Bond, who has spent 84 years of his life in the country, says he feels justified in celebrating 75 years of India’s Independence along with millions of his fellow citizens.
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Much loved , decorated and dearly loved writer, 87-year-old Ruskin Bond, who has spent 84 years of his life in India, pays homage to his beloved country in his newly released book “A Little Book of India: Celebrating 75 years of Independence”, a PTI report in the Indian Express, says.
.Published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI), the book promises to take readers on a journey filled with nostalgia and devotion.
Says Bond: “This little book does not claim to be a political or historical analysis of events, although I have dwelt on the highlights of the last 75 years of India’s progress to maturity as a nation.
“It is a record of some of my memories and impressions of this unique land — of its rivers and forests, literature and culture, sights, sounds and colours — an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual,” write the author in the book’s introduction .
Born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh), Bond grew up in Jamnagar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Shimla. He is the recipient of the Sahitya Akademi Award, Sahitya Akademi’s Bal Sahitya Puraskar, Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, among several other prestigious awards
“It is a record of some of my memories and impressions of this unique land — of its rivers and forests, literature and culture, sights, sounds and colours — an amalgamation of the physical and spiritual,” write the author in the book’s introduction .
When he was 17, his first novel, “The Room on the Roof“, won him the ‘John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize’ in 1957. Since then he has written a number of novellas, essays, poems and children’s books. He has also written over 500 short stories and articles that have appeared in magazines and anthologies.
Premanka Goswami, associate publisher at PRHI says “From its landscape to its people, culture, flora and fauna, among others, Ruskin Bond pays homage to his beloved India on the 75th year of its Independence. We feel privileged to publish this work,” Goswami told PTI.
The book available for sale online and in bookshops, is priced at Rs 250.
Since 1963, Ruskin Bond has been living in Ivy Cottage, Landour, Mussoorie.
One his books “A Flight of Pigeons” was made into a film ‘Junoon’ in Hindi. Shot entirely in Lucknow, the 1979 film was directed by Shyam Benegal and produced by Shashi Kapoor .It is the love story of a feudal Pathan Chieftan Javed Khan (Shashi Kappoor) and an English lady Ruth (Nafisa Ali) and set against the backdrop of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Other members of the cast included Shashi Kapoor’s, wife Jennifer Kendal, Tom Alter, Shabana Azmi, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Naseeruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Pearl Padamsee and Sushma Seth.
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