Ruskin Bond Author of The Kashmiri storyteller will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to writing, but he can’t stop gushing about his guest appearance in Saat Khoon Maaf.
Many of us have childhood memories of soaking up the sun during winter vacations, with a book in hand and engrossed in the adventures of Rusty in The Room on the Roof.
While the master storyteller, Ruskin Bond, has kept us spellbound with his tales of mischief, he has come out with a new book which immortalizes the lost species – the storyteller.
In his latest book, The Kashmiri Storyteller, he brings alive the idyllic life in a series of folktales by an old gentleman who sits down with a hukkah and tells stories to local children.
The Padma Shri award had written the stories a long time back, but decided to get them published now. Talking about the story behind the story, he says, “I had written the stories a long time, but the editor in London asked me o remove the storyteller, which I refused to do as I wanted to preserve that atmosphere of children listening to a storyteller. The storyteller and children in my books are real people and I promised them that they would begin my story. I had kept the stories aside but I came across them while rummaging through some stuff and thought well, ‘not bad’”.
The stories have been published by Penguin and feature colorful illustrations.
While the book is titled a The Kashmiri Storyeller, but Bond clarifies that the stories are not restricted to the valley, “these are universal stories which can be enjoyed by children everywhere.”
Author of innumerable children’s stories, he himself has quite a few books which he still loves to read, “I can read Alice in Wonderland again and again, the other day I found a copy of the Wuthering Heights – it had kept me up all night when I read it first at 12, and it kept me up this time too,” he reveals.
The author, who lives a quiet and non-controversial life in Landour, is glad to be finally noticed for the Lifetime Achievement Award, “I’m not a recluse. I am just an old-fashioned writer who keeps himself tucked away and writes. I have been scribbling away for the past 50-60 years, I was pleased that they finally noticed me!” he adds humorously.
While he is been honoured for his writing, Bond is quite sure that he won’t be receiving the Oscars for his acting debut in Saat Khoon Maaf – a movie based on his short story Sussanah’s Seven Husbands.
“In one scene, I had to kiss Priyanka on the cheek in a fatherly fashion. In the first take I knocked off her glasses, after 12 takes the director asked me if I was doing it deliberately. I don’t think I created an impression, as you see I haven’t got any more acting offers since then,” he chuckles.
With a huge fan-following among the literally inclined, Mr. Bond surely won’t miss the red-carpet adulation.
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