'This is a journal in a way': Ruskin Bond on his new book

Ruskin Bond turns 91 today and the indefatigable writer that he is has released yet another gem mdash Lifersquos Magic Moments mdash for his fans From his residence in Landour Mussoorie the prolific author spoke over the phone with midday about his latest offering his myriad influences his favourite reads his love of nature and the beloved town he has called home since 1963MIDDAY What are you reading these daysRUSKIN BOND Irsquove been reading an anthology of garden stories edited by Diana Secker Tesdell These are stories set in gardens I like reading old favourites too Irsquove been reading the diaries of Samuel Pepys and a book about the real Robinson Crusoe I enjoy detective stories and crime fiction as well especially of Patricia Highsmith and Dorothy B Hughes Most of the good crime writers were women Ruskin Bond at his residence in Landour Mussoorie File picMD You write about the everyday wonders around you mdash books flowers pickles on your dining table your family your cat Mimi Did you always have the idea of putting these together as a bookRB This is a journal in a way In fact some of the short essays in the book are extracts or meditations from my journal All my life Irsquove kept a diary or a journal and a lot of the material from it has often gone into my stories Itrsquos a very useful thing for a writer to keep a journal especially someone like me who writes a lot out of his own life the people he knows or the experiences hersquos hadOver the years most of my writing has been fiction But I think this sort of writing contemplation from a journal suits a person who is in his nineties and is looking back on life Itrsquos a bit of homespun philosophy and thoughts on the past the present and possibly the futureMD You also mention that you still have some of the animist in you How do you keep that spirit aliveRB I do relate to the natural world a lot I love growing things although I donrsquot have a big garden space Wherever I can I like to grow things flowers and plants The further I can go outside the town the more I enjoy the world around meAn illustration of the author in his former abode Maplewood Cottage right An illustrated portrait of Ruskin Bond Illustrations courtesyKajal Bhojawala Excerpted with permission from Penguin Random House IndiaMD Apart from the memory of reading Emily Bronteumlrsquos Wuthering Heights at the age of 14 do you recall other authors whose writing shaped your imagination when you were growing upRB I was a bookworm as a boy At school we had a good library When they saw I was fond of books they put me in charge of it So I had the keys to the library for twothree years Whenever I wanted to escape early morning PT or extra homework Irsquod slip off to the library lock myself in and readI read everything there from the plays of GB Shaw to the successive writers of that period like Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene I read the classics too the complete works of Charles Dickens and the Bronteumls It led to my wanting to become a writer Irsquom a reader first and writer second If I have a good book to read Irsquod quietly put aside my own work and finish the book that Irsquom readingMD And which book or story was your favourite to writeRB I started writing in the 1950s I think some of the short stories I wrote then when I was 19 or 20 were my best We used to travel by train A lot of my stories were set in railway stations or platforms Irsquod see beautiful girls and Irsquod fall in love with them and never see them again A very romantic period you can sayI still enjoy looking at those storiesAs I grew older I started writing about children and nature Itrsquos very hard to pin down a real favourite but maybe The Night Train at Deoli Very often though the story I like best is the one Irsquom writing Itrsquos good to be enjoying the one yoursquore working onI still have some of the animist in me Ruskin Bond Every day is Earth Day Ruskin Bond The authorrsquos pet cat MimiMD Small towns often feature in your narratives You point at their delights and what they sometimes hide Do you have a memory of a town that inspired you to write a work of fictionRB Oh yes In fact Irsquom currently working on a short nonfiction book Itrsquos about all the small towns of India I used to visit as a boy and a young man There will be stories about these towns and the people who lived there that I might have met Over the years villages have grown into towns small towns into big towns big towns have become cities cities have become megacities I like writing about these places because most of them have changed a lot I try to capture the atmosphere of what they were like once and the people in them Itrsquos the people who really make up the placeAvailable At all leading bookstores and estoresCost Rs 399Also check outRuskin Bondrsquos Walk with Me A Nature Journal Red PandaatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params