FROM THE HILLS TO YOUR HEART

On his 90th birthday, renowned author Ruskin Bond released his new book that works as a self-help guide for everyone who harbours a dream

- SREELAKSHMI S NAIR

READING was more than just a hobby for me. It was my way of escaping into the oak or deodar forests, scented with the smell of fallen leaves and rhododendron flowers, with the warbles of mynahs ringing in my ears. But that wasn't all. As if in a dream, my mind would drift away to munching hot jalebis, my pyjamas bearing the traces of mud from my trails in Landour Bazaar, all the while mindful of the towering, dilapidated clock tower chiming at midnight. Well, this is what a fantasy life sounded like to a nineyear-old who was living away in a land of deserts, yearning for endless days amid the majestic Himalayas. You may be wondering how I managed to vividly conjure these images in my mind. It's all thanks to the author, Ruskin Bond, the wizard of words as I prefer to call him.

Despite never visiting Mussoorie, knowing it more than my hometown didn't come as a surprise to anyone I met. My ardent desire to meet the writer, fondly called Mr. Bond, often ended up in me making unrealistic travel plans that sparked unwelcome quarrels at home. As seasons shifted both in nature and in my life, new chapters were inscribed onto its pages: some in burnt orange, a few in bright yellow, and quite memorable ones in pine green. Yet, amid these changes, one thing remained constant: my love for the mountains a sole characteristic trait I would say that I've picked up from Ruskin Bond.

It felt like a silver lining had been added to a dark, bellied cloud (a phrase that I surely adopted from one of his stories) when his recent book landed on my lap (read: mail) titled Hold Onto Your Dreams: A Letter to Young Friends, a Penguin Random House publication, released for his 90th birthday (May 19).