Ruskin Bond is known for his signature simplistic and witty writing style. He is the author of several bestselling short stories, novellas, collections, essays and children’s books; and has contributed a number of poems and articles to various magazines and anthologies. At the age of 23, he won the prestigious John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for his first novel, The Room on the Roof. He was also the recipient of the Padma Shri in 1999, Lifetime Achievement Award by the Delhi Government in 2012 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014. 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 Landour, Mussoorie, with his adopted family.
<p>In hot up-country towns in India, it is good to have the first monsoon showers arrive at night, while you are sleeping on the veranda. You wake up to the scent of wet earth and fallen neem leaves, and find that a hot and stuffy bungalow has been convened into a cool, damp place.’</p><p>As heavy monsoon winds begin to blow at the end of every summer, an entire country waits with bated breath. Once rain hits the parched land, the arid landscape slowly turns green. Humans, whistling thrushes, frogs, beetles and geckos—all rejoice.</p><p>Whispers of the Rain is a collection of short stories that celebrates the ‘true spring’ of India—monsoon. Ruskin Bond’s descriptive, lucid and sensitive prose takes us through the dusty whirlwinds of the Gangetic plains, the whispering mists of Mussoorie and the thunderous Landour storms. This book welcomes you to embrace the fresh breeze of adventurous and rainy tales as seen through the master storyteller’s eyes.</p>
