-
The Great Train Journey
The first time I saw a train, I was standing on a wooded slope outside a tunnel, not far from Kalka. Suddenly, with a shrill whistle and great burst of steam, a green and black engine came snorting out of the blackness.. “A dragon!” I shouted. “There’s a dragon coming out of its cave!”’The charm of travelling by a train as it speeds its way out of a tunnel or a jungle and passes through nondescript villages and towns is unmatched. There also exists a joyful curiosity in unfolding the mysterious lives and destinations of its passengers.Ruskin Bond has been writing tales about the hinterland for decades, but this is the first time his stories revolving around trains and railway stations of small-town India have been brought together in a single collection. Classics such as ‘The Eyes Have It’ and ‘The Night Train at Deoli’ rub shoulders with tales of big cats taking refuge in railway tunnels and strangers who strike up a friendship while waiting at a platform.So, hop on and allow one of India’s greatest storytellers to steer you through the Great Train Journey.
-
My Trees In The Himalayas
‘I am fortunate to have a big window that opens out on the forest so that the trees are almost within my reach. If I jumped, I could land quite neatly in the arms of an oak or horse chestnut... These great trees of the mountains, I feel they know me well, as I watch them and listen to their secrets, happy to rest my head beneath their outstretched arms.’It is Christmas time and a poor couple struggle to buy each other gifts. A wealthy lawyer encounters a ragged beggar and tries to set him on the right path. A little boy’s grief on realizing that he will never be able to speak his mother tongue again after his country is invaded by another. A happy story, revolving around a mere folder, set in the lobby of a fashionable hotel. The evergreen story of the nightingale who sacrificed herself for a rose. Selected and compiled by Ruskin Bond, this is a collection of stories from writers like O. Henry, Saki, Oscar Wilde, Anton Chekov, Alphonse Daudet and others.Full of moments that range from joyous to heart-breaking, My Trees in the Himalayas will leave you mesmerized with its tales of the simple joys of life.
-
Mysterious Tales From The Hills
‘Intuition must be a family trait, because it came to me quite suddenly—the thought that Uncle Bill might be intending to poison me.’ The unknown is often something that piques the interest of a reader and a traveller. While legends and myths are universally liked, it is the tales of the locals that are rich in mystery and intrigue. These are the stories that add to the charm of the town and attract people from all walks of life. It could be anything—a local unsolved murder, a disappearance, a case of poisoning or unknown swamp creatures—Mysterious Tales from the Hills has something for everyone. If you have a healthy appetite for horror, a little spookiness and a whole lot of wonder, this book is for you!
-
Grannys Tales
‘Granny was a genius. You’d like to know why? Because she could climb trees. Spreading or high She’d be up their branches in a trice. And mind you When last she climbed a tree, she was sixty-two.’ You ask anybody who their favourite member of the family is, and their answer will be one of their grandparents. A grandparent’s capacity for love, the abundance of affection that they hold and share with abandon, make them the purest and the best people to be with. What is more, they entertain you with stories of a time past and sometimes, if we are lucky, they partake in crazy activities with us as witnesses. In Granny’s Tales, Ruskin Bond takes us through such stories of affection and tenderness, of grandpas being hilarious—fighting ostriches, building zoos in his backyard and tickling tigers. And the wonder that grandmas are—telling bedtime stories with flourish, witnessing us climbing trees for afternoon hilarity and teaching lessons that will help us in all. This book is the perfect dose of grandparent stories, for children and adults alike!
-
First Loves, Last Loves
‘What I liked about her was her smile. It dropped over her face slowly, like sunshine moving over brown hills. She seemed to give out some of the glow that was in her face. I felt it pour over me. And this golden feeling did not pass when she left the room. That was how I knew she was going to mean something special to me.’ The heady rush of a first love, or the comforting dependability of a love spanning years—no matter the kind of love you experience—it is sure to have a lasting impact. Even years later, the thought of their tender touch, sheepish smile and their invigorating gaze can bring a smile on your face. First Loves, Last Loves is a heart-warming collection of stories that depict such love and passion. Ruskin Bond’s emotive and provocative prose is sure to tug at your heart with its simple yet profound intensity. These stories bring you an amalgamation of the heady romances of youth and the calm that envelopes romance with age and experience.
