Showing results by author "Ruskin Bond"

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.

A classic coming-of-age story which has held generations of fans spellbound. Rusty, a 16-year-old Anglo-Indian boy, is orphaned, and has to live with his English guardian in the claustrophobic European part in Dehra Dun. Unhappy with the strict ways of his guardian, Rusty runs away from home to live with his Indian friends. Plunging for the first time into the dream-bright world of the bazaar, Hindu festivals and other aspects of Indian life, Rusty is enchanted...and is lost forever to the prim proprieties of the European community.

Why be happy and how, and why not to worry if you think you are not. Why it is easy to be happy, and how you can miss happiness even if it stands before you. How a bird can fill you with joy and how a stranger’s smile can soothe you. Why happiness may not even be the word for what we really need.  

In this brilliantly listenable autobiography, one of India’s greatest writers shows us the roots of everything he has written. He begins with a dream and a gentle haunting before taking us to an idyllic childhood in Jamnagar by the Arabian Sea and New Delhi in the early 1940s - where he found material for his first short story. A search for companionship and security, undercut by a fierce independence and a tendency for risk-taking, would inform every choice he made for the rest of his life.  

Great Stories for Children is a potpourri of short stories that effectively transports the reader to the fascinating world of its endearing characters. The ensemble includes Tutu the monkey, who is fond of troubling the no-nonsense Aunt Ruby; a pet python who makes sudden appearances at the most unusual places; a troublesome Pret who enjoys stirring up the household he resides in; three young children stranded on the Haunted Hill; and Himalayan bears who feast on pumpkins, plums and apricots.

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 has had more adventures than we can count. The Adventures of Rusty brings together his best, funniest, most exciting escapades. There's Toto, the monkey that travelled in a bag in a train; life as a young writer in faraway London; and more.

The 21 stories in this book are the greatest pieces of fiction written by Ruskin Bond. Chosen by the author himself, from a body of work built over 50 years, this collection includes well-known masterpieces like 'The Night Train at Deoli', 'The Woman on Platform No 8', 'Rusty Plays Holi' (from The Room on the Roof), 'Angry River', 'The Blue Umbrella', 'The Eyes Have It', 'Most Beautiful' and 'Panther's Moon' as well as newer stories.

Ruskin Bond has been writing stories for children for over six decades now, delighting and enchanting each new generation with his heart-warming tales of friendship, love and coming-of-age. Curated in this essential collection are some of his best-loved stories, designed to introduce the young listener to Ruskin's cast of beloved characters.

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.

Suffused with warmth and passion, the stories in Falling in Love Again showcase the myriad variations of romantic love - fleeting, intimate, joyous, heartbreaking. Featuring classic stories by Ruskin Bond, such as 'The Eyes Have It' and 'The Girl from Copenhagen', this stirring collection captures the range of feelings that are indubitably part of the infinite spectrum of love.

This personal diary records the many small moments that constitute a life of harmony - with the self, the natural world, and friends, family and passersby. In these hours, we watch a wild plum blossom and the moon come up between two deodar trees; we hear a redstart whistle and the rain drum on a tin roof; we recognize the aftermath of loss and the consolation of old companions. A Book of Simple Living is a gift of beauty and wisdom from India's most loved and most understated writer. 

Tigers for Dinner: Tall Tales By Jim Corbett's Khansama is a fun-filled book for children and adults alike. It is a collection of short stories about the adventures of Jim Corbett, narrated by his family cook, Mehmoud, to the author when he was a child. Narrated in a simple style, all the tales told by the cook are as delicious as his food and take the listener on a nostalgic journey.

This book catches up with our favorite Rusty as he plunges not just into the cold pools of Dehra but into an exciting new life, dipping his toes into adulthood. Winding his way back to the city with Kishen, Rusty discovers that his beloved room is no longer his! Undaunted, however, and in his trademark style, he forges new homes and new friendships as he embarks on a journey of self-discovery that spans the beautiful hillsides of India.

For over five decades, Ruskin Bond has written charming tales that have mesmerized people of all ages. This collection brings together his finest stories for children in one volume. Published previously as a Treasury of Stories for Children, this attractive edition includes two new stories: "The Big Race" and "Remember This Day". Filled with a rich cast of characters, The Room of Many Colours, A Treasury of Stories for Children is the definitive book for all Ruskin Bond fans truly a collector's item. 

As soon as Binya saw the beautiful blue silk umbrella, she wanted it. She wanted it so badly that she was willing to give her lucky leopard's claw pendant in exchange. No one in the village had such a fine umbrella, and everywhere Binya went the umbrella went, too. Gradually it faded to a pale blue and was patched in several places, but there were still many who envied Binya her treasured possession. And the most envious of them all was old Ram Bharosa, the shopkeeper who decided that by some means he must own the blue umbrella.

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. 

Ruskin Bond not only brings to life a town in northern India capturing the scenery, the people, the atmosphere - but also shows that children are the same the world over. Included are such classics as 'Ranji's Wonderful Bat', 'The Boy Who Broke the Bank' and 'Koki's Song'.

Ruskin Bond’s simple characters, living amidst the lush forests of the Himalayan foothills, are remarkable for their quiet heroism, courage and grace, and age-old values of honesty and fidelity. Residents of nondescript villages and towns, they lead lives that are touched by natural beauty as well as suffering - the loss of a loved parent, unfulfilled dreams, natural calamities, ghostly visitations, a respected teacher turned crooked, strangers who make a nuisance of themselves - which only reinforces their abiding faith in God, family, and neighbour. 

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. 

Ruskin Bond emerges again, with a delightful set of sketches set in and on the way to his beloved Mussoorie. With an endearing affection and nostalgia for his home of over 40 years, Mr Bond describes his journeys to and from Mussoorie over the years, and then delves into the daily scandals surrounding his life and friends in the (not so) sleepy hill town. The pieces in this collection are characterised by an incorrigible sense of humour and an eye for ordinary - and most often unnoticed - details that are so essential to the geographic, social and cultural fabric of a place.