Ruskin Bond, born 19 May 1934 in Kasauli Distt Solan, is an Indian author of British descent.

In 1992, he received the Sahitya Akademi award for his short story collection, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, given by the Sahitya Academy, India's National Academy of Literature. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

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1 Life and career 2 Literary style 3 Filmography 4 Works o 4.1 Collections o 4.2 Novels 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Life and career

Bond was born in a military hospital in Kasauli, brother to Ellen and William, the children of Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond. Ruskins father was with the Royal Air Force. When Bond was four years old, his mother was separated from his father and married a PunjabiHindu, Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once. Bond spent his early childhood in Jamnagar 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 mother, who remarried an Indian businessman. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952. Ruskins love for books and writing came early to him since his father had surrounded him with books and encouraged him to write little descriptions of nature and he took his son on hikes in the hills. After his high school education he spent four years in England. 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 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.[1] 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, A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings. The Indian Council for Child Education recognized 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. He won the Padma Shri in 1999. Ruskin commented "The India I Love, does not make the headlines, but I find it wherever I go - in field or forest, town or village, mountain or desert - and in the hearts and minds of people who have given me love and affection for the better part of my lifetime." Media-shy, he currently lives in Landour, Mussoories Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since 1964

[edit] Literary style

Most of Bond's writings show the influence from the social 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, 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 Merchant Ivory film Junoon. The Room on the Roof has been adapted in to 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. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India for Our Trees Still grows in Dehra in 1992. He has also been given the Padma Shri, one of the most prestigious civil awards in India. In 2007, the Bollywood director Vishal Bharadwaj made a film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella. The movie won the National Award for Best Children's film.

[edit] Filmography

Based on Bond's historical novella A Flight of Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian Rebellion of 1857), the Hindi film Junoon was produced in 1978 by Shashi Kapoor (directed by Shyam Benegal). Ruskin Bond made his maiden foray on the big screen 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, who kills "each of her seven husbands".[2] Bond had earlier collaborated with him in the The Blue Umbrella which was also based on his story.

[edit] Works
[edit] Collections

Tiger in the house Garland of Memories The boy who broke the bank Funny Side Up Night Train at Deoli Rain in the Mountains-Notes from the Himalayas Our trees still grow in Dehra A season of ghosts Tigers Forever A Town Called Dehra The Night Train at Daoli A Face in the Dark and Other Hauntings Potpurri The Adventures Of Toto

[edit] Novels

Room On The Roof Scenes from a Writer's Life Susanna's Seven Husbands 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 The Tiger In The Tunnel