THE WRITER ON THE HILL

One of India''s finest and most prolific writers, Ruskin Bond has been putting pen to paper for well over six decades. Since The Room on the Roof-his award-winning debut novel which introduced readers to the unforgettable Rusty, the orphan from Dehradun-Bond has created characters both charming and eccentric, which have endured in popular imagination. And, in what is perhaps his most towering achievement, Bond has brought to pulsing life the mountains, valleys and rivers of Garhwal, as well as the quiet magic of small, tucked-away places, in book after book.The Writer on the Hill is a comprehensive selection of Bond''s fiction and non-fiction, both popular and little-known. In ''Masterji'', a young man meets his old Hindi teacher on a train platform, in handcuffs. In the excerpt from The Room on the Roof, Rusty stands up to his bullying guardian. ''Man and Leopard'' describes, in mesmerizing prose, a heart-breaking encounter between man and the wild. And, in ''Once upon a Mountain Time'', Bond creates a charming portrait of his little patch of earth in Mussoorie.A tribute to one of the most popular and loved writers of India, The Writer on the Hill is also a celebration of the quiet, unhurried life, lived at one''s own pace. This volume will delight Bond''s fans everywhere.