Ruskin Bond facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ruskin Bond
Bond in 2012
Born	(1934-05-19) 19 May 1934 (age 91) Kasauli, Punjab States Agency, British India (Now in Solan district, Himachal Pradesh, India)
Occupation	Author poet
Language	English
Alma mater	Bishop Cotton School
Notable works	The Room on the Roof Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra A Flight of Pigeons The Blue Umbrella Granny's Tree Climbing Angry River
Notable awards	John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (1957) Sahitya Akademi Award (1992) Padma Shri (1999) Padma Bhushan (2014)

Ruskin Bond (born May 19, 1934) is a famous Indian author. He has written many books, stories, and poems. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, came out in 1956. It won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize.

Ruskin Bond has written over 500 short stories, essays, and novels. This includes 69 books especially for children! He received the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for his book Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. He was also honored with the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. These are two of India's highest civilian awards.

About His Life

Ruskin Bond was born on May 19, 1934, in Kasauli, which was part of British India back then. His father, Aubrey Alexander Bond, was British. His mother, Edith Clarke, was Anglo-Indian.

Ruskin and his sister Ellen lived in Jamnagar for a while. His father taught English to the princesses there. In 1939, his father joined the Royal Air Force. Ruskin, his mother, and sister moved to his mother's home in Dehradun. Soon after, he went to a boarding school in Mussoorie.

When Ruskin was eight, his parents separated. His father then arranged for Ruskin to live with him in New Delhi. Ruskin was very close to his father. He remembers this time (1942–1944) as one of the happiest parts of his life. Sadly, when Ruskin was ten, his father died from malaria. Ruskin was at his boarding school in Shimla when he heard the sad news. He was very heartbroken. After this, he was raised in Dehradun.

He went to Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. He finished school in 1951. He won many writing awards there. At just 16 years old, in 1951, he wrote one of his first short stories called "Untouchable."

After school, he moved to the Channel Islands in 1951 to live with his aunt. He stayed there for two years. When he was 17, he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof, in London. This book is partly about his own life as an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy named Rusty. He worked different jobs to support himself.

The book won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. This award is for young writers from the British Commonwealth. After his book was published, he used the money to travel back to Bombay (now Mumbai) and settled in Dehradun.

He worked as a freelance writer for a few years in Delhi and Dehradun. He earned money by writing short stories and poems for newspapers and magazines. He said he was happy doing what he loved best. In 1963, he moved to Mussoorie. He liked the place and it was close to publishers in Delhi. He even edited a magazine for four years.

In the 1980s, Penguin started publishing books in India. They asked him to write for them. He had written Vagrants in the Valley in 1956, which was a follow-up to The Room on the Roof. Penguin India published these two novels together in 1993. The next year, a collection of his non-fiction writings, The Best of Ruskin Bond, was also published.

Ruskin Bond also enjoys writing ghost stories. Some of his popular spooky books include Ghost Stories from the Raj and A Season of Ghosts. He has written over 500 short stories, essays, and novels. These include The Blue Umbrella, Funny Side Up, and A Flight of Pigeons. The Hindi film Junoon was based on A Flight of Pigeons. He has written more than 50 books for children.

He has also written about his own life. Scenes from a Writer's Life tells about his early years growing up in India. Another book about his life, Lone Fox Dancing, came out in 2017. The Lamp is Lit is a collection of essays and notes from his journal.

Ruskin Bond with his sister, Ellen. This photograph dates back to 1938.

Since 1963, he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie. This town is in the Himalayan foothills in Uttarakhand. He lives there with his adoptive family in a place called Ivy Cottage in Landour, Mussoorie. This has been his home since 1980. When asked what he likes most about his life, he said he is happy he has been able to write for so long. He started writing at 17 or 18 and is still writing today.

His sister Ellen lived in Ludhiana until she passed away in 2014. He also has a brother, William, who lives in Canada.

His Writing Style

Most of Ruskin Bond's stories are inspired by the hill stations where he grew up. These places are at the bottom of the Himalayas. The Room on the Roof was written when he was 17. It was published when he was 22. This story was partly based on his time in Dehradun, living in a small rented room on a roof, and his friends.

