the book is a journey to the past of the author. it is difficult to sieve out where the reminiscences end and fiction begins. feast for a reader who loves to know about india and its people. it's the connossieur working at his best. the english man wrote about india better than most of indian authors. his macabre tales are also very interesting.

Read the "Night Train at Deoli". And see if you don't remember an airport, a railway station, a dock ... and a loved one waving goodbye.

Ruskin Bond is the first author I've read who doesn't try to show off his command over the language[english] by using the most difficult words he can find and flaunting his excellent vocabulary.In other words he uses very simple english. When I first read this book the thing that most impressed me was the depth in his writing and his characters despite the simple language. A collection of some touching stories and essays,"Delhi is not far" can be described in just one word - beautiful.

His style of writing and his stories clearly show the Indian in him. On the whole, reading this book was a very satisfying experience.

touching and beautiful.

I found this book by chance in Karacht years ago and I was really deeply moved by the wonderful stories written by Mr Bond. Most of my students also find the stories charming and touching. If I had to keep only one book for the rest of my life, this of course is the ONE.

This book is one in a million and is a ray of light in our material world.Kudos Mr.Bond!

'The Angry river' is a classic book enriched with beauty, drama and adventure. Ruskin Bond has created, vividly described, beautiful pen-pictures which only a true artist can create. It is about a little girl called Sita, who lives with her grandmother in a thatched hut, on a small island surrounded by enchanting scenery and greenry. Once when Sita's grandmother becomes sick, she has to be taken to a hospital by boat.Sita is left alone at home. And then the island becomes flooded--for the first time in twenty years! Sita is frightened, but does not give up hope. She is swept away, but she clingers on to the trustworthy old tree which has been there as long as she could remember. Sita's dogged, ruthless,unbending determination helps her to survive.She does not abandon hope. In the end, she is saved by a boy with a boat, Krishna who has been given the title of 'the boy' in this extremely imaginative book. It has been truly said that 'Winners never quit, and quitters never win.' It is indeed another one of the 'masterpieces' of Mr. Ruskin Bond. I highly recommend it. Let's hope that Mr. Bond keeps on writing books as well as this one.

In this exciting and hilarious story, Ruskin Bond describes the adventures of 'Grandfather' as he tries to make a Private Zoo!From monkeys to snakes and from Hornbills tobuffaloes, Mr.Bond has created a world of its own. Grandfather bought Toto the monkey from a tonga-driver(A tonga is a small wooden platform with wheels, pulled by horses) .Toto was alittle red monkey with bright eyes. Toto was loved by all in Grandfather's family. But unfortunately, Toto was a very naughty and cheeky creature. he managed to get Grandpa in all sorts of troubles and it was not long before he was sold back to the tonga-driver--for almost half the price! Grandfather also bought a conceited python.It was also very troublesome. The python loved to look itself at the mirror, so Grandpa used its weakness to get rid of it. I highly recommend it.

Ruskin Bond is one of the very few authors who write not only for a living, but for the sheer pleasure of writing. His works are mostly semi-autobiographical and semi-fictional. Reading Ruskin Bond's books gives you that feeling of oneness with the author himself, while he skillfully mesmerizes you, not letting you sense the fiction in his writing. Time Stops at Shamli is a collection of simple yet compelling stories that happen in rural India. Ruskin Bond's characters are mostly ordinary men and women, who usually have a rather uneventful life. However, that does not make them less interesting in any way. The title story, Time Stops at Shamli, revloves around his adolescent love, and the other stories provide excellent variety. I can always feel that trace of subtle humor in all his stories, which is actually very difficult to embed.

Ruskin Bond penned this novella when he was only 17 years old in 1951, and I think it is an excellent book for everyone but for young people in particular. The story started in this book is continued in "Vagrants In The Valley", and if you get this book, I suggest you also get "Vagrants" as it completes and complements this book nicely. Both books are semi-autobiographical and offer a very good glimpse into the "real India". Although it may be said to lack a certain depth or maturity, the book hold up surprisingly well with repeated readings due to its perennial freshness and wonder. We follow our young hero as he leaves a domineering and hostile, suffocating environment with his English guardian to explore the world beyond the protestant community that he was raised in. He essentially becomes a vagrant, but he discovers his freedom as well, and goes on to make friends with several other street children of the bazaar. He gets his first job, falls in love with an older woman, and grows a good deal in the book, before taking to the road and leaving his hometown when it no longer has anything to offer him. The end of the book will kind of leave you hanging if you don't read the sequel. By itself, I would give this book a three-star rating, but when combined with "Vagrants" I would promote it to a four-star. The innocence of a young writer and the yearning for adventure shine through particularly well in this little delight of a book.

