The name is Bond. Ruskin Bond.

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Hello everyone!! End semester examinations kept me away. But now I am back!! Not only on this blog, but also back home!! Kolkata. :)
Though I am extremely happy to be back, but right now "Home is where the 'Heat' is." temperatures are soaring to an astonishing 42*C and the humidity might as well be 100%!!! It is honestly TOO HOT in here to do anything at all!! Turning up the air conditioner and lying down on the floor with a book is still a perform-able activity however. 
Even though I am two days late, I would like to wish Mr Ruskin Bond a very Happy Eightieth Birthday. ^_^

Even though these are the only two Ruskin Bond books I have in my possession, I have spent a major part of my childhood reading a few dozen more from the school library. Be it funny children's stories or stories that touch the heart and tug at the conscience in a most mature manner, be it eerie ghost stories or strange tales of love, Ruskin Bond catered to my every reading need as a child and continues to crash waves of nostalgia upon my mind.
Though works such as 'The Blue Umbrella' and 'Room on the Roof' have gained popularity due to their celluloid adaptations and incorporation into school curriculum, my favourites have been different.
The witty macabre style of writing that I have never found in another author is well displayed in 'He Said it with Arsenic' and 'A Job Well Done'. What struck me about these short stories was the lack of righteous remorse and the unapologetic wit that is so real somehow.
The love stories that Bond writes are also beautiful and unexpected. 'Time Stops at Shamli', 'The Night Train to Deoli', 'The Girl from Copenhagen' and 'The Eyes Have It' are my favourites in that order. The unfinished nature of the love stories pull at one's heart as the conclusion is left to the reader's imagination.
'The Thief' and 'Would Astley Return?' are two of my favourites about the power of friendship. Ruskin Bond's victory is in the effortless use of words to make one feel emotions.



Ruskin Bond books have made many uneventful afternoons of my childhood full of adventures, and continues to do so even today. 

"And when all the wars are over, a Butterfly will still be beautiful." - Ruskin Bond

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