AUTUMN SONATA

Sound advice from Ruskin Bond on how to live a good life, especially in the twilight years

- Bhaichand Patel

THE GOLDEN YEARS The Many Joys of Living a Good Long Life by Ruskin Bond HARPERCOLLINS

One is never too old to write a novel or any other book for that matter. Agatha Christie was well into her eighties when she wrote some of her bestselling detective stories. At the age of 90, P.G. Wodehouse continued to regale us with stories of Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves. The body might falter but, if you are lucky, the brain will keep ticking away. Ruskin Bond, one of our most admired writers, is still active. At the age of 89, he has come up with a gem. The Golden Years is about the many joys of living a good, long life.

Bond is never lonely, but he enjoys solitude. "Loneliness is something that is thrust upon us, solitude is something we seek," he writes. When loneliness threatens to creep in, he goes for long walks through the hills around Landour, the place he calls home and where he is spending his twilight years with his family. Or he settles down in a quiet corner to read a book.

Bond was 17 when he wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof. He wrote it on a portable typewriter he bought with borrowed money. It is now useless, but lies in his attic as a reminder of the person who had so generously lent him the money.