From romanticizing the hilly lifeside like no other author in India to falling in love with girls on railway stations, Ruskin Bond is a writer of British descent who has been writing from Landour, a British India-era cantonment town just above Mussoorie, ever since 1964. His wealth of stories have always encouraged emerging and young writers encourages young writers to try his simple style of writing that do not make their readers toil and sweat.
Those who have grown up reading short stories and novels by the iconic Indian novelist can vouch for the escapism that his writings have provided in their simplicity, mountain based and solitude dripping style. With a career spanning over six decades, Bond is credited for making a bond with our childhood with his feel-good-factor and freshness in his writings coming from his enjoyment of a life of solitude, surrounded by nature, the hills and the mountains that have a calming influence on the readers.
As India’s most loved storyteller turns 87, here are 30 beautiful takes of his on love, life and happiness which will convince you that there is still some beauty in the world despite all the conflicts and lives being lost:
1. And when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.
2. To be able to laugh and to be merciful are the only things that make man better than the beast
3. Hapiness is as exclusive as a butterfly, and you must never pursue it. If you stay very still, it may come and settle on your hand. But only briefly. Savour those moments, for they will not come in your way very often.
4. All glory comes from daring to begin.
5. On books and friends I spend my money; For stones and bricks I haven’t any.
6. Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much.
7. Love is undying,of that I feel certain. I mean deep, abiding, cherishing love. The love that gives protection even as you, my guardian angel, gave me protection long after you had gone-and continue to give this very day…A love beyond Death-a love that makes Life alive!
8. It’s courage, not luck, that takes us through to the end of the road.
9. For everytime I see the sky I’m aware of belonging to the universe than to just one corner of the earth.
10. Live close to nature and you’ll never feel lonely. Don’t drive those sparrows out of your veranda; they won’t hack into your computer.
11. One sure way to lose the world and everything in it, is to try grasping it.
12. The best kind of walk, and this applies to the plains as well as to the hills, is the one in which you have no particular destination when you set out.
13. You don’t have to lie if you know how to withhold the truth.
14. If you have secrets, you must have a friend to share them with
15. For the most time I’ve followed instinct rather than intelligence, and this has resulted in a modicum of happiness.
16. Death moves about at random, without discriminating between the innocent and the evil, the poor and the rich. The only difference is that the poor usually handle it better.
17. She was always ready with her smile, and would willingly have lent it to anyone who was feeling unhappy.
18. Until death comes, all is life.
19. Well, it often happens that people with good eyesight fail to see what is right in front of them.
20. Somewhere in life There must be someone To take your hand And share the torrid day. Without the touch of love There is no life, and we must fade away.
21. Nothing is insignificant; nothing is without consequence in the intricate web of life.
22. What is nostalgia, after all, but an attempt to preserve that which was good in the past?
23. But men are cutting down the trees without replacing them. For every tree that’s felled, we must plant two. Otherwise, one day there’ll be no forests at all, and the world will become one great desert.
24. The first condition of happiness is that a man must find joy in his work. Unless the work brings joy, the tedium of an aimless life can be soul-destroying.
25. Live close to nature and your spirit will not be easily broken, for you learn something of patience and resilience. You will not grow restless, and you will never feel lonely.
26. It wouldn’t be much fun living on a planet where grass could not grow.
27. She walked home through the darkening glade, singing of the stars; and the trees stood still and listened to her, and the mountains were glad.
28. Men may sometimes be rather similar, but no two women are ever alike.
29. That man is strongest who stands alone!
30. The tree made its first move, the first overture of friendship. It allowed a leaf to fall.
Here’s wishing Ruskin Bond a very happy birthday and many more fresh jalebis on countless rainy days in Mussoorie!
