The Bond with a difference

One master creator has made his way into the hearts through his sheer simplicity and precision. Indeed, Ruskin Bond, has never been a bestseller but his has made his way into the hearts of many a readers. Bond launched two new books on Monday at the Oxford Bookstore. Book of Nature which Bond calls “a record of my relationship with the natural world which has sustained and inspired me over the years” and The Hidden Pool, which is the first novel he wrote for his young readers.
As he read out some passages from his books, it was not difficult to imagine the scene that he read, as clearly as it were happening right before us. “I was once talking to one of the children when a girl asked me, ‘Your ghosts are not scary at all. Can’t you make them more scary?’ See that is the effect of television. Nowadays, the idea of my good, friendly ghosts is not that appealing,” he said.
Ruskin Bond says that his growing up years and his indulgence in the classics helped him a lot. “I still love the detective stories,” he says.
He is far from complaining about the children not reading much like in the earlier days. “Reading has always been a minority pastime. It is not that television alone is disturbing them. Even in my time students founds ways to avoid having to read books.”
For those who aspire to be great writers like him he says, “Discipline is very important in everything that one does. One must make sure that he/she is writing at least one or two pages every day and at the end of the month you realise that you have actually done quite a lot. It is also a good idea to keep a notebook with you always. As when a new idea occurs you can always write it out.”
Making a living out of writing can prove to be a difficult task. “No, I did it in my time and made a decent living for myself. You must be prepared for disappointments all the same.”
He named Delhi Is Not Far as his favourite work among all.
Any detective stories coming up for us? “Well, I maybe doing one soon.”

Published in Hindustan Times on January 11, 2005