A Fan of Ruskin Bond

 

(This is what I wrote for Mr. Bond's birthday in 2017)

Let’s start with the traditional story-telling method. Once there was a beautiful princess and a handsome prince. They got married and lived happily ever after. Ohhhh! What is this? Oh yes! The story is not about any prince or princess. So what exactly is the story about? Let’s see.

Once there was a girl (Ahmmmmm ‘lady’ of 37 but a teenager at heart). Once, while visiting a bookshop, she came across a book entitled Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. The writer was Ruskin Bond. She was not as fascinated by the name of the writer as by the title of the book. Dehra. Wow! Hills. Trees. Fresh and cool breeze. The contents of the book must be good. She at once bought the book. After just five pages and around twenty minutes, she was totally in love with his words. She made a list of his to-be-read books and made it a point to buy 3-4 books every time she would visit a bookstore. And thus she entered the world of the man whose name is Bond, Ruskin Bond. The second book of his she read was Scenes From a Writer’s Life. And that was how she fell in love with his life. She emptied a corner of her room for his books. And to date, she has 80+ books* of him in that corner.

One night she was alone at home. A message beeped on her cell phone, declaring the holiday the next day. That made four consecutive holidays. It was 9:00 pm. A thought crossed her mind, “Let’s go to meet Ruskin sir.” And by 9:30 pm, she had her return train tickets booked, taxi to the railway station booked, hotel room booked, and bags packed. Wow! How can one plan so quickly? No, that was not quick. This planning took two years. She had a long-lived dream to meet his idol Ruskin Bond, and for two years, she had researched a lot and made a plan right from traveling to Landour - to staying options – to how to meet him. She just opened her diary and pushed her dream toward reality.

The next day at 5:00 am, she entered the door of realization of her dream. But there was a long way to go. As she was traveling, a thought crossed her mind ‘What if he is not in the town?’ ‘What if he has gone for some literature meet?’ No! No! No! He will be there. He has to be there. At 7:30 pm that same day, she was in her room at the hotel that has a common wall with the house of Ruskin sir. In fact, her room itself shared a wall with his house. What bliss! You can never describe the feeling in words when you know your idol is just a wall away from you.

The next day dawned with waking her up early. She got ready and went for a walk, but could walk only up to the next door. What stopped her? Yes, you’re right. It was the door to Ruskin sir’s house. Red staircase leading to the main door, and the famous D-shaped windows. She couldn’t move ahead. She sat on the other side of the road and kept staring towards those windows – these are those famous windows, featured in many of his articles, from where he sees the world and collects themes for his stories and essays, the place where he keeps his potted plants and where he indulges in a conversation with a mynah or a squirrel. All these thoughts crossed her mind, and she felt thrilled. After spending around half an hour, waiting for him to show up from those windows and wave and smile at her, she went away and roamed around his home.

Later in the day, she went to the Cambridge Book Depot, the place that has made a lot of dreams real. Here Mr. Bond shows up every Saturday to meet his fans. It was Friday. There was Mr. Sunil Arora, the owner. Because of him, Ruskin sir’s fans have a stage for meeting their favorite author. Such a nice man was he that he let her click the picture of the empty chair where Ruskin sir sits and meets his fans. He laughed when she asked him about the picture. What a crazy girl! She posted the picture on her Ruskin Bond fan group on Facebook and started a storm. Everybody took the chair as the throne on which their idol sits every week. She bought some books to be autographed by him the next day. The rest 24 hours were spent thinking about what she would ask Mr. Bond when she’ll meet him.

The day came. It was 2:00 pm. He was supposed to come at 3:30 pm. But she couldn’t wait anymore and went to the shop. The queue started with her. Every minute was like hours. The clock was now showing 3:30 pm. But Ruskin sir was nowhere to be seen. At 3:50 pm, a car stopped in front of the shop. Mr. Sunil Arora came out and opened the back door of the car. And here he comes. OMG! She was watching him for the first time. Her Idol! The man seemed to come out of the book covers.

Some were trying to shake hands with him, and some were trying to touch him, but she was too stunned to speak or move. She just kept staring at the man. He seemed to her like her own father coming straight out of the heavens. She wanted to touch him, hug him, and chat with him for hours, but still couldn’t utter a single word for a few seconds when she was told that it was her turn to meet him and get her books autographed by him. A few seconds later she managed to speak but forgot everything she had thought earlier to ask him. She was given only one minute with him but seemed like an eternity in itself. And with the success of the Mission Ruskin Bond, she came back to her hometown with memories for a lifetime.

P.S. Ruskin sir, if you’re reading this, I just want to say Thank You for your invaluable words. You have changed my life. You have given a direction to it. Because of your writing, I’ve coped with stress and anxiety and have learned how to smile over little things in life. Thank You so much, sir.

(15th May 2017)

*The number is now doubled. It is 160+

P.P.S. After around six years of writing it, I have roughly corrected a lot of grammatical mistakes. I surely am lucky that Mr. Bond not only read it at that time but also chose it among the winners despite a pile of grammatical errors. And I got these goodies:

-Ekta Kubba