Ruskin Bond
It's amazing to dwell in the world of fantasy and fear.Collection: Amazing
From the age of 17 through my 20s, I was living on my own, so sometimes I wouldn't even tell anybody it was my birthday. It was not a big thing for me.Collection: Birthday
You may not enjoy loneliness, because loneliness is sad. But solitude is something else; solitude is what you look forward to when you want to be alone, when you want to be with yourself. So, solitude is something we all need from time to time.Collection: Sad
Sometimes good stories are created while documenting dreams.Collection: Dreams
Respect the language in which you write. Be kind, develop good vocabulary, and be creative in writing beautiful sentences. Your prose should be your poetry when you write.Collection: Respect
I get inspiration from a lot of things around me - nature, hills, people, and even insects.Collection: Nature
I am a sleepy fellow. I will take a nice long nap the first chance I get.Collection: Chance
Solitude helps you reflect.
As you grow older, life seems funnier.
A lot of school-going children are familiar with my writing. I am basically very much a children books author.
Ghosts are all around us. Look for them, and you will find them.
The older you get, the lesser you are bothered by what others think.
Children haven't changed - the world around them has. Their basic natures haven't changed. They like ice creams. They like to have fun, play games if they get space.
Many people told me such convincing ghost stories that I felt that there really were ghosts, though I hadn't seen any. And though I still haven't seen a ghost, I feel that they are all around us; we are just not aware of them being there.
I had a bad habit of falling in love with any girl who was nice to me.
Yes, I do seek solitude, but I am never lonely.
I am hopeless with machinery. I could never learn to drive a car except into a wall.
I use a ball pen because fountain pens are clumsy, and I get ink all over my fingers by the time I finish with it.
As a schoolboy, I loved Charles Dickens. His 'David Copperfield' has had the strongest influence on me - I looked up to David Copperfield as a role model.
I've lived in small rooms, flats, growing plants in pots on window sills. I'd have liked to have had a full-fledged garden with all kinds of flowers and plants. I've never had enough money to buy a big enough garden space.
Change has to come. It's not always what you'd like. It's what other people like.
I have no real regrets.
Jokes apart, I, like many other, am looking for strong and stable government. I don't want any chaotic political situation where the elected government is being toppled frequently.
My mother wanted me to join the Indian army, as the army was seen as a decent and respectable career to have. I shocked my mother by telling her that I wanted to be a writer.
My first, 'Room on the Roof,' was the longest book I've written.
I liked the old comic books, especially the funny ones like 'Popeye' and 'Beetle Bailey.'
I find it very lucky to be an Indian and living in India.
I used to consider myself a loner.
I was a bookworm in school, and in those days it was easy to get books. Bigger cities had book shops.
I always look for a bookshop wherever I go.
I'm rather fond of my awards.
When I was growing up, I remember having read all the books in the library. I often tried to emulate my favourite writers.
Writing for children may have kept me young at heart.
One has to be ambitious to start writing.
I have been naturally inclined towards mountains, trees, flowers, and rivers.
I like flowers. In my next life, maybe I can be a gardener.
For the film 'Saat Khoon Maaf,' which was adapted from my story 'Susanna's Seven Husbands,' I did collaborate on the screenplay. I even took a small role in the film, of a priest.
A few years after my father's death, my mother sent me to the United Kingdom for 'better prospects' in 1951. Those four years were not easy.
I'm a pickle fiend. I like all kinds of pickles: garlic pickle, lemon pickle, mango pickle, jackfruit pickle, you name it.
If I set out to write 'War And Peace' or 'A Suitable Boy,' I'd be miserable.
I suppose in the long run, it's the good work that outlasts the shoddy work, but there's enough room for all kinds of writing.
I have been apolitical all my life.
Small places intrigue me. Whenever I tried moving to a larger city, I ran back to the hills.
There was Uncle Ken of mine about whom I wrote a lot of stories. I can always write stories about uncles and aunts and distant relatives. They have to be distant, though; otherwise, you'll be in trouble.
I am a compulsive writer.
I have always discouraged young writers from self-publishing, by which I mean going to a vanity publisher and spending your hard earned savings - say, some two-three lakhs - and getting your book printed. It's not published; it's printed!
I keep a journal, like many writers do. It helps in writing a story, as you can use an incident from the journal and put in your story.
All my works over the years have been autobiographical in the sense they reflect some part of my life, although I have fictionalised them to an extent.
Books of exploration have always fascinated me, like somebody going up the Amazon for the first time.
I enjoy writing personal essays in the way of Charles Lamb because it goes back to the school days when I was good in writing essays.