May 1999, Mussoorie. I was walking through the streets of this most charming of Indian hill stations and imagined spotting Ruskin Bond, the author everywhere. In a restaurant, in a bookshop, on the Mall road. My family and I had travelled all the way from Pune to Mussoorie to meet Ruskin, arguably one of India’s greatest writers. And the wait was unbearable.
In fact, to create the right ambience we had been reading his short stories on the journey up from the plains. When we camped in Dehradun the earlier night, I appropriately began re-reading his popular, ‘Our trees still grow in Dehra’ book and imagined that every tree and house that I spotted was a character from his book. Can you blame me? This is the effect Ruskin has on most readers.
Back then, I was a journalist with a Pune newspaper. One Monday morning I just picked up the phone and dialled Ruskin’s home number seeking an appointment for an interview in Mussoorie. I also asked him if my small family, all Ruskin fans, could accompany me to his home. He agreed and we embarked on what was a very memorable journey.
On the appointed morning, my wife Shobhana, our daughter Tanvi, then just six years old and father-in-law, Prabhakar, then a sprightly 80 all walked up the steep slopes of the hill station to reach Landour Bazar, the quaint corner where Ruskin lived. Ruskin greeted us at the door of his ‘Ivy Cottage’ home. We settled down in his cosy, drawing room eating some delicious cake over steaming cups of tea.
My father-in-law told Ruskin, how much he loved his writing and our daughter went up to him shyly with two of his books. Ruskin gave Tanvi a big smile and signed the books. I settled down with Ruskin for a chat on his famous balcony, which housed his writing table and trusted typewriter. The same balcony, from where he viewed Landour Bazar, chatting with the milkman, the baker and the neighbourbood shopkeeper. During the course of the interview, Ruskin even enquired about the erstwhile, Manney’s bookstore of Pune. “Lovely bookshop. I fondly remember my chats with its founder owner, the late Mr VG Mani. Very passionate bookseller.”
As we bid farewell to the writer and descended the narrow staircase of his cottage to hit the Landour road, a sense of deep fulfilment and gratitude enveloped us. We waved back at the author, as he stood in the balcony.
Years later in early 2007, another opportunity to catch up with Ruskin presented itself. Stephen Alter, author and Mussoorie resident organised the first, Mussoorie International Writers’ Festival which I attended. It was a fantastic conference. Writers, publishers and editors of various hues rubbed shoulders with each other in the crisp Mussoorie air. There was Bill Aitken, the ace travel writer, who also lived in the hill station, the popular travel writer couple of Hugh and Colleen Gantzer and several noted American authors.
The conference was also attended by Ruskin’s long-time buddy, Ganesh Saili, whose name often crops up in many Ruskin stories. Sitting with Ganesh in his lovely garden overlooking the hill station I quizzed him about Ruskin and the lovely times they have had together. Ganesh said, “Both Ruskin and I love to walk. We have trekked most of this region. Ruskin might be a man of few words, but he has a great sense of humour!”
At the festival, Ruskin enthralled everyone one windy evening with a charming poem about climbing the walking road from Rajpur to Mussoorie. At dinner that evening, I had the good fortune to share a table with Ruskin, film maker Vishal Bharadwaj and his singer wife, Rekha. Vishal had already made the national awardwinning children’s film, ‘The Blue Umbrella’ based on Ruskin’s short story. We discussed the joys and challenges of converting a Ruskin story into a film. While Vishal waxed eloquent on the topic, Ruskin simply smiled, nodded and concentrated on the chicken curry instead!
Ruskin has always been a keen and enthusiastic walker. We spoke about his penchant for walking. “I do not own a car nor a scooter and have always relied on my legs to take me from one place to the other. Walking keeps me fit and allows me to see places and meet people,” Ruskin said.
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