Imagine you have the time to watch a snail crossing a road at its own sweet pace and you are able to appreciate it at ease. Difficult, right? In today’s times, we don’t have time to stand and stare, to recollect or retrospect.
In his recent attempt, author Ruskin Bond collaborated with Penguin books to come out with a journal, Words from the Hills, comprising small extracts and anecdotes from the author’s life in the hills.
“When I opened my window, the wind came in and snatched my words away. And perhaps that’s where all words go in the end over the hills and far away, to be lost forever,” he writes in the foreword.
“A few stray words found their way to the desks of Penguin’s editor Premanka Goswami and design head Ahlawat Gunjan, and these good souls decided to preserve them from no special reason other than that they were words of love and joy (if not wisdom), and had emanated from my abode in the hills and lent themselves to lyrical watercolours from Ahlawat’s favourite paintbox…”
The journal offers a novel perspective to look at time forthcoming and bygone in a unique way. An illustrated biographical work developed around the life, works and philosophy of Ruskin Bond, the journal is for readers to capture and cherish moments of pure joy.
“While most of my writings have been very personal to me, this journal is a personal diary for me and the reader. There are blank spaces where the reader can also put down his/her thoughts along with my words,” says Bond.
From the falling of leaves from deodar trees, moments of love and loss, the journey from innocence to awareness, and to the buzzing dragonflies, this planner will open a new window to our understanding of self-preservation and remembrance.
Explaining how keeping a journal is something that he has always been fond of, Bond says, “I have kept a journal along my with me in my entire writing life. These extracts are not something that I got specifically for this journal. The publishers picked extracts which matched with the artworks. These are basically nature-oriented observations of mine, in prose or poetry. I have always been attracted to herbs, flowers and fields. And I hope in future, I do write extensively on these subjects.”
