Ruskin Bond

 Ruskin Bond, the master story teller turns 81 today. Born in Kasauli , Himachal Pradesh,he spent his childhood at Jamnagar in Gujarat, and was educated at Bishop Cotton School Shimla, the famous residential school in Northern India . Being a native speaker, English comes naturally to him . Indian readers can relate easily to him as his stories and novels are set in Indian towns and cities, like the Hills of Dehra dun and Musoorie . Where else does one find Characters like Mulia, Samyukta, Shankhini, Goonga, Lafunga , Somi….etc etc ! His narrative description is superb. A bachelor, he lives with his adopted family in Mussoorie .Two of his works namely, ‘The Blue Umbrella’ & ‘The Flight of Pigeons’ have been made into films , the former bearing the same name and the latter ‘Junoon’. Both have been widely acclaimed. Another lesser known movie ‘7 Khoon Maaf’ was based on his story Sussana’s Seven Husbands.  ‘Ek Tha Rusty’ was a popular TV serial based on his short stories. One is simply amazed to find that his novelette, ‘Room on the Roof’ was written when he was barely seventeen .He did run into rough weather when he was charged with obscenity for his story ‘The Sensualist’ .He has written poems also, mostly limericks, and good ones at that. He has received Sahitya Academy Award, Padma Shri, and Padma Bhushan for his literary achievements. Age does not not seem to have caught up with him as he is still active at writing and churning out works of merit.
Lately, Ruskin Bond’s book titled ‘A Book of Simple Living: Brief Notes from the Hills’ was released at Mussoorie.

We pray for his long life !