Ruskin Bond (born 19 May 1934) is an Indian author of British descent.

The Indian Council for Child Education recognised his pioneering role in the growth of children's literature in India, and awarded him the Sahitya Akademi Award  in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, given by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Literature. He was awarded the Padma Shri  in 1999 and Padma Bhushan  in 2014. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour, near Mussoorie.

Life and career[edit]

Ruskin Bond was born on 19 May 1934 in a military hospital , to Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond. His siblings were Ellen and William. Ruskin's father was with the Royal Air Force. When Bond was four years old, his mother separated from his father and married a Punjabi-Hindu, Mr. Hari, who himself had been married once.

Bond spent his early childhood in Vijayanagar (Gujarat) and Shimla. At the age of ten Ruskin went to live at his grandmother's house in Dehradun after his father's sudden death in 1944 from malaria. Ruskin was raised by his grandmother. He completed his schooling at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, from where he graduated in 1952 after winning several writing competitions in the school like the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize.

Following his high school education he went to his aunt's house in England and stayed there for four years. In London he started writing his first novel, The Room on the Roof, the semi-autobiographical story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty. It won the 1957 John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial prize, awarded to a British Commonwealth writer under 30. Bond used the advance money from the book to pay the sea passage to Bombay. He worked for some years as a journalist in Delhi andDehradun. Since 1963 he has lived as a freelance writer in Mussoorie, a town in the Himalayan foothills.[1] He wroteVagrants in the Valley, as a sequel to The Room on the Roof. These two novels were published in one volume by Penguin India in 1993. The following year a collection of his non-fiction writings, The Best Of Ruskin Bond was published by Penguin India. His interest in the paranormal led him to write popular titles such as Ghost Stories from the Raj, A Season of Ghosts, and A Face in the Dark and other Hauntings.

Media-shy, he currently lives in Landour Mussoorie's Ivy Cottage, which has been his home since 1964.

Ruskin Bond made his maiden big screen appearance with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj 's film 7 Khoon Maaf, based on his short story Susanna's Seven Husbands. Bond appears as a Bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra playing the title role.[2] Bond had earlier collaborated with him in the The Blue Umbrella which was also based on his story.

Famous Works[edit]

Collections[edit]

Garland of Memories Ghost Stories from the Raj

Novels[edit]

The Room on the Roof Vagrants in the Valley Scenes from a Writer's Life Rusty Runs away A Flight of Pigeons Landour Days – A writers Journal The Sensualist by Ruskin Bond The Road To The Bazaar

The Room on The Roof is the first novel by Ruskin Bond .   It is the story of Rusty who is a 16 year old boy. After his parents died he was living with his English Guardian. He was quite unhappy with the ruthless ways and strict rules of his Guardian and decides to break-free one day. So he goes to nearby market and makes many friends and starts living there.   He discovers life is not that easy and he has to face a number of challenges that are waiting for him Ruskin Bond in his first venture keeps people captivated from the very first

page till the last one through the simplicity in his writing and spontaneity.    He has so well represented every detail that it engages the reader very well and proves to be a complete page-turner. The reader will feel the pain of Rusty and laugh at the light-hearted humor. The book summons up all the traits of human life well ranging from adolescence, love, friendship to losing your loved ones and agonies of life. Ruskin has a certain poetic style of writing. He chooses words carefully and describes every detail appropriately. The marked style of writing is note worthy when the boy gets into the dilemma of living India and going to England. Ruskin uses many adjectives to support his writing that make his work beautiful and graceful to read. He also remarkably shows in the novel, how some strangers can become part and parcel of one’s life by showing a little tenderness and warmth.   Rusty, the protagonist in the novel underwent same state and made some friends for lifetime. The novel is the winner of John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and is certainly a pleasure to read. 

lRusty, a young lad, 17 years old is an Anglo-Indian looked after by an another Anglo-Indian . He had lost his parents when very young and is the only young boy among his neighbors.His guardian(Mr John Harrison) is one among those rigid Britishers who dislikes Indians and their standards of living .There is a separate market for the Anglo-Indians and Rusty is not permitted by the Anglo-Indians to even peek at the Indian bazaar . A sweeper boy, an untouchable, is the only young Indian whom Rusty has ever met. Rusty is keen on exploring the Indian bazaar and the other colorful side of Dehra,a town in North India where Rusty resides. To fulfill his desire Rusty makes frequent visits to the bazaar secretly but is caught ,as expected. He becomes friends with Somi, Kishen and Ranbir. As his guardian, as thrown him out of the house, he goes on to reside with his friend Somi for a few days. Somi helps Rusty to get a job.To earn a living, he becomes Kishen's tutor. Kishen's mum Ms Meera Kapoor is a very kind lady who later on offers him a room on their roof. That room is really simple, 4 walls, a window and a bed. Ms Meena Kapoor's husband is a rich drunk man. Once, all of them decide to go for a picnic to the nearby hills. Meena and Rusty fall for each other.This book is great to read ,keeps the reader totally engrossed. Young or old , this is the book for all. Totally intriguing!

Rusty's character is very much inspired from the real life of Ruskin Bond.