Happy Birthday Ruskin Bond!

New Delhi: One of the most revered writers in India, Ruskin Bond celebrated his birthday today. This Indian author of British descent was awarded with on of the most coveted honour—the Padma Bhushan in 2014. His books played a great role in the growth of children's literature in the country, and this was noted well by the Indian Council for Child Education.

Bond, as the name suggests wrote as many as 23 novels and as many as 42 collections or anthologies which include only some of his famous works. The writer is reported to have produced much more than that. Ruskin Bond started writing at an early age. Reports suggest that he wrote his first short story when he was 16 years old. It was called the 'Untouchable'.

He spent most of his life in the hills, and that perhaps explains why his novels and short stories have a vivid description of the hillside. When he was in London, he began work on his first ever novel called the 'The Room on the Roof', the semi-autobiographical story of the orphaned Anglo-Indian boy Rusty. It won the 1957 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, awarded to a British Commonwealth writer under 30.

Ruskin Bond's narrative even found space in Bollywood big screens. His novel titled 'A Flight Of Pigeons' was made into a Hindi film called 'Junoon' by Shyam Benegal. Then Vishal Bhardwaj's '7 Khoon Maaf' was based on his work titled 'Susanna's Seven Husbands'. He made his acting debut in the film. Pankaj Kapur starrer 'The Blue Umbrella' was also made adapted from Bond's book by the same name.

The famous writer was awarded Padma Shri in 1999 and got the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for 'Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra'. Bond currently stays with his adopted family in Landour, in Mussoorie, reportedly.

We would like to wish Ruskin Bond a very happy birthday! Keep writing, for kids love to read you.