“I do so many books in a year that sometimes, I don’t know which is the latest,” laughs Ruskin Bond, as one gets chatty with him, ahead of his birthday (May 19). The octogenarian author who is much loved for his writings by the young and old alike, has come up with his new book, All Time Favourites for Children, which is a collection of his stories for children plus “three-four new ones” as he shares.
Talk to him about his birthday, and the Mussoorie-based writer says, “I’m always writing new stories. Every year on my birthday, I start a new book or a story. And hopefully have one published, too. Normally I’m not a great one for birthday celebrations. I always tell people that everyday should be your birthday. So wake up with a smile on your face, and make the day as good as you possibly can!”
Author of The Room on the Roof, The Blue Umbrella, and many more classical tales, Bond says he has been keeping himself busy during the pandemic, by reading. And one an average, he reads two to three books in a week, which include old favourites, detective stories, ghost stories, and biographies. He opines, “Books can help (in the pandemic) if one is already a reader. People who are already fond of books and reading, they will read even more than they used to and fall back on books. But if you’re not a reader, I don’t think you’ll become one! You’ll find other things to do.”
Fairly active on social media since the last one year, he has been giving his ardent fans the much wanted peak into his life. From gorging on jalebis to sipping coke in his birthday month, his followers have seen him do it all. Bond cherishes this bond with his followers, and says, “I’m lucky to have so many friends and readers on the internet! And realised this only now... I can keep in touch with them thanks to the technology that we have today. It’s a good thing that I don’t feel disconnected in any way (due to the available technology). Nowadays, one can stay in touch with well wishers in a way that we couldn’t, 20-30 years earlier!”
{{/usCountry}}Fairly active on social media since the last one year, he has been giving his ardent fans the much wanted peak into his life. From gorging on jalebis to sipping coke in his birthday month, his followers have seen him do it all. Bond cherishes this bond with his followers, and says, “I’m lucky to have so many friends and readers on the internet! And realised this only now... I can keep in touch with them thanks to the technology that we have today. It’s a good thing that I don’t feel disconnected in any way (due to the available technology). Nowadays, one can stay in touch with well wishers in a way that we couldn’t, 20-30 years earlier!”
{{/usCountry}}Author tweets @Nainaarora8
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