Of Quora, Ruskin Bond and Prophecies !

Hello everybody,

Hope you are all doing great ! I have recently started writing on Quora (better late than never, I suppose) and have found it to be a really interesting platform. One can look up, ask, discuss and read just about anything under the sun . Life after UPSC Indian Forest Service results has been hectic (albeit in a very different way) , missed reading your posts of late.  Hope to do some catching up now and also hope to see you guys already there on Quora. Would be sharing some of my answers on WordPress as well.

To start with for today, there was a question asked by one of the bibliophile users “How is Ruskin Bond like in real life?” I was indeed excited to tell my stories with my favorite author, and here was my response:

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Ruskin Bond is the most affable storyteller I have met till date. And is as witty as his characters. He lives in a shared cottage in Landour and his simple living will immediately remind you of ‘Room on the Roof’s’ Rusty. As a young kid of 8, I had the fortune of meeting him on multiple occasions while we stayed in Mussoorie. He is a sort of prophecy – teller too. Here is why I say that:

We left Mussoorie in 2001, and then city life caught up. But my love for this man’s writings didn’t end. Seven years later it happened so that I had to visit the hill station again, and coincidentally on that particular day there was a release of Mr. Bond’s ‘Book of Verses’, his first poetry collection at Cambridge shop. Was elated about seeing him again. He still looked the same, age never catches up with mountain people. After patiently waiting in line to meet Mr. Bond, I gushed about how we had met before so many times which he tried to recall smilingly 😉 In the 5-minute conversation I confessed how much I miss the mountains and their quaintness. He casually took a copy of the book and showed me a page saying ‘ This is for you then’.

It was hard to fathom then if a visit is possible to Mussoorie other than those tourist trips. I greeted and thanked him profusely and left.

Fast forward almost a decade later – happens so that I am going to Mussoorie for 3 months this year end for the training program at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.  All I recall now is his prophetic smile and words 🙂

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Cannot wait to meet the man again 🙂

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