-
Old Roads,New Roads
‘I believe that the journey is more important than the destination. But, then, I have never really had a destination. The glory that comes from conquering the Himalayan peaks is not for me. My greatest pleasure lies in taking a path—any old path will do—and following it until it leads me to a forest glade or village or stream or windy hilltop.’ Is there a feeling better than being on the road, with the wind whipping through your hair? It is perhaps only matched by the anticipation of roaming around a town you have never visited before— meeting interesting people and wandering around unexplored mohallas. In Old Roads, New Roads, Ruskin Bond brings together some of his best travel writing, chronicling tales of his many journeys to and from the hills, across towns big and small, meeting wise and amusing people. This book promises to remind you of the joys of stepping out into the great outdoors, exploring old roads and new ones.
-
The Gold Collection
The ten stories in The Gold Collection are among the finest ever written by India’s most beloved writer, Ruskin Bond. Some of them, including masterpieces like ‘The Blue Umbrella’, ‘Angry River’, and ‘Panther’s Moon’, were written early in the writer’s career, while others, such as ‘Rhododendrons in the Mist’ and ‘Miracle at Happy Bazaar’, are more recent. All of them remain as golden as they were when they first emerged from the master’s imagination. A collection that will be treasured by all those who love Ruskin Bond’s fiction.
-
Friends In Wild Place-Birds,Beasts And Other Compa
Since he was a young boy, Ruskin Bond has made friends easily. And his most rewarding friendships have often been with animals, birds and plants—big and small; outgoing and shy. This collection focuses on these companions and brings together some of Bond’s finest nature stories and essays, both classic and new. There are leopards and tigers; bulbuls and owls; bears in the mountains and elephants on a ship; wise old forest oaks and geraniums on balconies; a talking parrot and a tomcat called Suzie—and many more ‘wild’ and wonderful friends. Beautifully illustrated, this is a lovely gem of a book.
-
When I Was A Boy Scenes And Stories From My Childh
In this beautiful, heartfelt and often humorous mini-autobiography, beloved storyteller Ruskin Bond relives the days of his childhood and teenage. He writes of carefree days in the port city of Jamnagar where little Ruskin would read books upside down, wander into old palaces, go for rides on lurching boats and in swooping, looping aeroplanes, and listen to tall tales told by a loving ayah and a colourful cook. He also describes his schooldays in Shimla—being dressed up as Humpty Dumpty for his very first stage performance, making friends and planning pranks. He remembers his days in Delhi, where he lived with his father for one magical year when they explored monuments, cinema halls and shops selling ice-creams and comics. And he recalls his time in Dehra when he developed his love of reading and writing, cycled far and wide and loafed in the bazaar with new-found friends. Funny and imaginative, nostalgic and tender, this truly timeless book— embellished with lovely colour illustrations—is a record of a very special childhood.
-
The Girl On The Train
‘I thought of running away with Kamla. When I mentioned it to her, her eyes lit up. She thought it would be great fun. Women in love can be more reckless than men! But I had read too many stories about runaway marriages ending in disaster, and I lacked the courage to go through with such an adventure. I must have known instinctively that it would not work. Where would we go, and how would we live? There would be no home to crawl back to, for either of us.’ Seldom do we come across a person who leaves behind an impression on our very being. Call it being enamoured or moved, the memories we shared with them can catch us unawares even years down the line. It is not for the world to decipher what bond we shared and nurtured with them, or how real or surreal it was. This is our secret alone, meant to be kept close to the heart. In The Girl on the Train, we see tales of longing and lost bonds being traced again in Ruskin Bond’s simplistic narration. With these stories, you might once again walk down the memory lane of all those cherished moments gone by.
-
The Yellow Umbrella
‘What should he be like, this lost man? A romantic, a man with a dream, a man with brown skin and blue eyes, living in a hut on a snowy mountaintop… a man who owed allegiance to no one… who was his own master, who lived at one with nature knowing no fear. But that was not Major Roberts—that was the man I wanted to be.’ It is believed that the foundation of every good relationship—platonic or otherwise—is friendship. The familiarity and ease that grow in friendships is what get many of us through a hard day. But it is not just the long-lasting associations that help us through life; it is also the acquaintances that we collect along the way. People are a sum of parts—of ephemeral yet significant encounters, and enduring and monumental intimacies. What makes a person whole is all the parts of themselves— good, wonderful, bad, ugly. In The Yellow Umbrella, with the story titled the same that has never appeared in print before, Ruskin Bond takes us down memory lane with nuggets from his past. The parts that made him who he is: unattainable love, intriguing friends, sturdy companions and books that help us through a rainy day.
