India's beloved children's author Ruskin Bond will celebrate his 85th birthday on May 19 this year with the release of a new memoir set against the backdrop of the partition.
The book titled "Coming Round the Mountain", will be released officially by the author at Cambridge bookstores in Mussourie, where he signs books for his readers every week on Monday.
"This is the first time Ruskin Bond has penned his experiences about his time during the independence year. Evocative, poignant and full of spirit and hope, this book is an absolute classic; a collector's edition and a must-have for every Ruskin Bond fan!" publishers Puffin books said in a statement.
"Coming Round the Mountain" is the third installment of Bond's award-winning memoir series for children that includes "Looking for the Rainbow" and "Till the Clouds Roll By".
In "Looking for the Rainbow", Bond described the two years he had spent with his father when he was just nine years old, and in "Till the Clouds Roll By" he talked about the sudden change in his circumstances, the efforts he had to make to adjust to a new and very different life with his mother and stepfather.
Now, the third part of the series will deal with Bond's story as a boy of thirteen during the crucial year of India's partition.
"In 'Coming Round the Mountain', I have dwelt on my schooldays, in particular one memorable year, 1947, during which a lot of things happened to me and around me. The making of friends; the loss of friends; the country's freedom and its division; changes everywhere... But there was one constant- my love of books, and an inclination for putting things down on paper-and it was this that gave me the confidence and self-belief to take on the uncertainties of living in a changing world.
"'Be true to yourself,' my father always told me, 'and if you are true to yourself, you will be true to others'," Bond said.
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