New book from Ruskin Bond

Novelist Ruskin Bond, who celebrated his 77th birthday on Thursday, gifted his fans a brand new collection of stories about one of his most endearing characters – the eccentric, bumbling Uncle Ken.

Crazy Times with Uncle Ken includes old classics as well as new stories, a statement by Penguin-India said. A Puffin imprint, the book is priced at Rs 199.

Uncle Ken is one of those people who do not do much but a great deal happens around them.

Whenever Uncle Ken arrives at Grandma’s house, which he does often, trouble erupts. Uncle Ken drives his car into a wall, is mistaken for a famous cricketer, troubled by a mischievous ghost, chased by a swarm of bees and attacked by flying foxes.

Be it the numerous bicycle rides with the author or his futile attempts at finding a job, Uncle Ken’s misadventures provide huge doses of laughter.

Born in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun, New Delhi and Simla.

Full report here Hindustan Times

An unusual bond

It’s not everyday that you hear Ruskin Bond sing. “But I was so bored and irritated with Mumbai’s traffic, I really considered breaking into song just to clear the cars,” says the 76-year-old Mussoorie resident only half in jest. The writer made the trudge from Colaba to Oshiwara to meet friend and fan Vishal Bhardwaj, who has based two of his films (The Blue Umbrella and Saat Khoon Maaf) on stories originally written by Bond.

“I’m a really bad singer but I quite enjoy singing. As a young man, I was fascinated by opera and would subject people to my baritone and tenor,” he says. But egg him on to sing and he surprises you with a song nowhere close to opera. Hawa mein udta jaaye, mera laal dupatta malmal ke.. err.. ka, Bond croons, sitting in the music room of Bhardwaj’s office. The music director nods approvingly.

Getting this duo together in Mumbai is a rarity. “But I’m happiest meeting Ruskinji in Mussorie,” says Bhardwaj, adding that he’s bought the house next to the author’s and they now share a wall. They actually share more than that. Both love the mountains. And enjoy a story well told, preferably over a couple of stiff drinks.

Full report here Times of India 

When Mr Bond held writers captive

At the ninth edition of the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards held in Mumbai on Friday, August 22, author Ruskin Bond’s presence not only charmed the audience, but also inspired upcoming authors.

The soft-spoken Bond was in a jocular mood, remarking how now that authors have become celebrities, they’d rather stay away from the limelight. “Writers are best read, but not seen in public, because most of them are not good-looking,” he said, leaving the audience in splits.

For Bond, anonymity has come at a hefty price. The author narrated an incident at a bookstore many years ago, when he spotted a copy of one of his books at the very bottom of a shelf. He said, “I took it and put it right on top. Unfortunately, the manager saw me and ordered me to keep it back, tell me that nobody ever bought the book. So just to teach him a lesson, I bought the book!”

Full report here DNA

Bond with the best

It’s been more than five decades since the time celebrated children’s fiction author Ruskin Bond’s first book The Room on the Roof was published.

He was 21 years old then. Born to British parents, Ruskin seems as Indian as anyone of us. Certainly a lot has changed in the India that was then and the India which is now. While Ruskin was in the city to read from one of his latest books Mr. Oliver’s Dairy, DNA caught up with him for a chat.

While it’s become easy for a writer to get publishers easily today, there is still something which has not changed about India. “It is still difficult for people living in small towns and villages to read books. I know children who have a desire to read, but unfortunately they don’t have the means. I hope it will change some day,” says Ruskin.

Full report here DNA

When Mr Bond held writers captive

At the ninth edition of the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards held in Mumbai on Friday, August 20, author Ruskin Bond’s presence not only charmed the audience, but also inspired upcoming authors.

The soft-spoken Bond was in a jocular mood, remarking how now that authors have become celebrities, they’d rather stay away from the limelight. “Writers are best read, but not seen in public, because most of them are not good-looking,” he said, leaving the audience in splits.

For Bond, anonymity has come at a hefty price. The author narrated an incident at a bookstore many years ago, when he spotted a copy of one of his books at the very bottom of a shelf. He said, “I took it and put it right on top. Unfortunately, the manager saw me and ordered me to keep it back, tell me that nobody ever bought the book. So just to teach him a lesson, I bought the book!”

The winning authors however, made best use of the limelight. Kalpana Swaminathan, who bagged the prize for best work in fiction (Venus Crossing), said, “I must appear modest, humble and not overtly delighted.” Venus Crossing, a collection of twelve stories, beat 77 entries in the fiction category and Swaminathan was described by the jury as a writer with “an assurance and felicitous grace”.

