Renowned for his evocative storytelling and vivid descriptions of life in the Indian hills, Ruskin Bond’s contributions have enriched the literary landscape not only in India but across the world for over six decades. From his debut novel “The Room on the Roof” and through his numerous short stories and essays he has been able to foster a deep connection with readers worldwide. Bond’s words resonate with readers across all age groups and his writings are an emotion that readers have held on to over the years.
Ahead of his 90th birthday which falls on May 19, the literary genius sat down for an exclusive conversation with News18 where he reflected on his extraordinary journey and enduring legacy, his works and so much more.
Excerpts from the interview-
Can you reflect on your journey as a writer thus far and what are some pivotal moments or experiences that have shaped your literary career?
My literary career began in the early 1950s, shortly after I finished school. I began writing short stories when I was 16-17, and even getting them published, first in India basically, because that’s where I grew up and that’s where I went to school. And then I went to England for a few years, three or four years, I wrote my first novel. It was called The Room on the Roof. And well, it took me, it took me a year or two to get a publisher and I had to work very hard on it. I have never worked so hard on a book as I did on that very first one. And then finally, it was published by a good publisher. Although it did have to establish me in a small way, as a writer, I never stopped writing. So that was 1955, approximately, and here we are in 2024, I don’t know now, let’s see how many years is that? I am pretty sure it’s about 80. No? I’m going to be 90 now. So at least 75 of those 90 years, I’ve spent writing stories, novellas, poems, essays, and articles.
I used to write for magazines and newspapers. Now it is mostly books. So along the way, I started out writing for the general reader. And then when I was about 40, I started writing for children quite late. Now I think maybe it’s 50-50. Every second book is a book for children. So I think in these 75 years of writing, it’s been a long literary journey, but, and never made much money until, well, things picked up in the last four or five years. But before that, I was just, you know, just writing for the, because I love writing.
And because I felt I was maybe doing some service of sorts to young people, to encourage youngsters to read, you know, and maybe take some small part in their development. Because after all, a book, a good book helps your mind to develop and mature, you know, when you’re a child or growing up in your teens. So I think writing for children, you’re in a way contributing something to society. Whereas writing for adults, adults are already formed, you can’t do much about them. But anyway, I enjoy writing for both and for myself. Over the years, I’ve also come closer to nature and the natural world.
So a lot of my writing has, in recent years, had a background of nature and I write a lot about mountains and mountain people and rivers and birds and animals. So, you know, it’s a great, big, wide, beautiful world. And I just try to capture some of it.
You just spoke about how you have come closer to nature and the natural world over the years and have had that as a background in your recent writings. Can you please elaborate on how your writing has evolved over the years from your early works to your more recent ones?
Yes, how does the writing work? Because in the early years, especially in India, now I’m going back to the 1950s and 60s, we didn’t have many publishers. We had educational publishers, but not general publishers. You know, nobody was publishing, you know, fiction and poetry and children’s books, nothing at all. So I had to write a lot for magazines and newspapers.
In those days, newspapers, almost every paper had a sort of literary section, you know, a Sunday section, which had, you know, stories and essays and book reviews, etc. You don’t see much of that now. Now it’s mostly film stars. So that set me off in a way. So that gave me a foundation. And all the hundreds of stories I wrote when I was in my 20s and 30s, are still now being published in book form. So they’ve had a sort of second life or a third life. And so I’ve been lucky in that way. Of course, now I write, I’ve got, I’ve been published abroad to some extent, but basically, I write for them, my readership is here in India, amongst young people and amongst old people too, because I’ve been, I’ve sort of covered three generations of readers now.
I meet old people who read my stories 30 or 40 years ago. So it makes me feel pretty ancient, which I am. But I’m still writing. write, if not every day, at least every second day, I try to do a page or two, either of a story or I keep a diary, a journal, that helps me in my writing. And over the years, although I write, I’m a personal writer, so I have written a lot out of my own life and the people around me and the children I know and who I’ve seen grow up. So maybe even the way the country has changed over the years has been reflected in a small way in my stories.
So it is a continuing journey and I’m still at it. And hopefully, God willing, I can continue, I can still give my readers a few more words and give them some pleasure too.
How do you approach crafting stories for children as compared to your adult audience?
Well, yeah, writing for children is different from writing for adults in that you have to catch the attention of the young reader right away on page one. He or she has got to get into the story, otherwise, they’ll throw it away, they’ll drop the book in the waste paper basket because they don’t have the patience of an adult who’s going to read two or three chapters leading up to the actual story or plot. So you’ve got to get into the story straight away, you’ve got to have very often a central character with whom the reader, the young reader, can identify and feel that he or she is now part of the story and it’s about them too.
So you also have a convincing background, a credible plot, children know what children like to read about, they like to read about, well, adventure for one thing, they like to read about animals, they like to read about… Well, you also get fashions now, I keep reading kids who want horror stories and I’m not a great one for horror stories, but a little girl came up to me and said, Mr. Bond, I like your ghost stories, but they’re not scary enough, can’t you make them more frightening? So I told her, I’ll try, but I’m afraid my ghosts are quite friendly and helpful. So no two writers are the same, no two readers are the same, no two people are the same, no two cats or dogs are the same, everything is different in the world. So there’s no shortage of subjects to write about and that’s why I’m still writing, because there are still things to think about.
You have also curated a new audiobook for Audible called ‘All Time Favourites For Children’ recently. How do you see audiobooks being at the forefront of literary storytelling in the future and why should children be encouraged to listen to these audiobooks?
Yes, it’s interesting because some years back, I think it was in the 1980s, there were a lot of audiobooks going around and then suddenly there was a drop in the popularity of audiobooks and I think for about, in the 1990s and for 10-15 years, you didn’t see much of them. Now they’re making a comeback, so they’re making a comeback and I also get some royalties on my audiobooks, which is nice, and I think more and more, and because of also the technological advances, it’s maybe, it helps audiobooks to become more accessible and popular and so they will definitely, I think, play a greater part in not just a child’s reading, but in older persons too, because as we get older, here am I, sitting here, I don’t see much now, my vision is practically gone. I can just, I can write a little and read a little, but it’ll certainly help, it’ll be easier if I have an audiobook beside me. And so it’s not just youngsters, but older people too who benefit from it.
Are there any upcoming projects, upcoming books that you’re excited about and would like to share with us?
I have my own books, I have two or three coming out. I have just had a storybook called The Hoopoe on the Lawn. It is about my own childhood and my grandmother and others. Then during my birthday month, there’s a book for adults called The Hill of Enchantment. It is autobiographical. And there’s a book or another one from, that would be out of two.
Then there’s one from Penguin Puffin and one from Harper Collins. There are three or four coming out. So Harper is doing How to Be Happy, that’s for kids, for small kids. And then Penguin is doing Hold On to Your Dreams, which is for anyone growing up and not just growing up, even when you’re 90 years old, you can still dream and want to do things and do them. So all these, these are all coming out. Everybody, all my publishers want to bring out a book on my birthday so there’s a real traffic jam. So I hope all the books will have a traffic jam too.