Book Review – The India I love by Ruskin Bond

Clean. Simple. Fresh. Entertaining. These are the first few words that come to my mind when I think of Ruskin Bond’s book, The India I love.  The book speaks about the authors love for India, his life in the mountains, his extended family and all the everyday things a common man misses to notice in his day to day life.

The book, very beautifully describes the hills and the simple life of the author. The neat and uncomplicated way in which the author has put forward his thoughts would make you go back and appreciate the little things that life has to offer. He talks about his journey into India, why he loves this place, his thoughts of different subjects, and his relationships with people here throwing in a bit of philosophy here and there. The book is so effortless and beautifully structured that you’d almost feel that you are listening to the author over a cup of coffee.

There is one quote that I particularly liked – "I prefer walking alone to walking with others. That ladybird on the wild rose would escape my attention if I was engaged in a lively conversation with a companion. Not that the ladybird is going to change my life. But by acknowledging its presence, stopping to admire its beauty, I have paid obeisance to the natural scheme of things of which I am only a small part."

This is one book that speaks volumes of the knack of story telling of Ruskin Bond. I don’t see any other author so effortlessly put across his life in such a simple and beautiful manner that you would want to go all out and live it.

I just cannot resist this but it is one of the very few books that gets a rating of 5/5 by me.