Many happy returns
Bond’s not sure if he has all his editions under one roof. He has lost count of his printed work. “I think I have about 180 to 200 books in print at the moment.” Someone needs to compile a Bond bibliography, soon.
Ruskin Bond is a one-man publishing industry in a country where it is notoriously difficult to find a loyal mass readership. He has lived by the written word and the written word alone. When I first meet Bond in May, his 85th birthday is around the corner; he's besieged with requests for interviews. Sitting in his cosy cottage apartment on a quiet hillside, he announces with good-natured irritability: I think I've had enough. Next year, I'm going underground.'
Bond is nobody's fool.
