Happy Birthday, Ruskin Bond! A look at his top books
What's the story
Ruskin Bond is children's favorite Indian author and a short story writer who focuses on tales about simple and small lives.
Throughout his forty years of literary career, he has authored over a hundred short stories, essays, novels, and more than thirty children's books.
On his birthday, let us have a look at his top six reads.
Book 1
'The Room on the Roof'
An award-winning novel, this book is a masterpiece of adolescence and coming of age. Bond wrote this at the age of 17.
The plot revolves around Rusty, an orphan who runs away to live with his friends and gets charmed by Indian festivals, and many other facets of Indian life.
Its success gave Bond an impetus to write its sequel Vagrants in the Valley.
Book 2
'The Blue Umbrella'
Written in 1980, The Blue Umbrella is about a little girl Binya in Himachal Pradesh who trades her lucky leopard's claw pendant for a pretty, frilly blue umbrella.
Many envied Binya's prized possession, and the most envious of all was old Ram Bharosa, the shopkeeper, who determined that he must own the blue umbrella, fair or foul.
Book 3
'Delhi Is Not Far'
This novel is set in Pipalnagar, a drab and dusty tiny town.
Arun, the protagonist, is a struggling writer of cheap thrillers who seeks inspiration from the unlikeliest of characters - the orphan Suraj, homeless and epileptic, and the young prostitute Kamla, who is resigned to the fact that neither she nor Pipalnagar will change.
Book 4
'Funny Side Up'
Bond transports his readers to his countryside and expresses the most mundane circumstances with exceptional wit and acuity.
This book is a fascinating read, filled with hilarious and colorful characters such as monkeys, wild boars, an aunt who has a flower phobia, an eccentric cousin who believes he is the great cricket star Ranji, and the intelligent seven-year-old Gautam.
Book 5
'Maharani'
The story of Maharani revolves around Neena, a spoilt, selfish, beautiful, and aging widow of the Maharaja of Mastipur.
Having inherited a large amount of wealth from her deceased husband, she lives in an enormous old house in Mussoorie.
Bond, who is her friend, disapproves of her antics. It's a charming tale about love, death, and friendship.
Book 6
'Tales of Fosterganj'
Tales of Fosterganj is set in a fictitious suburb on Mussourie's outskirts.
This book follows the journey of a Delhi-based writer who ends himself in Fosterganj by coincidence. The writer wishes to live as a recluse in this tranquil hamlet, perhaps finishing a book or two, but fate has other plans.
Check out more such book recommendations.