Full report here DNA

Rajni Bakshi wins two Crossword Book Awards

Author Rajni Bakshi, prominent for her writing on socio-political movements in India, won two awards for her book Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom at the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards for 2009.  The book won in the non-fiction category jointly with Sunanda K. Datta-Ray’s Looking East To Look West —category went to Malayalam author Sarah Joseph and translator Valson Thampu, for the book Othappu.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed to receive this award,” said Bakshi, who briefly thanked her mother and her publishers after picking up the awards from chief guest and popular children’s author Ruskin Bond. Her book discusses how the working of today’s free markets can be evolved in a way that is more humane.

The Crossword Book Awards were instituted in 1998 for recognizing the best of Indian Fiction in English, but have expanded to other categories over the years.

This year, the Children’s category was introduced for the first time and the Translation category was extended beyond fiction to translations in all other forms of writing.

Full report here Hindustan Times

India's Bond ready to scorch the silver screen

The name's Bond. Ruskin Bond. The media-shy and reclusive man from the hills will make his first appearance on silver screen in Vishal Bharadwaj's Saat Khoon Maaf, which is based on Bond's story Susanna's Seven Husbands.

An Indian author of British origin, Ruskin Bond's writing has inspired several filmmakers to translate them into films. His novel The Flight of Pigeons was adapted by Merchant Ivory films to make Shashi Kapoor-starrer Junoon. Bhardwaj himself is adapting Bond's book for the second time. His critically acclaimed Blue Umbrella was also based on a Ruskin Bond story.

"When my casting director came up to me and said Ruskin Bond would suit the character, I told him that Bond would not agree,'' said Bhardwaj. "After the script was ready, I sent him a copy. Then when I went to Mussorie, I asked him about playing a role in the film and he laughed it off. I pestered him for three months before he finally agreed to do the role. He really thought I was joking, while I always thought it would be an honour to have him as part of my film.''

Full report here Times of India 

Mumbaikar brings home fiction award

The recent spurt in the field of children's literature in India has been duly noted by draftsmen of the Vodafone Crossword Book Awards 2009, who have, this year, installed a new prize category for it - 11 years after the awards were instituted. No surprise then that the chief guest for the evening was the legendary Ruskin Bond. Since Bond makes infrequent excursions out of Mussoorie, this rare opportunity to hear him speak quieted the congregation at NCPAs Tata Theatre when he took the stage. "Writers should be read and not heard or even seen, because only a few of them are good looking,'' joked Bond, adding that when he started writing 50 years ago, there were no literary fairs or awards. "In fact, I worked in a literary vacuum.''

The preliminaries eventually closed in on the raison d'etre of the evening - the awards. The prize for Fiction was brought home by Mumbai's own Kalpana Swaminathan for her Venus Crossing: Twelve Stories of Crossing (Penguin Books India). Rajni Bakshi and Sunanda K Datta-Ray were joint recipients of the Non-Fiction Prize. It was Bakshi's Bazaars, Conversations and Freedom (Penguin Books India), and Datta-Ray's Looking East to Look West (Penguin Viking) that made it through the wringers. On the shelf for Children's literature was The Grasshopper's Run (Scholastic India) by Siddhartha Sarma - the frontrunner for this award. Othappu: The Scent of the Other Side (Oxford) won author Sarah Joseph and translator Valson Thampu the Translation trophy. And finally, reader votes for the Popular Prize were in favour of Rajni Bakshi once again.

Full report here Times of India 

The monk who sold stories!

The name’s Bond, Ruskin Bond. Author Advaita Kala meets the legendary author in his Mussoorie home to talk about a life without regrets as he turns 76 this week! 

He remembers me instantly from our meeting a year and a half ago. In this time he has read my book and heard the soft murmurs of a film. I am flattered and mention that I have heard of his film as well. In fact, we share a leading lady — Priyanka Chopra. Yes indeed, he laughs. The film. He was offered the role of an old monk in it. But he had to decline; there was to be no bottle. What’s an old monk without a bottle?

So begins my conversation with my childhood hero — Ruskin Bond. It’s Saturday evening at the Cambridge Bookstore in Mussoorie and it’s meet Ruskin hour. Word on the street travels afar, and a queue of impatient readers winds its way around Mall Road. Meeting Ruskin is a must in Mussoorie. He’s a bit like Santa this evening, sitting on a chair, posing with readers and signing books. He smiles every time, always has something to say — a thank you, an anecdote and that delightful laughter that rumbles in his belly before escaping from his mouth in soft chuckles.

Full report here Times of India

Sweetness of Indian pulp

A few days after my first translation, The 65 Lakh Heist by Surender Mohan Pathak, was released, I walked into a large chain bookstore to see if it was stocked there. I found it in the 'Indian Fiction' bookshelf. Its two closest neighbours were an anthology of love stories edited by Ruskin Bond, and the newest book by Salman Rushdie.

I've been browsing through bookstores all my life, but it wasn't until then that it struck me just how unfair the categorisation was for all of the books displayed in the Indian Fiction category. The Ruskin Bond book should have been under Romance, or maybe under Anthologies. Rushdie's book should have been Literary Fiction. Many of the other books felt wrong, too — Tagore's and Premchand's translations should have been under Classics.

