Ruskin Bond has been writing for over sixty years and now has over 120 titles in print—novels, collections of short stories, poetry, essays, anthologies and books for children. His first novel, the Room on the Roof, received the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize in 1957. He has also received the Padma Shri (1999), the Padma Bhushan (2014) and two awards from Sahitya Akademi—one for his short stories and another for his writings for children. In 2012, the Delhi government gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award. Born in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar, Shimla, New Delhi and Dehradun. Apart from three years in the UK, he has spent all his life in India and now lives in Mussoorie with his adopted family.
It is very kind of people to invite me to their parties, especially as I do not throw parties myself or invite anyone anywhere. At more than one party I have been known to throw things at people. In spite of this—or maybe because of it—I get invited to these affairs. There’s nothing like being able to see the funny side of things in life. Whether it is a belt that decides to get hooked on to another passenger’s bag or monkeys who visit and take refuge in the loo or even the omelettes that don’t turn out exactly the way they were intended, Ruskin Bond brings alive each of these situations with wry humour and a generous dose of wit. Party Time in Mussoorie is as much fun to read as it is to attend any of the weird and wonderful parties Ruskin Bond describes in this collection.
