There is nothing one can ask Ruskin Bond that hasn’t been asked before. Having rummaged through interviews, author notes and news reports with little success, I make the call at the appointed hour. A few minutes into the interview, I forget all about myself and my nervous list of questions.
A natural conversationalist, Bond takes over in his inimitable style, listening as intently as he speaks, often breaking into laughter at his own answers. Speaking over the phone from his home in Landour, near Mussoorie, his voice carries a warmth and enthusiasm that belie his age. What is the secret of this happiness, I ask. “Gosh, I don’t know myself,” he laughs. “I guess I have been lucky. I’ve sort of made a good living from doing something I love doing.”
On his 88th birthday today, Bond’s new book, How to Live Your Life, published by HarperCollins Publishers India, will hit the stands. The book meant for children and adults alike, is a meditation on life, love and other things — a pocket survival guide. Bond wrote it about a year back in the form of a letter to his young friends, where he shares the little delights of being alive. “I have, on the whole, had a wonderful life and I will tell you more about it as we go along…” he writes in the preface.
