Ruskin Bond : A Life Sketch

Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934), an Indian author of British descent, lives in Landour, Mussoorie, India. He was born to Edith Clarke and Aubrey Alexender Bond, in Kasauli. His father taught English to the princesses of Jamnagar palace and Ruskin and his sister Ellen lived there till he was six. Later, Ruskin's father joined the Royal Air Force in 1939 and Ruskin along with his mother and sister went to live at his maternal home at Dehradun. Shortly after that he was sent to a boarding school in Mussourie.

When Bond was eight years old, his mother separated from his father and married a Punjabi Hindu, Hari. His father arranged for Ruskin to be brought to New Delhi where he was posted. He was very close to his father and describes this period with his father as one of the happiest times of his life. When he was ten, his father died of malaria. At this time, Ruskin was at his boarding school in Shimla. He was heartbroken. After this, he was raised by his mother and stepfather who lived in Dehradun.

During his schooling Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1950, Ruskin won several writing competitions including the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize. He wrote one of his first short stories, "Untouchable", when he was only sixteen.

After his high school education, Ruskin went to Britain to live with his aunt for better prospects and stayed there for two years and returned to India. In London, he started writing his first semi-autobiographical novel, The Room on the Roof, and produced a new character named Rusty, who was to become a character in several of his books and stories. On his return to India, he settled in Dehradun.

Ruskin worked for a few years freelancing from Delhi and Dehradun. He wrote short stories and poems for newspapers and magazines. In 1963, he went to live in Mussoorie. He edited a magazine for four years. In the 1980s, Penguin set up in India and approached him to write some books. He had written Vagrants in the Valley in 1956, as a sequel to The Room on the Roof. These two novels were published in one volume by Penguin India in 1993. The following year a collection of his non-fiction writings, The Best of Ruskin Bond was published by Penguin India. His interest in supernatural fiction led him to write popular titles such as Ghost Stories from the Raj, A Season of Ghosts, and A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings. Since then he has written over five hundred short stories, essays and novels, including The Blue Umbrella, Funny Side Up, A Flight of Pigeons and more than 50 books for children. He has also published his autobiography: Scenes from a Writer's Life which describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India and very recently Lone Wolf Dancing. The Lamp Is Lit is a collection of essays and episodes from his journal.

Ever since 1963, Ruskin has lived as a freelance writer in Mussorie, Uttarakhand. He also has a brother, William who lives in Canada. The 1978 Bollywood film Junoon is based on Bond's historical novel A Flight of Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian Rebellion of 1857). It was produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Shyam Benegal. The Rusty stories have been adapted into a Doordarshan TV series Ek Tha Rusty. Several stories have been incorporated in the school curriculum in India, including The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. In 2005, the Bollywood director Vishal Bhardwaj made a film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella. The movie won the National Award for Best Children's film. He himself has made his maiden big screen appearance with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon Maaf in 2011, based on his short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. The Indian Council for Child Education has recognised his role in the growth of children's literature in India. He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, his novel in English. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.

Writing Style : Most of his works are influenced by life in the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas, where he spent his childhood. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, was written when he was 17 and published when he was 21. It was partly based on his experiences at Dehradun, in his small rented room on the roof, and his friends. His earlier works were written without it being meant for any particular readership. His first children's book, The Angry River in 1970s (second being The Blue Umbrella), had its writing toned down on a publisher's request for a children's story. Bond's work reflects his Anglo-Indian experiences and the changing political, social and cultural aspects of India, having been through colonial, postcolonial and post-independence phases of India.

Being a writer for over 50 years, Bond has experimented with different genres; early works include fiction, short stories, novella with some being autobiographical. Later, he tried out non-fiction, romance and books for children. His favourite genres are essays and short stories. He considers himself a "visual writer" for short stories, because he first imagines it like a film and then notes it down.