-
Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure
'I followed my heart instead of my head. It is something I have done all my life.' Shortly before his eighteenth birthday, Ruskin embarks on a literary journey and reaches England after charting unknown waters. Greeted by the uncertainties of a new city, he muses over his loneliness, switches jobs, falls in love, befriends the ocean and relentlessly chases a big dream! What follows next is the metamorphosis of a journal entry into a novel as we time-travel to the fascinating events that led to the making of his iconic book, The Room on the Roof . Capturing memorable experiences from young Ruskin's life, Listen to Your Heart is an inspiration for aspiring young writers, a meditation on embracing fears, seizing every opportunity but most importantly living one's dreams.
-
All about My Walkabouts
‘The adventure is not in getting somewhere, it’s the on-the-way experience. It is not the expected; it’s the surprise. Not the fulfilment of prophecy, but the providence of something better than that prophesied.’ The world has a lot to offer to the people who seek new experiences and are curious about the places, each distinctly unique, that makes up the world and the people that inhabit these places. Although one lifetime is not enough to visit and know every place in the world, we have books that introduce us to new cultures, foods and peoples. In All about My Walkabouts, Ruskin Bond offers us delightful stories from his travels around the world. From the stories from Indian hills, to the streets of London, to small towns in India like Mathura and Meerut, this book is for children and adults alike.
-
Friends of My Youth
‘I needed a friend but it was not easy to find one among a horde of rowdy, pea-shooting fourth formers, who carved their names on desks and stuck chewing gum on the class teacher’s chair. Had I grown up with other children, I might have developed a taste for schoolboy anarchy; but, in sharing my father’s loneliness after his separation from my mother, I had turned into a premature adult.’ There is no telling where friendships might be made and how. Friends of My Youth is a collection of short stories by Ruskin Bond on how little and almost seemingly insignificant incidents of life can lead us to the person in whom we may find a companion, a comrade. These are the stories of how unknowingly, at times, friends are found and how they help eliminate our loneliness or become partners in crime in our personal missions. Narrated with utter simplicity, the tales make for a delightful remembrance of the friends made in the early years of life.
-
The Blue Umbrella
?The Umbrella was like a flower, a great blue flower that had sprung up on the dry brown hillside.' In exchange for her lucky leopard's claw pendant, Binya acquires a beautiful blue umbrella that makes her the envy of everyone in her village, especially Ram Bharosa, the shop-keeper. Ruskin Bond's short and humorous novella, set in the picturesque hills of Garhwal, perfectly captures life in a village, where both heroism and redemption can be found.
-
Writing for My Life
If only the world had no boundaries and we could move about without having to produce passports and documents everywhere, it really would be 'a great wide beautiful, wonderful world', says Ruskin Bond. From his most loved stories to poems, memoirs and essays, Writing for My Life opens a window to the myriad worlds of Ruskin Bond, India's most loved author. Capturing dreams of childhood, anecdotes of Rusty and his friends, the Ripley-Bean mysteries, accounts of his life with his father and his adventures in Jersey and London among others, this book is full of beauty and joy-two things Ruskin's writing is mostly known for. With a comprehensive introduction, this is the perfect gift to all the ardent readers and lovers of Ruskin's effervescent writing. A wide collection of carefully curated and beautifully designed stories, this book is a collector's edition.
-
Boys Will Be Boys
But Miss Gamla did not like small boys. Or big boys, for that matter. She placed us high on her list of pests, along with monkeys (who raided her kitchen), sparrows (who shattered her sweetpeas) and goats (who ate her geraniums). We did none of these things, being strictly fun-loving creatures; but we did make a lot of noise, spoiling her afternoon siesta.’ We often look back at our time as children and think about them as the good old days—days full of mischief, wonder, curiosity and adventure. These are the days when we form lifelong bonds and make memories that become our balm on the hard days that life throws at us. These are the carefree days of galivanting, letting your imagination run wild and formulating grand plans. In Boys Will Be Boys, Ruskin Bond puts together a collection of stories and personal essays that capture the magical days of childhood. From adventures with wild animals and running amuck in ponds to finding ways of surviving algebra, a world of adventure awaits!