This enchanting novel by Ruskin Bond is written in his trademark close-to-nature style. The world-renowned author writes from his true experience of the world. This story is autobiographical in nature.

This novel takes the reader on a journey of rural India through the eyes of a 16-year old boy .The panorama of the advancing Indian Monsoon adds a melodious romance to the novel. Bond’s bold yet touching style of writing combined with the intriguing story and plot make this novel an engaging adventure. Winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957, this book is a page-turner.

Like the Indian bazaar itself, the book is filled with smells, sights, sounds, confusion and subtle organization of ordinary Indian life.

Rusty, the hero of the novel is unhappy with his strict guardian & being confined to the declining Euopean community in Dehra Dun Finally, one day he is bold enough to venture into forbidden Indian Territory. He meets ‘Somi’ the Sikh boy. A boy of strange perpetual rejoices, he soon becomes Rusty’s best friend. ‘Ranbir’, Hindu by caste, and the strongest wrestler in the bazaar invokes in Rusty a rebellious spirit that earns him his freedom for life. Then there is Suri. Bespectacled and owlish to behold, Suri possesses an almost criminal cunning, and is both respected and despised by all who know him. His interests are confined to people and their privacies; which privacies, when known to Suri, are made public.

After running away from home, his newfound friends’ shelter him and soon he gets a job as an English teacher of Mr. Kapoor’s son. Mr. Kapoor was once a rich man who has lost his job because of his addiction to alcohol.

His only support is his lovely wife Meena who soon takes a special place in Rusty’s heart. But the most important member of the family is their son Kishan, who also becomes Rusty’s best friend. They have a lovely time together and Meena gives Rusty the best gift of his life. A lonely room on their house’s roof. His very own room! Scarcely furnished, but incredibly close to the Banyan tree, and nature in general. A place he could call home.He called it ‘ The room on the Roof ’

_______Review written by- Jatin Vij

I read this book as part of my high school curriculum, many years ago. I have read it quite a few times hence. Bond brings out Dehradun so beautifully...

This book is exciting and thrilling to read.Written by 'The Original Bond', it has that fresh, mountain-air charm that so refreshingly characterise Bond's dreamy stories. The tale revolves around the bangle tinkling, lithe, agile Binya and her relationship with a skimpy, sky- blue umbrella scarved with a 'Lady's touch' which forms the most important vertex of the triangle, also involving Ram Bharosa, the stingy grouch. The umbrella then leads to an entire range of chain reactions, ranging from a physical scuffle, envy and finally,metamorphosis.Also her attachment to her brother,Bijju, shows a burst of sisterly love. The final irony seems to lie in the fact that at the end, the umbrella is abandoned to the pursuit of a better relationship. Bond, nevertheless, laughs his way to triumph, knowing that his audience love the book inspite of its paradox. Leading from tiger claws to victories and downfalls, this book is 'unputdownable'. Tripping lightly through the Mussourie landscape, the tale twists and turns as subtly as a stream, submerging all going through this book and seeping them with wonder at the charm, naivety and most of all, the simplicity of Binya's world.

In this book the author talks about his semi-autobiographic experiences.Whether it is a thrilling escape from a place grasped in the clutches of the World War 2 or even his life after his fathers death, this book is emotional and shows the child authors view towards life and his way of handling it . It also includes the enthralling story'A flight of Pigeons' which talks about two foreign ladies experience while in custody of a notorious bandit.

The first (three-page) story itself gave me the heebie-jeebies. Yet to go beyond that.

Good chance that it will scare you ... wit-less!

This book is a compilation of love stories and poems from the classical literature and folklore of India by Mr. Ruskin Bond; who is the India's best-loved author.

The collection includes the stories by well-known works like Kalidasa's Meghadutam and Prince Ilango Adigal's Shilappadikaram as well as the lesser-known writers of ancient India. The book featured many charming stories of Hindu gods and goddesses in love, and nineteenth-century retellings of folk tales from Kashmir, Punjab, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The book is both passionate and sensuous in its contents and is sure to appeal to the romantic in all of us.