12 Wonderful Stories By Ruskin Bond You Should Read At Least Once

Though known mostly for his writings for children, Ruskin Bond is a versatile writer whose writing style caters to all ages. This 81 years young writer celebrates India, it’s common people and especially the Himalayan mountains in his writing like nobody did before.

Here are 12 creations of this Mussoorie based writer that we need to read and re-read right now!

1. The Sensualist

Charged with obscenity when it was first published, this novella is an erotic tale of a man’s sexual awakening and eventual surrender to his libido.

 

2. The Night Train At Deoli

The story of the first love of a college student for a young girl selling baskets at Deoli station, this one remains a pioneer of college love stories.

 

3. The Cherry Tree

This is a beautiful story of the bond between a cherry tree and a boy Rakesh, who plants a cherry seed and watches as the sapling grows through natural and unnatural disasters and was finally awarded with a cherry blossom on his 9th birthday.

 

4. The Tiger In The Tunnel

This is a gripping tale of a very brave man Baldeo, who single handedly takes down a tiger to protect his child.

 

5. Time Stops At Shamli

This story tells the lives of people in a small hill station Shamli, depicted through the eyes of an outsider.

 

6. Susanna’s 7 husbands

This is the story of Susanna Anna-Maria, a beautiful romantic girl, who hopelessly tries to find love in one marriage after another, with all her husbands dying mysteriously.

 

7. Delhi Is Not Far

The story of Arun, an Urdu pulp fiction writer who falls in love with a sex-worker and hopes to escape to Delhi, the land where dreams come true.

 

8. The Room On The Roof

Depicting the story of Rusty, a young orphaned boy, this one was written by Ruskin bond when he was only 17, and has a lot of elements from his life.

 

9. Death Of The Trees

This emotional tale shows Ruskin Bond’s deep affection for the mountains and trees. The clearing of forests by PWD to make roads was compared to him brother’s death by him, “both victims of road”.

 

10. The Blue Umbrella

This tale is about a blue umbrella that a little girl acquires, which brings out the desires and vices and eventually the best in people.

 

11. A Flight Of Pigeons

One of the mutiny novellas, this one is set during the sepoy mutiny of 1857 and tells the story of British Ruth Labadoor and her family who are desperately trying to escape being killed, after Ruth’s father was murdered by the mutineers.

 

12. When Darkness Falls

It tells the story of a scarred war veteran Markham who lives a lonely and resigned life and how his frustration manifests one night that leads to a series of events.

‘Pen, in honest and gifted hands, is mightier than the grave’- Ruskin Bond

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