Bonding over Ruskin Bond

There are many reasons to have a special interest in reading Ruskin Bond's writings. Mostly people say that he is a writer for children but in my opinion he is a writer for all ages who have a heart for relishing childhood memories. Who hates one's own childhood and its enchanting hues of experiences..? None, I think. In fact, Ruskin Bond came my way in the phase of grown up, accidentally. The first book I read is a paperback titled "Great stories for kids". Wondered at his crafting of tale telling process. But at the same time ,thrilled being transported into my childhood. 

In our surroundings, we have some colonial buildings in dilapidated condition with variety of trees, plants and insects around. Whenever visited the place, we felt a chill in the spine. Of course, haunting spirits were always there to get scared of. The same things I found in one of the stories of Ruskin Bond. On the hill top with such old building having lived by a mysterious Anglo-Indian woman. And a small girl tryst with her still makes me imaging like anything.

And the way the writer portrays every insect, plant, tree and other animals is spellbinding and how badly we ignore sometimes nature's bounty though it stands in front of our own eyes. I started observing flora and fauna of our location soon after finishing this book. It made me a new human being in terms of exploring the nature at its best. Now I knew the names of many kinds of insects and its behaviours. And grew interested in whatever the plant come my way. I became nature sensitive in brief.

After that, the book I read was " Our trees still grow in Dehra".  Escape from Java is the mesmerizing story. It sounds like the first hand experience. An exodus from South East Asia let know us many issues of  bygone years. In this book, stories like "The bent double beggar, Coming home to Dehra and other ones attracted me for different reasons. I am planning to read many more of his books in the days to come and my best wishes to the e-magazine, running by the lovers of Ruskin Bond.

(Written for E-Magazine dedicated to Bond's writings)