Publisher Sohini Mitra shares that, 'Hold on to Your Dreams is a priceless collection of learnings, poignant life lessons and treasured memories curated from a lifetime of experiences—a book that can be a wonderful companion, bedside reader and at times, also a great teacher.

Written in the form of a letter, the pages in this book offer hope, wisdom, courage and strength, making this a perfect gift from one of the greatest writers and inspirational icons from our times. We look forward to releasing it on 19 May in Mussoorie at Cambridge Book Depot, amidst his readers and fans, as he turns ninety.'

About the Book

On the eve of his ninetieth birthday, literary legend Ruskin Bond brings to readers a heartfelt letter capturing his most cherished memories and experiences. Penning his thoughts with sincerity and grace, the writer reflects upon love, loss, friendship, frailties, solitude and companionship—the bittersweet experience of human existence.

Reminiscing tales of his boyhood and youth, the author urges us to learn from mistakes, embrace empathy and hold on to our dreams through life’s vicissitudes. Complemented with poignant art, this book is a timeless collection of learnings on the journey called life.

About the Author

Born in Kasauli (Himachal Pradesh) in 1934, Ruskin Bond grew up in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dehradun, New Delhi and Shimla. His first novel, The Room on the Roof, which was written when he was seventeen, received the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then, he has written over 500 short stories, essays, novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley and A Flight of Pigeons) and more than forty books for children. He received the Sahitya Akademi Award for English writing in India in 1992, the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Delhi government’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. He lives in Landour, Mussoorie, with his extended family.

Excerpt 

Old soldiers never die; they simply fade away, or so the saying goes. And what about writers? Well, old writers never die—they simply go out of print.

In print or out, we carry on writing. That is, if we are born writers—writers by nature, given to self-expression through the medium of the written word.

The creative instinct is in our genes, and those of us who possess it go on to make beautiful paintings, music or poetry. Indeed, we must put our creative potential to good use if we are not to throw away this gift of life.

Loosely translated, it means art is long and life is short. Michelangelo is still with us; so is Beethoven, and so are the Marx Brothers. Even Father Time must yield to true genius. And because life is short (compared to the millions of years in time past), we must seize it by the coattails and hang on for all we are worth because it can so easily slip away and leave us alone on the beach, looking for seashells. It is better to look for pearls than shells, but even shells are beautiful. As a child, I collected them, marvelling at the intricacies of their designs, some smooth as glass, others encrusted with the patterns of the ocean’s small creatures. Everything that is not man-made is, in its own way, perfect—the mollusc, the starfish, the crab, the oyster, the swordfish, the octopus, the whale and the treasures yet to be discovered. In many ways, the sea is still a mystery, but our attention is being diverted by the earth and the stars.

Although I have spent most of my life in the mountains and often write about them, the literature of the sea has always fascinated me! The stories of Joseph Conrad (who understood the sea better than anyone), Stevenson (who romanticized it), R.H. Dana Jr (who lived with it), Maugham (who roamed over it), W.W. Jacobs (who found humour in it), and of course Melville (who revered it) and gave us an idea of the sea’s true stature in Moby Dick.

Oddly enough, I cannot, at the moment, think of any great ‘mountain literature’. Perhaps because the mountains are fixed, and the sea flows, taking us here and there. Well, there was Knut Hamsun in Norway and B. Traven in Mexico’s Sierra Madre—both great writers. No doubt you can tell me of others. Second to the sea, it is probably the desert that has been celebrated the most through the written word, mostly by travellers who used their five senses wherever they went—C.M. Doughty, Freya Stark, T.E. Lawrence (in Arabia), Peter Fleming (in Central Asia), Wilfred Thesiger (among the Marsh Arabs). It takes great observers and great writers to do justice to the desert.

In the time given to you, my friends, read as much as you can. Relish and absorb the thoughts and feelings of these men and women who recorded their experiences of a wonderful world that is still here—but might indeed disappear if we are too careless with it.