There should've been some sort of category created for Indian campus-lit and chick-lit by now, but those books sit next to historical thrillers and post-modern fiction on the same Indian Fiction bookshelf. The reader will, no doubt, point out that the volume of Indian books in all these genres is so low, that the books would be lost if mixed in with the other, non-Indian, books. And starting from that point, the reader — and several writers and reporters — have come to the conclusion that Indian writing is very limited and that readers here read much less than their counterparts in other countries. Although this makes for great copy, it's far from the truth.

Full report here DNA

REVIEW: Mr Oliver's Diary

REVIEW

Mr Oliver's Diary
Ruskin Bond
Penguin India
Rs 150
Pp 128 with 15 b/w illustrations
9780143331148
Paperback

Blurb

Mr Oliver, a history teacher, arrives in Simla with a train-load of hungry boys to start a new term at the Prep School. As he records the antics of the amazing characters there, and all that they get up to, we quickly realize that there is never a dull moment. A fire, a missing Headmaster, runaway students make sure not a day goes by when Mr Oliver has nothing to report in his diary. He writes about the eccentric teachers, the girls’ school next door and the lovely Anjali Ramola, whom he secretly admires.

Laugh-out-loud funny, with a core of old-world charm that is trademark Bond, Mr Oliver’s Diary has stories and characters that have never appeared anywhere before. With his runaway wig, pet shrew and endearing dry wit, Mr Oliver is sure to become as well-loved as those other vintage Ruskin Bond characters, Uncle Ken and Rusty.

Reviews

Hindustan Times
What, you wonder, can be new in the story of a not-yet-40, bald and a bit lonely teacher at prep school, replete with the antics of juvenile boys, a parrot that screeches "bottoms up", frolicking frogs and a violin-playing headmaster?

But Ruskin Bond, who has more than 30 children's books to his credit, uses all the old tricks to make Christopher Oliver a funny and loveable little hero in the hills of Simla.

As a new term begins, our Olly, with his big nose, is not quite the dashing bachelor who evokes instant admiration. He wears a wig that amuses the boys no end - one day they send a barber to his door! Without it he is even declared "topless" by Anjali Ramola, the pretty colleague he is not-so-secretly in love with.
There are, of course, no secrets between the reader and Olly, as he pours his heart out in his diary. "Such a pity caning has been banned," he muses one day.

Reading a minority pastime: Bond

Having captivated kids as well as adults through his writings for over five decades, acclaimed author Ruskin Bond on Saturday announced his decision to further strengthen his bond with children in the twilight years of his life by serving as an "ambassador" of KIIT International School here. The role would see him frequently visiting the leading private school; interacting, advising and encouraging children and guiding the school authorities on various aspects of the curricula.

"I will do whatever I can to help the school and the children. In my twilight years it feels good to be associated with a school. This is my first such official or semi-official association with any school," Bond said during an interaction with the media in Bhubaneswar. On whether he would help produce more Ruskin Bonds (read writers) from among the kids, he quipped: "Why only Ruskin Bonds, some will become James Bonds also." The 75-year-old refused to buy the idea that the reading habit is on the slide and felt even in the 1950s when he was young reading was a "minority pastime". "A lot of people think the reading habit in on the decline. (But) in the 1950s also in my class of 35 hardly two-three students used to read. Now also I find young people who read. It was always a minority pastime," he remarked.

Full report here Times of India 

Mussoorie Diary

On good days, the drive from Mussoorie to Delhi takes seven to eight hours, and when I arrive at my destination, I am bent double, looking like a question mark. It takes two or three hours and a couple of whiskies with my hospitable publisher for me to unwind and look my usual self, i.e. an exclamation mark!

In spite of the discomforts of a long road journey, I prefer it to other forms of travel. You don’t see much from trains any more—the windows appear to be made from some sort of opaque, frosted glass (or are they just dirty?), so different from my boyhood journeys when you pulled up the shutters and countered the telegraph poles rushing past. The romance has gone out of rail travel. And as for flying, there appears to be a general reluctance on the part of planes to take off. Last month, I was given air tickets to visit KIIT (Kalinga Institute of Technology) in Bhubaneswar, and dashed down to the not-so-jolly Jolly Grant near Haridwar, only to find that the flight to Delhi had been cancelled due to fog on the runway.

Grabbed an ever-ready taxi and got to Delhi in time for the scheduled flight to Bhubaneswar at 7 pm, only to find it being postponed again and again until it was finally cancelled around midnight. Fog on the runway, of course. Scores of flights were being cancelled and the departure lounge (‘lounge’ is a misnomer) resembled a chaotic Howrah railway station. Two days later, on my return, I had to again take a taxi to Dehradun. Jolly Grant was still fog-bound.

Full report here Outlook