The affable author Ruskin Bond was back in all his elements at Storyteller Bookstore, virtually interacting with over 200 little kids who joined in to listen to their favourite author on July 16. The book in question was Bond’s latest Listen To Your Heart and he was in conversation with managing partner at the bookstore, Aman Misra. This is the sixth book in a series that takes the reader through Bond’s journey through India and abroad and for the session, the entire audience traveled back to Jersey Island and London.
“I didn’t want to be lonely and in India, one can never be lonely,” laughs and says Bond on his return to India and never going back to the country where lay his origins. Books always find their way to him as they do out of the grand old man as he recounted his reading experience while being stuck in a hospital. Not just in yesteryear London, Bond recounted the time as a child in Shimla when he was admitted to the hospital for a severe case of hepatitis and landed up with a pile of books arranged by the matron. “I still remember some of them. I never forget a book that has left an impression on me –– whether it’s in school or a hospital or on a train! But yes, I don’t see the newer generation wheeling a trolley around distributing books in hospitals. They now give you a television screen instead, I believe,” he rued.
He spoke about the time when he started maintaining a journal of his experiences. He wrote extensively before realising the need to fictionalise the narrative to be able to sell it. “Over the years I have done just that and that is why it’s perhaps an autobiographical novel and memoir, all rolled into one. I was telling my own story but also telling a story! So I introduced two-three fictional characters and some real –– especially the friends. After about three drafts, they finally accepted the manuscript and gave me the standard rate of £50,” he added!
Reflecting upon his life, Bond remembered his uncle and the demise of old friends that were unexpected. “Life is not so much about rewards and punishments as it is about consequences,” he said. The reason he left Jersey was a quarrel with an uncle who had chanced upon his diary. He ended up moving to London and eventually had his book published –– stories and events that are found in his latest book.
The 45-minute session enthralled the 200-odd students who ‘Zoomed’ in on the session. The session took us from the streets of London to the doors of publishing houses to the eventual publishing of The Room on the Roof. Towards the end of the session, we find out from the author that he is writing a memoir with an adult audience in mind. Also in the pipeline is a children’s book called The Enchanted Cottage, a book with supernatural elements set around Mussorie. There is also a book called Nonsense Verse, something he spent the lockdown writing, creating limericks and verses! These interactive sessions with kids who have spent a major part of their formative years locked inside their homes is perhaps the need of the hour as Storyteller Bookstore so kindly reminds us often.