If you understand people, you find stories: Ruskin
Ruskin Bond, one of In dia's most loved writers, will be speaking about his life and writing and also holding a special interaction with children at Times Lit Fest Delhi on November 26-27.He spoke to Tulika Rattan on what inspires him to keep writing and his new projects.ExcerptsYou are a novelist, a poet, a short story writer: which form of writing comes most easily to you?
I enjoy all kinds. I don't suppose one can put me in a particular slot. Sometimes people refer to me as a children's writer -but I am not only a children's writer, I also write stories for the general or adult reader; it's just that some of them turn out to be suitable for the young reader or children. I like to write short stories, poems, essays, short novels -nothing too long because I am quite a lazy fellow.
But writing for children is not easy.
No, it is not easy .
Children want a good story -one in which the reader can easily identify with the protagonist.You have to cut short the long descriptions and start with the story immediately .
Does one need to be driven by an obsession in order to be as prolific as you are?
I am a compulsive writer.As a boy I would scribble away even when you don't expect those things to get published. I would often keep a notebook and jot things that might help me in my writing.But I am lucky , because for the greater part of my life I was able to make a living out of my writing -that is doing something I enjoy and earn a living out of it.
Where do you find your stories?
What motivates you to write?
And how do you develop your plots and characters?
Well, I guess people are stories. If you understand people you find stories. Then I love the natural world -nature, wildlife, animals, birds. I write a lot out of my own life too. And the older I have got the more there is to look back upon: people I have known, friends, incidents, adventures. You don't run out of inspiration.
Your first book was published in 1956. How has the Indian literary scene changed since? What is the future of writing in India?
Yes, it has changed a lot. Back in the 50s and 60s writers would try and get published abroad. We had a lot of magazines and newspapers though, so I would make a living by freelancing with them and I would keep bombarding them with stories and essays, that's why I have so many short stories. And then in the 80s the publishing sort of came awake, Penguin India came into India. So, now I think writers have quite a lot of publishers to choose from.
You have written so much about nature, I am sure it is all the more painful for you to see the hills being trashed with mindless construction.
It's become much commercialised now. I remember when I first came to live in Mussoorie about 40 years back, there were only threefour cars were in the town, and now there are more than three thousand to four thousand cars.
What are your future projects?
I am working on a book about other forgotten writers from the 30s and 40s.Then, there is a book about my childhood in Delhi -before Independence, during World War II, 1942-43, when as a small boy I lived with my father in a part of New Delhi, Connaught Place as it was back then, and streets of India Gate and what we did together. It is quite nostalgic. Also, there's an autobiography in the offing.
Times Litfest Delhi, presented by Rajnigandha Silver Pearls, is on Nov 26 & 27 at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road. Entry is free.
All welcome. For schedule & details, visit TOI.inTLFD
I enjoy all kinds. I don't suppose one can put me in a particular slot. Sometimes people refer to me as a children's writer -but I am not only a children's writer, I also write stories for the general or adult reader; it's just that some of them turn out to be suitable for the young reader or children. I like to write short stories, poems, essays, short novels -nothing too long because I am quite a lazy fellow.
But writing for children is not easy.
No, it is not easy .
Children want a good story -one in which the reader can easily identify with the protagonist.You have to cut short the long descriptions and start with the story immediately .
Does one need to be driven by an obsession in order to be as prolific as you are?
I am a compulsive writer.As a boy I would scribble away even when you don't expect those things to get published. I would often keep a notebook and jot things that might help me in my writing.But I am lucky , because for the greater part of my life I was able to make a living out of my writing -that is doing something I enjoy and earn a living out of it.
Where do you find your stories?
What motivates you to write?
And how do you develop your plots and characters?
Well, I guess people are stories. If you understand people you find stories. Then I love the natural world -nature, wildlife, animals, birds. I write a lot out of my own life too. And the older I have got the more there is to look back upon: people I have known, friends, incidents, adventures. You don't run out of inspiration.
Your first book was published in 1956. How has the Indian literary scene changed since? What is the future of writing in India?
Yes, it has changed a lot. Back in the 50s and 60s writers would try and get published abroad. We had a lot of magazines and newspapers though, so I would make a living by freelancing with them and I would keep bombarding them with stories and essays, that's why I have so many short stories. And then in the 80s the publishing sort of came awake, Penguin India came into India. So, now I think writers have quite a lot of publishers to choose from.
You have written so much about nature, I am sure it is all the more painful for you to see the hills being trashed with mindless construction.
It's become much commercialised now. I remember when I first came to live in Mussoorie about 40 years back, there were only threefour cars were in the town, and now there are more than three thousand to four thousand cars.
What are your future projects?
I am working on a book about other forgotten writers from the 30s and 40s.Then, there is a book about my childhood in Delhi -before Independence, during World War II, 1942-43, when as a small boy I lived with my father in a part of New Delhi, Connaught Place as it was back then, and streets of India Gate and what we did together. It is quite nostalgic. Also, there's an autobiography in the offing.
Times Litfest Delhi, presented by Rajnigandha Silver Pearls, is on Nov 26 & 27 at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road. Entry is free.
All welcome. For schedule & details, visit TOI.inTLFD
Source: Times of India, 17-11-2016
