Mr Bond’s guide to happiness

Reading a Ruskin Bond book somehow makes you feel like a travellermdashmoving with the author and his stories Be it his early years in the princely state of Jamnagar the mysterious woods of Mussoorie or the cool hills overlooking his cottage where plum apricot and apple trees blossom in spring Bond always paints a vivid and happy portrait of life His new book Itrsquos A Wonderful Life Roads to Happiness Aleph Book Company is a collection of essays for these gloomy timesIt was in April last year a week after the national lockdown was announced that his friend and publisher David Davidar asked Bond if he would pen a book that could ldquocheer people uprdquo ldquoFirst I have to cheer myself uprdquo Bond remembers telling himself But not one to disappoint his readers or friends the Landourbased writer decided to journal his days in the pandemicinduced lockdown ldquoIrsquove always kept a diary and while I donrsquot have a daily entry I write everything that comes to my mindhellip an anecdote or just remembering someone I knew from 50 years agordquo he says in a telephonic interview to midday These journal entries and those written previously when Covid19 was not part of our daily vocabulary and Donald Trump still was just a harmless Republican candidate are part of the new collection The book ends on May 19 2020 when Bond turned 86 ldquoI broke off the journalling after listening to all the bad news that was coming in so I am certainly not immune to it I do feel for everyone whorsquos suffering right now But by nature I am an optimistic and cheerful personrdquoHis uplifting essays are enough reason for us to ask him to share his secret to being happy and resilient We can hear him perk up on the other end of the call ldquoVery simple things make me happyrdquo he says sharing priceless adviceGardening Plants and flowers can bring a lot of joy In fact anything that growsmdashfrom a small wild flower to a tree or a forest anything thatrsquos there in nature and progresses from seed to fruit or flowermdashmakes me happy I unfortunately can no longer go out and climb the next hill but I have a little sun room in my home which is warm even in the winters where I grow geraniums Last year I grew tomatoes but they never turned red they all stayed green This makes me suspect that all the red tomatoes that we see in the market have been coloured by someone laughs Therersquos a roof garden too but I have to take a spiral staircase to go up there With my increasing weight the staircase shudders so Irsquove been forbidden from doing that But therersquos an opening in the roof and I can see the plants up theremdashwe have roses on the roofReading I read two or three books a week and usually just for fun I donrsquot read a book if I find it tedious I have been reading a lot of ghost stories in fact I write ghost stories too but I donrsquot think they scare people Recently a little girl came up to me saying ldquoMr Bond canrsquot you make your ghost stories more frighteningrdquo One mustnrsquot however scare kids because I think they are already seeing enough right now Life is tough for them tougher than it used to be for us There are classics like Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome and The Diary of a Nobody a comic novel by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith that Irsquove enjoyed and PG Wodehouse of course But The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith is a book full of warmth and good feeling and a lovely read for these timesRuskin BondEnjoying breakfast Itrsquos the most important meal of the day never mind lunch or dinner I know a lot of youngsters who skip breakfast because they get up too late But if you want to have a good day you should start off with a good meal Not too much just a few nice things like poached egg or an omelette with hot buttered toastsmdashone of them dripping with honey or jammdashcornflakes buttered buns with cream Should I continue or stop hereWhat Itrsquos A Wonderful Life Roads to Happiness by Ruskin BondWhere amazoninFor Rs 399Also ReadThese Indian illustrated novels should be on your reading list