Ruskin Bond- Book of Humour

Before I get to Ruskin Bond, I saw an Iranian movie and was impressed-again. The Song of Sparrows stars an ungainly looking hero- middle-aged, ugly, bearded, and a poor guy, a father with three kids, who loses a job tending to Ostriches, and then gets one as a motorcycle taxiwala in Teheran accidentally His adventures, limited as they are, are all that the film traverses, but HOW! It is amazing how these guys churn out world-class movies which make for riveting viewing so effortlessly, without a huge star cast or any of the melodrama we find in Bollywood. One of the scenes has his leg in a plaster, and his kids fighting over who will draw/paint on the cast- brilliant thinking.

Coming to Ruskin Bond, his Book of Humour is my first Bond book. I was bowled over by his style of writing, and regretted not having read him before. Better late than never. He talks about almost anything with a humour that is simple, engaging and inimitable. From his uncles that rival Wodehouse's aunts, to his own foibles, everything takes on a unique charm in his world. He talks about an uncle who out of habit tries to poison him, and how he gets away with it by switching glasses - a la Hindi films- in one of the stories.

A fun read!

Ruskin Bond- A Nice Man to Know

I happened to watch an interview with the man on national TV the other day. I was really impressed. I am not easily impressed by people (usually celebrities) most of whom I find faking things, looking to promote themselves or their immediate work (normally films).

Self-effacing must be his second name. I confess I have not read any of his work, and may do so now, because of my interest in him as a person. Loveable is a term that comes to mind. He has a gentle humour which comes through in this interview. A couple of observations he made were really heart-warming. A couple of his young readers told him that he should put more action in his stories.-that they are slow-moving.

He is also the writer of ghost stories, apparently. He wrote the story that was converted into Saat Khoon Maaf, about a wife serially murdering seven husbands- so he is not as innocent as he looks. He confessed he had a few more ways of killing them he had thought about but did not use in the story!

On living in India, he said it is far more interesting than Europe, which is a bit monotonous. An astute observation, one that I agree with, even regarding the U.S.