Inculcating the habit of reading in children: Ruskin Bond

To begin this blog, I would like to site a famous quote, “Today a reader, tomorrow a leader!” This adage underscores the importance of reading in any individual’s life. Quite obviously, the foremost advantage that reading provides is that it engages the mind, and exercises it much more than any other form of entertainment.
Reading, as a habit, involves a considerable amount of effort and participation from the reader himself/herself. It is not a passive form of entertainment, unlike other mediums, like the television, or video games. With a book you have to absorb what you read, and have to have a command over the language.
And, of course, while reading is all-important, it all starts with education at the primary and the junior level for children. This is where they build a foundation for reading and gain command over a language. All good schools, therefore, encourage reading in a very proactive way, as they realize how it can impact several other skills a child can develop in the years to come As parents, it becomes your role to further this emphasis in a child’s life, and encourage your child to read as much as he can, and learn to appreciate and enjoy the habit.
And while I can go on about the advantages that reading can provide, what I would like to do is summarize a few of them, and give all you parents reasons to encourage your child to pick up the habit of reading today!
Broadens the child’s horizons: While reading does not make children more intelligent, what it can do is increase their imagination, helps broaden their outlook towards life and help them to be more open minded.
Increases the child’s awareness: Reading of any kind can add to a child’s knowledge irrespective of the kind of book your child is reading. Yes, even a comic book! It can also help the child become a good judge of character over time. It gives a child greater depth in knowledge.
Increases the child’s flair for writing: All good authors are also avid readers! Reading leads to good writing too and not just for a writer – good writing skills can be useful in any profession today. If a child is fluent in a language, then the thoughts flow more easily and it adds tremendous advantage to a child’s oral and written communication skills. You will see that almost all famous people, or leaders across the world, are also ardent book lovers! Take the example of Gandhi or Nehru – both had a passion for books!
And while you may know of these advantages already, what most parents are stumped by is how to inculcate the habit of reading within a child. What’s more, with information being disseminated from a variety of mediums, in today’s day and age, your job becomes that much more difficult. But the important thing to remember is that once a child is hooked on to reading, it is very unlikely, that he/she will give it up, irrespective of other forms of entertainment. So, with that thought in mind, I would urge parents to introduce reading at the right age, give your child the free hand to choose the kind of books he/she would like to read and then, see the habit flourish on its own. I myself was a huge movie buff in my younger days, but at the same time I used to read hundreds of books too. So be assured, that even if your child has other interests besides reading, his reading habit once formed won’t be easily deterred.
What parents need to pay heed to, however, is not to impose the habit at any point. Make the habit seem like a hobby, something that a child will enjoy, and not as a task, which will make him/her want to run away from it.
To raise a reader, you don’t need to overstress, or over work. These are some simple tips that I think could help you to raise a happy reader.

• Let your child see you read
• Share information from your own reading with your child
• Postpone television time yourself, to read with your child
• Take books with you wherever you go, on vacations, or on long road trips
• Offer books (or time to read) as a reward for achievement or chores
• Subscribe to children’s magazines
• Make library/book store visits a family routine.
• Give some pocket money every month to your child, especially to buy books

Lastly, relax and have fun with your children and books! It is a life long habit, that you child is likely to enjoy forever!
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DPS Indirapuram

The students of Class five from DPS Indirapuram got involved in understanding the world of Mr. Ruskin Bond. During the activity they designed a beautiful Book Jackets on Ruskin Bond's various books for children.. They also conducted a comparative study on the his works with that of the other writers and were further exposed to Mr. Bond's other wide range of children centric books and short stories.

Ruskin Bond

Better perceived as the Indian 'William Wordsworth', Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli in the then Punjab Province in the year 1934. Born to a first generation British migrant, Bond spent most of his childhood in amidst Himalayas. He was brought up at different places that included Jamnagar, Dehradun and Shimla. As customary in that period he went to England for his primary studies. Although Bond was studying in England, his mind rested in India. He had forged an intimate relationship with the Himalayas and longed for it. He is very quite by nature and stays away from the attention of the media in a small hill station in India and when asked once how he feel about living in India he said that it was stressful in practical sense as compared to England but at the end of the day India is home to him. To know more about Bond, continue reading this insightful biography on him.

Personal Life
Bond was born to Edith Clerke and Aubrey Bond. Edith Clerke was working with the Royal Air Force that time. At the age of 4, Bond’s mother Aubrey Bond remarried a Punjabi-Hindu called Hari and bond wen to live with his new father, spending his childhood in Jamnagar and Shimla. From the age of ten, for a few years, Bond went to live with his grandmother in Dehradun, after the sudden death of his father due to malaria. He did most of his schooling from the Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. During this time, he won many accolades in writing like the Irwin Divinity Prize and the Hailey Literature Prize.

Major Work
Writing Journey: Bond started displaying his literary talent in England. He wrote his first novel named Room on the Roof when he was all of 17 years. It was a semi-autobiographical story on the life of an orphaned Anglo-Indian boy, reflecting parts of his own life. The book made him win prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize that is awarded to British Commonwealth Writers who are under the age of 30. The book was primarily based in and around Himalayas and was successful in capturing its beauty and ethos in a manner that was never tried before. Its sequel named Vagrants in the Valley followed it. Riding on the success of these two novels, Ruskin took the journey back home.

Ruskin Bond has now been writing for more than 5 decades. He has stressed more on the local elements of Himalayas in his writings. His writing style is distinct in a way that it tries to make reader understand the landscape and ethos through carefully mastered words. His writings have won him both tremendous critical acclaim as well as a long list of fans throughout the literary world. Replete with unassuming humor and quiet wisdom, his stories manifest a deep love for nature and people. His mesmerizing descriptions about the flora and fauna of Himalayas cannot be missed in his 100 something short stories, essays, novels, and more than thirty books of children that he has written.

Inspiration: The inspiration of his work has always been the hill stations at the foothills of the Himalayas. It was where he spent most of his childhood. Some of his novellas when he was young mirrored the kind of life and experiences he had when he was living in Dehra Dun. He lived there in a small rented along some of his friends. His autobiographical work called Rain in the Mountains majorly includes his life spent in Mussorie. The book called The Room on the Roof was written when he was merely 17 and it included his experiences when he was staying in England and craved to come back to India. It also has a lot of information about how his parents were and his relationship with them. It was after the publication of this book that he finally decided to make writing his profession. It was in England that he was trying to find a publisher for his book and he struggled to get one. The book also has a clear description of his journey to taking up of writing seriously in his life.

Accolades
His works has inspired several generations of writers, authors and scriptwriters. His novel named The Flight of Pigeons has been adapted into the acclaimed Merchant Ivory film Junoon. Another less known novel named The Room on the Roof has been adapted in to a BBC produced TV series. Nevertheless his greatest achievement comes from the fact that several of his short stories from his collections have been incorporated in the school curriculum all over India. It includes jewels such as The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra. In spite of all these successes, Bond can be concluded today as a media-shy and reclusive literary genius. He spends his days with his adopted family at a place close to Dehradun. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India for Our Trees Still grows in Dehra in 1992. He has also been conferred with Padma Shri, one of the most prestigious civil awards in India.