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".  

The Hindi translation of Ruskin Bond’s novella The Sensualist, by Pragati Saxena, this remains one of the author’s most controversial works. The tale of a man driven by desire, it unearths the struggle within the protagonist’s inner world. A poignant unraveling of the murky depths of self-destruction, the story takes us through the pleasure and pain of living on the edge. 

The making of a writer Ruskin Bond's first full-fledged autobiographical book covers his formative years,' till the age of 21. The world of Anglo-India, with all its conflicting pulls, comes alive as he tells his story. His earliest memoirs are bitter-sweet, and relate to Jamnager where he lives till he is six. The happy hours spent in exploring the Ram Vilas Palace grounds and playing with his younger sister Ellen and the palace children are overshadowed by the acrimonious relationship between his parents.

"A Handful of Nuts" is a gloriously funny and unexpectedly tender story of being young and adventurous in small town India. The central character would like to establish himself as a writer, but he is constantly diverted from his task by assorted escapades, romances, friends, and other distractions. "The Sensualist" is altogether more somber but deals with a similar theme - the trials and tribulations of a young man are coming of age. Gripping, erotic, even brutal, it explores the demons that its protagonist must grapple with before he is able to come to terms with himself.

In a grey and frightened world driven to despair by the pandemic, Ruskin Bond's luminous new book, It's a Wonderful Life, cuts through the gloom like a blade of bright steel. His unerring eye seeks out the joys and positive truths to be found in the smallest of incidents that occur in our lives, The good news and sources of happiness that we often miss out on as a result of the anxiety and bad news that have pervaded our daily existence over the past year.

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.

The Shadow on the Wall brings together Ruskin Bond’s most chilling works of fright and terror. The 21 stories in this book include classics such as ‘A Face in the Dark’, ‘The Chakrata Cat’ and ‘Susanna’s Seven Husbands’, along with a dose of eerie new tales that have never been published before.

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.

Be whatever you want to be... Give it your heart and soul, and you will have made something of your life, my friend. You are all my sons and daughters when it comes to telling you -- HOW TO LIVE YOUR LIFE.

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.

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.