His early books were not written for any specific age group. His first children's book, Angry River, came out in 1972. The publisher asked him to make the language simpler for children. About writing for kids, he said, "I had a pretty lonely childhood and it helps me to understand a child better." Bond's writing shows his Anglo-Indian experiences. It also shows how India changed over time, from being a colony to becoming independent.

Ruskin Bond said that his book Rain in the Mountains was about his years in Mussoorie. But Scenes from a Writer's Life tells about his first 21 years. Scenes from a Writer's Life talks about his trip to England. It also shares his struggle to find a publisher for The Room on the Roof. And it shows how much he wanted to come back to India, especially to Doon. Bond said the book also tells a lot about his parents. He added that it describes how he became a writer.

Ruskin Bond has been a writer for over 50 years. He has tried different types of writing. His early works included fiction, short stories, and novellas. Some of these were about his own life. Later, he wrote non-fiction, romance, and books for children. He says his favorite types of writing are essays and short stories.

He sees himself as a "visual writer." For short stories, he first imagines them like a film. Then he writes them down. For an essay or travelogue, he doesn't need as much planning. He feels that unexpected things make it more exciting. Bond enjoys books like Just William by Richmal Crompton and Billy Bunter by Charles Hamilton. He also likes classics such as Alice in Wonderland and books by Charles Dickens and Mark Twain.

Books Made into Films

Many of Ruskin Bond's stories have been made into movies and TV shows!

The 1978 Bollywood film Junoon is based on his novel A Flight of Pigeons. This book is about an event during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Shashi Kapoor produced the film, and Shyam Benegal directed it.

His popular Rusty stories were made into a Doordarshan TV series called Ek Tha Rusty. Also, some of his stories are taught in schools in India. These include The Night Train at Deoli and The Blue Umbrella.

In 2005, the Bollywood director Vishal Bhardwaj made a film based on Bond's children's novel, The Blue Umbrella. This movie won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.

Ruskin Bond even appeared in a movie himself! He made his first big-screen appearance in Vishal Bhardwaj's film 7 Khoon Maaf in 2011. This movie was based on his short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. Bond played a bishop in the movie, and Priyanka Chopra was the main actress. Bond had worked with Bharadwaj before on The Blue Umbrella.

Parchhayee: Ghost Stories by Ruskin Bond, an Indian web series on Zee5, is also based on his ghost stories.

Meet Rusty

Rusty is a very popular character created by Ruskin Bond. He is a sixteen-year-old Anglo-Indian boy who lives in Dehradun. Rusty is an orphan and doesn't have a real family. He lives with his guardian, Mr. John Harrison, who is strict. Rusty has to follow Mr. John's rules and is afraid to disobey him. He feels lonely in his guardian's house.

Rusty lives in the European part of Dehradun. But he wants to experience Indian culture and life. He secretly makes friends with some Indian boys in the local market. He hides this from Mr. John and goes on secret adventures with them. Soon, he decides to run away from Mr. John and go back to England. Rusty's character shows how a teenager deals with confusion about life, friendships, happiness, and love.

Rusty: A Character Based on Real Life

Rusty was based on Ruskin Bond himself when he was a teenager. His first book, The Room on the Roof, was written when he was 17. It was a story partly about his own life, with Rusty as the main character. The story was inspired by his friends and the time he spent in a rented room in Dehradun.

Most of Rusty's early adventures happen in Dehradun, a beautiful place in northern India. Ruskin Bond loved Dehradun very much. Most of his stories are inspired by the hills and valleys of this region.

Rusty's Adventures in Books

Other Novels by Ruskin Bond

Memories and Journals

• Landour Day – A writer Journal
• Scenes from a Writer's Life
• With Love From The Hills
• Roads To Mussoorie
• Looking for the Rainbow
• Till the Clouds Roll By
• Coming Round the Mountain
• A Song of India
• All the roads lead to Ganga

Non-Fiction Books

• It's a Wonderful Life: Roads to Happiness
• A Golf Story: Celebrating 125 Years of the Bangalore Golf Club
• Happy Birthday, World!

See also

• List of Indian writers