By Arjita Mishra
When a man who has awards like Sahitya Akademi Awards, Padma Shree and Padma Bhushan for his contribution in the field of literature in his name says that his books were used as packets to sold snacks at the shop sounds unbelievable. But, yes, it has happened with the all time favourite writer, Ruskin Bond.
Bond accepted this while delivering a lecture, The joy of writing in the Capital. He said that his first novel, The Room on the Roof which he had written while he was in England, was a book which had only few buyers. The time when he came back to India, he thought of exploring the book stores to get an idea about the business that his book was doing. He recalled his past memory and shared with a smile on his face, “I went to a store and saw my book was in the bottom of a bundle of books. I looked at the shopkeeper whether he is looking at me or not, and kept my book on the top but, he saw me doing that and came to me. He looked at the book, he didn’t know that I had written it and said, koi nahi kharidta is book ko (nobody buys this book) and he again kept it again at the bottom.”
Not just this, but there was another case where one child came and asked Bond for his book. “As I encourage reading and writing, I gave him my book,” he said. On the next day, he went to a shop to get something to eat, he saw that child there and asked him for snacks. The author laughed and said, “He gave it to me, wrapped up in the pages of my book. He made paper bags out of my books.”
Surprisingly, we are not the only ones who have bunked our lectures in either school or colleges but the legendary author himself had done that as he told us “I have bunked my lectures during school days.”
Sharing how he started to write, he told that during his childhood, when he used to stay with his father in Delhi, he was left alone at his home as his father was in army and could only spent Sundays with him. So, during the whole week, Bond used to make a list of the books which he used to read. “When I grew up, I started to write diary and journals, putting down my thoughts and observations, even recording my dreams.” He further added, “I feel that dreams have been a great part of my writing life. My early stories are based on my dreams.” He also shared that his habit of keeping journal and dairy helped him in his writing.
Throwing more light on his life, he said that he can divide his writing life into periods of loneliness and solitude. “loneliness is I guess, something that you don’t invite. It impulses on you in a way or it’s due to some circumstances or the place you find yourself in and solitude is something that you look for,” explained Bond.
To be a writer was a challenge especially in India because at that time unlike today, where we have many publishers, literature fest and book launches and many opportunities for young writers. But at that time, he shared that there was no market and also a very little sum of money and that is the reason why his mother never wanted him to be a writer. She always wanted that he should also join army like his father. He recalled and said, “I remember, when I completed my studies, my mother asked me ‘Ruskin what you want to beIJ’ and I replied that I want to be a writer and she said, ‘don’t be silly. Go and join the army.’ After thinking a while, he added, “In those days, army was to be the first choice for anyone’s career.”
The writer shared that when he came back to India, people often asked him that why he didn’t stay back in England as he might have had better openings of his stories and articles. “It didn’t make much difference because when I came back, I used to send my stories abroad and get it published in magazines and newspapers,” he said. Bond agreed that in those days, the publishers from England paid better than what he used to get here in India.
“I would say, publishers in India are giving good advances and paying royalties to the writers today. Writers are not taking such a big risk which I took at that period of time,” concluded Bond.