Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent.
The Indian Council for Child Education recognised his pioneering role in the growth of children's
literature in India, and awarded him the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still
Grow in Dehra, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Literature.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and Padma Bhushan in 2014.
He now lives with his adopted family in Landour, near Mussoorie.
Life and career Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934 in a military
hospital , to Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond.
His siblings were Ellen and William.
Ruskin's father was with the Royal Air Force.
When Bond was four years old, his mother separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu,
Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once.
Bond spent his early childhood in Vijayanagar and Shimla.
At the age of ten Ruskin went to live at his grandmother's house in Dehradun after his
father's sudden death in 1944 from malaria.
Ruskin was raised by his grandmother.
He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated
in 1952 after winning several writing competitions in the school like the Irwin Divinity Prize
and the Hailey Literature Prize.
Following his high school education he went to his aunt's house in England and stayed
there for four years.
In London he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof, the semi-autobiographical
story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty.
It won the 1957 John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial prize, awarded to a British Commonwealth writer
under 30.
Bond used the advance money from the book to pay the sea passage to Bombay.
He worked for some years as a journalist in Delhi and Dehradun.
Since 1963 he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie, a town in the Himalayan foothills.
He wrote Vagrants in the Valley, 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 the paranormal 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.
He currently lives in Landour Mussoorie's Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since
1964.
Filmography The Hindi film Junoon is based on Bond's historical
novella A Flight of Pigeons.
It was produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Shyam Benegal.
Ruskin Bond made his maiden big screen appearance with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon
Maaf, based on his short story Susanna's Seven Husbands.
Bond appears as a Bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra playing the title role.
Bond had earlier collaborated with him in the The Blue Umbrella which was also based
on his story.
Literary 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 Dehra Dun, in his small rented room on the
roof, and his friends.
Since then he has written over three hundred short stories, essays and novels, including
Vagrants in The Valley, The Blue Umbrella, Funny Side Up, A Flight of Pigeons and more
than 30 books for children.
He has also published two volumes of autobiography.
Scenes from a Writer's Life describes his formative years growing up in Anglo-India;
The Lamp is Lit is a collection of essays and episodes from his journal.
Bond said that while his autobiographical work, Rain in the Mountains, was about his
years spent in Mussoorie, Scenes from a Writer's Life described his first 21 years.
Scenes from a Writer's Life focuses on Bond's trip to England, his struggle to find a publisher
for his first book The Room on the Roof and his yearning to come back to India, particularly
to Doon.
"It also tells a lot about my parents", said Bond.
"The book ends with the publication of my first novel and my decision to make writing
my livelihood", Bond said, adding: "Basically, it describes how I became a writer".
His novel, The Flight of Pigeons, has been adapted into the film Junoon.
The Room on the Roof has been adapted into a BBC-produced TV series.
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 2007, 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.
Famous Works Collections
Garland of Memories Ghost Stories from the Raj
Funny Side Up Rain in the Mountains-Notes from the Himalayas
Our trees still grow in Dehra Dust on the Mountain
A Season of Ghosts Tigers Forever
A Town Called Dehra At school with Ruskin Bond
An Island of Trees The Night Train at Deoli
A Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings Potpourri
The Adventures of Rusty The Lost Ruby
Crazy times with Uncle Ken The Death Of Trees
Tales and Legends from India Time stops at Shamli
Grandpa tickles a tiger Four Feathers
School Days The Tiger In The tunnel
The Parrot Who Wouldn't Talk The Doctor
Rusty The Monkey Trouble
Hip Hop Nature Boy Frogs in the fountain and Other Poems
Tigers For Dinner: Tall Tales By Jim Corbett's Khansama
Novels The Room on the Roof
Vagrants in the Valley Scenes from a Writer's Life
Rusty Runs away A Flight of Pigeons
Landour Days – A writers Journal The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond
The Road To The Bazaar The Panther's Moon
Once Upon A Monsoon Time The India I love
The Kashmiri Storyteller The Blue Umbrella
Delhi is Not Far Animal Stories
Funny side up Children omnibus
Angry River Roads To Mussoorie
All Roads Lead To Ganga Tales of Fosterganj
References
External links Ruskin Bond's Profile
Profile and books by Ruskin Bond Interview with Ruskin Bond by Atula Ahuja
Ruskin Bond in a Video reciting 2 of his Poems "A Landour Day with Ruskin Bond' by Ramendra
Kumar, Business Line print 10 December 2010 "The skeleton in the cupboard."
Short Story Published in the Times of India Walk the talk with Ruskin Bond on NDTV