“This land is Mine, Although I do not own it This land is Mine. Because I grew upon it. This dust, this grass, This tender leaf, And weathered bark, All in my heart are finely blended, Until my time on earth is ended.”   --Ruskin Bond   This in few words is the essence of this beautiful collection of short stories.     This book came into my collection when I was trying to add few good books in it. I wasn’t aware of Ruskin Bond at that time, but picked it up for two reasons i) I remembered the author from some of my old school books & ii) I thought that if somebody sees this book in my collection it would leave a good impression on them ;-). I still don’t know what happened to others but it left an everlasting impression on me.   Ruskin Bond has a very simplistic style of writing. And this book is no different. It’s a collection of Short Stories. The Stories are about small towns, simple people, sweet love stories and all in the background of mountains & greenery. Ruskin Bond was born (in Kasauli) & brought up in mountains and has an affinity with it and the same is very clearly evident in his writings. The short stories here written are very poignant readings. He has written about   ** A boy who leaves home and how he fares & lives but at the end still goes back to his roots, his land…. ** He writes about simple joys of loosing, finding & again losing but still being content. ** My favourite is the one about the Hindi teacher. It’s one story which you shouldn’t miss. ** Ruskin Bond has an affinity with Ghost stories also and they are here in ample. ** From how many writers can we expect a story on such a simple thing as tunnel?   Well RB writes about it and leaves you thinking. Even the most daunting tunnels have a life around them. It’s just the matter how you see them. ** Then there is ‘Time Stops at Shamli’ it’s the longest short story of this book. This is the story of exploring new place, lost love and memories. It has left me with a yearning.   I wish I had the freedom to move around in the mountains. Sometimes I want be in Ruskin’s shoes with freedom to get down at any station of life. Explore the place and then move forward gathering innumerable memories in the process. I wish I could chug off all my materialistic desires to be in a big city and to move to a small city which has nature as staple diet. I wish that one day I earn so much money that I can afford to leave for a small town (in a hilly area of course), live there with loads of idyllic time to enjoy the nature and to enjoy life per se (instead of running around for something or other). This is the magic of Ruskin Bond, he has simple needs and sweet dreams in his eyes. And these are the feelings which are reflected in his characters too. And trust me, if you really enjoy reading his books you’ll also start feeling the same.   This book is recommended for anybody who loves simple writings. Ruskin Bond has a signature style of writing largely about what he has seen & experienced. His stories are all about observations and this book is a compilation of his observations about people and lives. Most of the stories are very happy and some are sad. But trust me reading this book will leave you with a longing to be with the nature….He is in love with India and nature per se. That’s the reason that this book has the flavour of mountains in it. And may be that’s the reason that I fell in love with his writings.   I would love to share some snippets about Ruskin Bond## Till date he has not started using any kind of word processor. He prefers writing by hand and writes on anything he can get his hands on. The reason for not using the word processor is simple, he says he can not carry it with him to mountains; valleys; he can not carry it with him under his favourite chest nut tree…   ## Our dearest author can read the book upside down….he got this habit in his childhood when he used to accompany his father to school and used to stand opposite the students.   ## He has been living in Mussorie for last 40 years and when he is asked why he hasn’t moved anywhere else, his answer is ‘I forgot to move’.   ## Blue Umbrella, a kids movie releasing today is based on the story written by Ruskin Bond.   ( )