Showing results by author "Ruskin Bond" in All Categories

For more than four decades now, by way of innumerable short stories, essays, poems, and novels, Ruskin Bond has championed simplicity and quietude in life and in art. This collection of essays and episodes from his journals is, in his own words, "a celebration of my survival as a freelance".  

This collection brings together the best of Ruskin Bond's cameos, all beautifully imagined and crafted, inspired by people who have left a lasting impression on him. In addition, there are a host of characters culled from Bond's numerous short stories. Taken together, they constitute a magnificent evocation of the small-town India by one of the country's best storytellers.  

A great imagination makes for terrific ghost stories - stories that go beyond the tapping on the doors in the middle of a night or a whistling thrush or even a squeaky swing in the wind. This is a collection of some such horror stories selected and compiled by Ruskin Bond that will send shivers down your spine.

A lifetime of reading and writing, observation and contemplation is distilled in this comprehensive volume of the best essays, profiles and sketches by Ruskin Bond, the masterly and compassionate chronicler of the small details and lambent moments that capture the essence of a meaningful life. By turns thoughtful, humorous, keenly observed and wise, these essays span more than 60 years of his writing - from reflections on companionship and solitude to lyrical yet finely honed appreciations of nature to nostalgic evocations of bygone people and ways of life. 

Rusty, the boy whose stories have charmed and entertained children for years, brings together his best adventures in one volume! From the time he was a boy living with his grandparents in Dehra, surrounded by an assortment of odd animals, people and relatives, to when he gets sent away to school, then makes his way to London and becomes a writer, Rusty's had more adventures than we can count.

It was a small island set in the middle of the big river, yet large enough for Sita and her grandparents to live there, together with their three goats, their hens, their vegetable patch, and the peepul tree.

Sometimes a journey can be of discovery. And in this compilation, Ruskin Bond has discovered hair-raising stories of other people's journeys taken many, many years ago. Bond describes the old track from Rajpur to Mussorie, surrounded by oak trees and colonial buildings in 'The Kipling Road'. Braving blizzards and bandits, M. Huc takes a momentous journey to Ladakh in 'Journey to the Forbidden City', while Osa Johnson, the only woman adventurer in the book, gives her awe-inspiring account of cannibals in 'A Woman Among Cannibals'.

So here I am, delving into the past like Monsieur Poirot, not to solve a mystery but to try to understand some of the events that have helped define the sort of person I have become. Some of it, naturally, is in the genes; but much of it is in the environment, in the circumstances in which we grow up, in the people who come into our lives, even in the air we breathe. Had I grown up in London or Timbuktu, I would have been a different sort of person, I'm sure. My parents (and those before them) made me. But India made me, too.

A tale of sweet revenge. Ruskin is keen to teach his scatterbrained uncle a lesson. After all, he put him on the wrong train! Armed with gifts from his new friend, the stationmaster - yummy rasgullas and a pair of beautiful white mice - Ruskin devises the perfect payback. Peppered with endearing characters, this is one of Bond's most unforgettable tales.

Ranji's team finds an unexpected opponent - a nosy crocodile - when they play a cricket match against the village boys. Annoyed at the swarms of boys crowding the riverbank and the alarming cricket balls plopping around his place of rest, Nakoo the crocodile decides to take his revenge.

The wild wind pushes open windows, chokes chimneys, and blows away clothes as it huffs and puffs over the village by Haunted Hill, where Usha, Suresh, and Binya live. It's even more mighty the day Usha is on her way back from the bazaar. A deep rumble echoes down the slope, and a sudden flash of lightning lights up the valley as fat drops come raining down. In search of shelter, Usha rushes into the ruins on Haunted Hill, grim and creepy against the dark sky. Inside, the tin roof groans, strange shadows are thrown against the walls, and little Usha shivers with fear.

Everything that you’ve always loved about Ruskin Bond is back. His mesmerizing descriptions of nature and his wonderful way with words - this is Ruskin Bond at his finest. Listen in as Rusty tells the story of his grandfather’s relationship with the trees around him, who’s convinced that they love him back with as much tenderness as he loves them.

"What do you do when there's an earthquake?" asks Rakesh. Everyone in the Burman household has their own ideas, but when the tremors begin and things start to quake and crumble, they are all taken by surprise. Amidst the destruction, Rakesh's family stays strong. But will they survive the onslaught of yet another earthquake?

Mani’s Granny is 70 and can barely see through her old, scratched glasses. With only 150 rupees in their pockets and a thirst for adventure, Mani and Granny set off to buy a new pair. On the way, they get drenched in the rain, run into mules, and encounter a terrible landslide. Will Granny ever be able to reach the town and get herself a new pair of glasses?

Rakesh plants a cherry seedling in his garden and watches it grow. As seasons go by, the small tree survives heavy monsoon showers, a hungry goat that eats most of the leaves, and a grass cutter who splits it into two with one sweep. At last, on his ninth birthday, Rakesh is rewarded with a miraculous sight - the first pink blossoms of his precious cherry tree!

In his early 20s now, Rusty finally leaves Dehra and books a passage to England, dreaming of writing and selling his novel abroad. First in Jersey, and then in in London, he works as a clerk by day and writes in the evenings. Eventually, the novel is finished, and Rusty even finds a publisher. But this, he discovers, does not mean his book will see the light of day soon. But London has many adventures in store for Rusty. Strolling down Baker Street, he runs into Sherlock Holmes, is accosted by Rudyard Kipling, and has an escapade in the Chinese quarter!

Ruskin Bond’s Book of Verse brings together the poetry of one of India’s best-loved writers. This charming collector’s edition is a treasury of poems on love and nature, travel, humour, and childhood and will be a lasting source of delight to listeners.

Bisnu finds how dangerous and lonely life can be for a boy who has to leave his home to earn money for his family. As he sets to work on the limestone quarries with the choking dust enveloping the beautiful mountain air, he longs for home more than ever.

From Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling to Satyajit Ray and R. K. Narayan, this text is a collection of spine-chilling tales of the supernatural from India. 

One of India's finest and most prolific writers, Ruskin Bond has been putting pen to paper for well over six decades. Since The Room on the Roof - his award-winning debut novel, which introduced readers to the unforgettable Rusty, the orphan from Dehradun - Bond has created characters both charming and eccentric, which have endured in the popular imagination.