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.
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. 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 through out 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 can not be missed in his 100 something short stories, essays, novels, and more than thirty books of children that he has written. 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.
NOTABLE WORK.......
- The Eyes Have It (short story)
- A Flight of Pigeons
- Angry River
- The Woman on Platform 8
- Tiger in the Tunnel (short story)
- The Road to Shimla
- Boys Will Be Boys
- Delhi Is Not Far
- Dust On The Mountains
SALMAN RUSHDIE.........
The works of the Indian author Salman Rushdie often focused on outrages of history and particularly of religions. His book The Satanic Verses earned him a death sentence from the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (1900–1989).
Ahmed Salman Rushdie was born on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India, the only son among Anis Ahmed Rushdie and Negin Butt's four children. His father was a businessman who had been educated at Cambridge University in England. Rushdie's childhood was happy and he was always surrounded by books. Rushdie remembers wanting to be a writer at age five. He was sent to England at age fourteen to attend Rugby, a private school. His fellow students tormented him both because he was Indian and because he had no athletic ability.
Rushdie later attended Cambridge, as his father had done, and his experience there was much more positive. He received his master's degree in history in 1968. After a brief career as an actor he worked as a free-lance advertising copywriter in England from 1970 to 1980. The experience of expatriation (living outside one's country of birth), which he shared with many writers of his generation who were born in the Third World, is an important theme in his work.
CHETAN BHAGAT ................
Chetan Bhagat is one of the most popular novelists in India, whose books have been adapted into movies.
Basics on Chetan
Chetan Bhagat was born on 22nd April 1974 in New Delhi, India. After finishing school at The Army Public School in New Delhi, he joined IIT Delhi. He completed a post graduation course from IIM Ahmedabad.
He worked as an investment banker and lived in Hong Kong for eleven years before moving to Mumbai. He is married to Anusha, whom he met at IIM. The couple have twins Ishaan and Shyam.
Books to Movies
Chetan Bhagat rose to fame with his first novel Five Point Someone (2004) about what it feels like to be below average students at IIT. He won the Society Young Achiever’s Award (2004) and Publisher’s Recognition Award (2005). The book has taken the form of a movie 3 Idiots which will be released in 2009. It is directed by Rajkumar Hirani and stars Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi and Kareena Kapoor.
His second book One Night @ a Call Center was yet another success. He wrote the script for the movie Hello (2008) based on this book. The movie had a special appearance by Salman Khan and was an average success.
His third novel was Three Mistakes of My Life (2008) which has a lot of cricket in it. It remains to be seen if what the chances are of this book being made into a movie.
