CLS confers Lifetime Achievement Award on Ruskin Bond
ChChandigarh, 25 November : Hundreds of children
from different local schools thronged the sylvan surroundings of Sukhna Lake
which formed the backdrop to the 5th edition of the international
lit fest, Literati 2017.
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With the Lake Club venue choc-o-block with
avid readers and fans of Padamshree Ruskin Bond, the children and the parents
alike quizzed the author about his different novels and short stories.
Addressing the children his only advice was
that since parents are taking care of you and make you study in good schools,
just take care of them when you grow up.
Chandigarh Literary Society conferred on
Ruskin Bond its first Lifetime Achievement Award, which comprised of citation
and a humble gift of Rs. 2 lakh.
Though born and brought up in India, he was
sent back to London in 50s after his schooling, where he worked as well as
wrote his first novel at 17, “Room on the Roof” but as soon as he got the
advance of 50 pounds from the publisher he took the ticket back to India in
1955; “I could not live anywhere else in
the world than India, which brought me back here.” Ruskin Bond remarked.
“I identify myself with a lone fox which I saw
once in Mussoorie hills in a moonlit night, which inspired me to title my
autobiography ‘Lone Fox Dancing’,” he remarked.
“It is all truthful and no fiction, which I might invent in the sequel
to this autobiography,” he remarked jocularly.
Sharing the tips for writing in response to a
question by a youngster, he said that a writer must respect the language and
grammar, write regularly, find a space for solitude in the room or home, read
literature, and adopt simple style so that readers can relate to it and enjoy
it.
Responding to another question from a student
as to whether one could make a career in writing, he said that he writes for
the joy of it and he has never looked for fame or fortune.
What would you be had you not been a writer?
“I would have either been a sumo wrestler or a football player”, he said
laughingly.
He related anecdotes of being mistaken by
someone else on lots of occasions, at party, at the airports, and social
gatherings, and even associating him with different work of literature by some
other authors.
“People can relate to my stories because it is
all about people who are real in their character and emotions, but when I run
out of the people to write about, I chose animals, and if I run out of animals,
I write about ghosts”, Ruskin Bond said.
He implored the budding writers to work for
the protection of the environment and to set limit to the urbanization, so that
we can preserve it for posterity.
Earlier Dr Sumita Misra, Chairperson of CLS,
in her welcome remarks said Literati has gone international with the joining of
Canada as the partner country, whose two prominent authors will be featured on
Sunday.
Dr Christopher Gibbins, Consul General of
Canada was present at the venue throughout the day.
Madhav Kaushik, Vice Chair of CLS said that
Literati is the celebration of the divinity and dignity of the written world.
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