When all wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful: Ruskin Bond

One of India’s most loved writers recently celebrated his 89th birthday in the best possible way by bringing out a new book (‘The Golden Years — The Many Joys of Living A Good Long Life’), packed with his trademark nuggets of wisdom. Sunday Times meets Ruskin Bond for an interview at his home in Landour, where he spends his time reading, writing, and tuning into the chatter of bulbuls on his windowsill.

What does 89 really feel like? Do you sometimes wish you were 29?
No, 89 does not feel too old. My writing does tire me sometimes, which didn’t happen when I was much younger. There is the occasional twinge of pain here and there. Of course, when I look in the mirror, I will find a couple of teeth missing, and the double chin is sagging, but mentally, I am very similar to what I was at 29, or 19 or 9! Which is why people say I never grew up!


In the foreword, you write that the book is about growing old and liking it. Which is the key attribute to living a good life and how does one prep for the golden years?
It’s a series of mini essays on growing older, and the things that made life worth living. Here I am at 89, a reasonably happy man, with no big regrets, I work hard, and that’s important. Continue doing what you have been doing creatively. The day you stop working, you stop living. As for the future, life is full of uncertainties. I live with the attitude of ‘what can I do tomorrow’ rather than thinking too much about the distant future.

What role does spirituality play in maintaining emotional wellness?
I am not a very spiritual person. I am a philosophical person. But I am spiritual in the sense that I am very close to nature, I believe in the sanctity of nature — birds, trees, flowers, streams — anything that grows. I am not one to sit with legs crossed every morning to meditate. I look at a flower and contemplate. The natural world is what made us. You can say I contemplate rather than meditate.

What are the small things and big things that make you happy?
Books make me happy. Sweet notes of the whistling thrush make me happy. Human relationships make me happy. I don’t have too many friends, but the few I have make me happy and so does my family. Human relationships are important. One has to do a certain amount of writing every day, but reading makes me happy. Sometimes I don’t feel like putting a book down to start writing! I am a reader first and writer second. People make me happy…I try to make people happy sometimes!

How does one keep the ‘child within’ alive?
It’s a part of the nature you are born with…it’s not a deliberate thing. Look at the world as something that has just been created, approach it with a freshness of spirit. There is so much to discover from a personal point of view, every single day.

What saddens you the most?
The human inclination to go to war at the drop of a hat! It saddens me to see people want to kill each other, often for trivial reasons. The human race has been doing that throughout history — aggrandisement and wanting what the other fellow has. Certain human traits such as maliciousness, intrigue, backbiting — and these are human, not animal traits — sadden me. The most dangerous weapon in the world is the tongue. The tongue can create enemies, it can lead to conflicts, it can bring about wars. Beware of the tongue. However, we need to remember that when all wars are done, a butterfly will still be beautiful.

Loneliness has been declared a global epidemic. Why are people lonely?
Loneliness comes into your life unexpectedly. It happens when you least want it. It is different from solitude, which is something one looks for sometimes to get away from the hurly-burly of life. Living alone can make you lonely. I was lonely as a shy young boy in London. Big cities make you lonely. They are hard to get to know. Even gregarious people feel lonely in a crowd.

What are you reading these days?
I am a bookworm. I read three or four books a week. I enjoy detective novels, well-written autobiographies, and books on history. I don’t think a true writer would be one who has not read a great deal as a young person.

What’s your relationship with technology?
I am technology-illiterate. I have no mobile or laptop. I use that wonderful invention called the ballpoint pen to write. I am not against technology, but I’m not a slave to it.

What are your vanities and vulnerabilities?
Well, I’m proud of my work, but I don’t brag about it. I know writers have big egos, so I try to control mine. I tell myself, there are other writers in the world, too! Vulnerabilities? I am sensitive and get hurt easily if someone says something overly critical of me. You have to know me to understand my vanities and vulnerabilities!