Ruskin Bond steps into his 80th year today. In his long, journey spanning six decades, he has written over 500 short stories, nearly 50 children’s books, a dozen or so novellas and 150 other books.

His first story My Calling was published in August 1951 in the now defunct Illustrated Weekly of India. He was paid Rs 50. Thereafter, his mother put him on a boat to England to live with Aunt Emily in Jersey; his mother had thought that he would have better career prospects there than in India.