The Beauty of All My Days Read online

  * The reader may care to look up the chapter titled ‘Living without Money’ in When Darkness Falls and Other Stories (Penguin Books, 2001).

  * Today’s kids haven’t heard of curry puffs. They were patties made of flour and filled with curried mince.

  * I have written about this period in Looking for the Rainbow (Puffin, 2017) and Till the Clouds Roll By (Puffin, 2017).

  * Rear Window was shown backwards without anyone complaining; the audience thought it was just another Hitchcock trick.

  * I wrote a book of prayers, but no one read them: To Live in Magic (Thomson Press, circa 1980).

  * ‘The Eyes Have It’, aka ‘The Eyes Are Not Here’, aka ‘The Girl on the Train’.

  More from Ruskin Bond

  WORDS FROM THE HILLS

  An illustrated biographical work developed around the life, works and philosophy of Ruskin Bond.

  Remember the last time you stood and quietly watched the rain patter on the empty streets? Remember the last time you watched a snail lazily drag itself across the grass?

  It is hard to find time to appreciate the smaller things in life, and that is precisely where Ruskin Bond’s book Words from the Hills helps us. In the hustle and bustle of our everyday lives, the words from this specially designed journal come as a breath of fresh air, bringing with them the philosophy and legacy of the wonderful author.

  I’m watching the stars from my window . . .

  I’m aware of belonging to the universe rather

  than to just one corner of the earth.

  More from Ruskin Bond

  FRIENDS IN SMALL PLACES

  The story of Ruskin Bond and his friends and experiences in small places

  This collection brings together the best of Ruskin Bond’s cameos, all beautifully imagined and crafted, inspired by people who have left a lasting impression on him. In addition, there are a host of characters culled from Bond’s numerous short stories. Taken together, they constitute a magnificent evocation of small-town India by one of the best storytellers of this country.

  More from Ruskin Bond

  LOVE AMONG THE BOOKSHELVES

  Ruskin Bond on his adventures in reading

  ‘Compelling . . . for reminding us of books we may have forgotten about or never knew existed’—Mint

  Many readers have grown up with Ruskin Bond’s stories. Now, in this utterly delightful anthology, he introduces you to the stories he grew up with. Part memoir, part anthology, Love among the Bookshelves is a glimpse into Ruskin’s life through the books he has loved and an introduction to some forgotten classics.

  More from Ruskin Bond

  CONFESSIONS OF A BOOK LOVER

  Ruskin Bond on his discovery of books

  Exploring bookshelves in some of the most amazing places—Simla’s Ripon Hospital, Hampstead General Hospital in London, and The Select Bookshop of Mr Rao and Mr Murthy in Bangalore, among others—Ruskin Bond opens a window to his earliest encounters with some of his favourite writers and their wonderful writings. Confessions of a Book Lover introduces you to the stories that played a significant role in moulding Ruskin’s imagination as a full-time writer, beloved by millions.

  THE BEGINNING

  Let the conversation begin…

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  discover more stories like this at Penguinbooksindia.com

  VIKING

  UK | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  New Zealand | India | South Africa

  Viking is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

  This collection published 2018

  Copyright © Ruskin Bond 2018

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Jacket images © Ahlawat Gunjan

  ISBN: 978-0-670-08813-3

  This digital edition published in 2018.

  e-ISBN: 978-9-353-05161-7

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.