The life and times of Ruskin Bond

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One would think Ruskin Bond, the beloved children's writer, must have started out with writing a masterpiece as his first work.
Instead, it was a couple of exercise books scribbled with a story that detailed his headmaster's figure and other such trivialities that spurred Bond into a scripting an illustrious literary career spanning over six decades.
From braving a "lonely and traumatic" childhood to his love for mountains, Bond recollected the bitter-sweet memories of his early life and his journey to becoming one of the most sought after writers in the country at the ongoing Mountain Echoes literary festival here.

"It was in class 8 or 9 when I wrote my first novel in two exercise books. But I made the mistake of leaving them lying around in the classroom and my class teacher got hold of them.
"He called me up and asked me 'what are all these remarks you have made about the headmaster's figure, what about the headmaster's wife's figure' before tearing the books apart," the author remembered.
But choosing to become a writer was not a convenient decision, not even for Ruskin Bond.

After the writer expressed his desire to pursue the profession of his choice to his mother, she dismissed it as being "silly" and told him to "go join the army".

"It wasn't very fashionable when I finished school and came home. In those days joining army was the first choice for young men finishing school.
"But I think if I had joined, it would have been more of a Beetle Bailey type of an army officer. And the army would be better off without me," Bond said, loaded with his quintessential repartee.
For the 82-year-old author who has written books that have defined the childhoods of generations of children in the past, and will continue to do so for generations to come, his reading list as a boy was largely made up of classics.

"I was a bookworm from the very beginning and I have to admit I grew up on all the classics. I was my way through Dickens, Bronte sisters and other writers of the day.
"We had a very good library at the school and I was made the in-charge of the library, so I had the keys. I would often skip and escape the morning PT, or extra homework in the evening and would escape to the library to read," he said.
Bond recalled having a lonely childhood, but solitude is something he has come to appreciate over the years.

He said it helped him become a good writer.
"It's good to be on your own. While it is one thing to be lonely, but to be on your own or alone that's the choice you make," he said.
The author recently came out with his autobiography "Lone Fox Dancing" earlier this year, after persistent requests from friends and publishers.
But his book "Looking for the Rainbow" that talks about the brief time he spent with his father as a boy of 10, is "closest to his heart".
"I wrote 'Looking for the Rainbow' just last year and it was about the 2-3 years I spent with my father when I was 10. So it is a memoir of my father. He taught me so much in that short period. That is my favorite book," he said, quickly adding that a sequel for the book was on the cards.