Among the many picturesque hill stations in available India, Mussoorie located in Uttarakhand in the Dehradun district is extremely popular with tourists. Now, the major reason for this popularity being the beautiful landscape which surrounds this beautiful north Indian hill station. In addition to its serene beauty, it is also famous for being “home” to renowned Indian author “Ruskin Bond”. So, here is presenting a few facts about Bond and his deep connection to Mussoorie.
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a. Who is “Ruskin Bond” and some information of his humble background:
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“19th May 1934” was when Ruskin Bond was born to a British couple named Edith Clarke and Aubrey Alexender Bond. It was in a small town called Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh that he was brought to life. He then spent a majority of his childhood shuttling between Jamnagar and Shimla. It was only after his father’s death that he was sent to live with his grandmother in Dehradun. He completed his basic education from the Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. It was at this school where he won many major awards in writing including the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize. Post schooling he also lived in the United Kingdom with his aunt for two years. It was after his short stint in England that he returned to India and permanently made it is home.
b. “Ruskin Bond” and his career as a prolific writer:
It was in 1951 that Ruskin Bond at the tender age of 16 for the first time wrote one of his many short stories titled “Untouchable”. Furthermore, while in London he began writing a novel titled “The Room on the Roof” which was based on an orphan Anglo-Indian boy named Rusty. This book proved to be so effective that it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He then went to write popular stories such as the “A Flight of Pigeons” (made into a Bollywood movie titled Junoon by Shyam Bengal) and The Blue Umbrella (also made into a Bollywood movie using the same title by Vishal Bharadwaj). He also eventually apart from novels also wrote several anthologies, children fiction, and essays. In addition, he also wrote short stories and poems for newspaper and magazine newspaper.
c. The writing style of “Ruskin Bond”:
“Simplistic flair” would be the best way to describe the writing style of Ruskin Bond. Inspired mainly by the life commonly observed in quaint hill stations located in the Himalayas, Bond makes brilliant use of his childhood days he spent in Dehradun while writing. He initially wrote for people belonging to all ages, and slowly graduated to writing for children. In terms of genres, he experimented with quite a few which included essays, fiction, non-fiction, romance, short stories, novels, and novellas. Apparently, when asked about his preferred genre, Bond named essays and short stories.
d. Ruskin Bond and the Mussoorie Connection:
It was in year 1963 that Ruskin Bond left Dehradun to settle in the picturesque hill station in Mussoorie. The reason for this shift being Bond’s love for the place itself, and its close proximity to New Delhi where most of his editors and publishers were based. In addition, the impact of Mussoorie on Ruskin has been so strong that in many of his stories, novella, anthologies etc he has used it as a backdrop. In fact, an anthology known as “Roads To Mussorrie” he has beautifully captured the essence of the beautiful hill station with flair that touches one’s heart.
It is therefore obvious that, what connects Ruskin Bond to this scenic hill station called Mussoorie located in Uttarakhand is not only his literary musings, but also his undying love for the place and its culture.
Also Read: 5 UNKNOWN HILL STATIONS IN HIMACHAL PRADESH
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay