When I Was a Boy: Scenes and Stories from My Childhood

A beautifully written account of the childhood of one of India’s favourite writers

‘I am now over eighty years old. A very grand age, when I am allowed to sit back and listen to birds, examine the shapes of mountain ranges, and let my mind wander. These days I find my thoughts going back to my childhood all the time…We become like little children when we are old!’

In this beautiful, heartfelt and often humorous mini-autobiography, beloved storyteller Ruskin Bond relives the days of his childhood and teenage. He writes of carefree days in the port city of Jamnagar where little boy Ruskin read books upside down, wandered into rambling empty palaces, went for rides on lurching boats and in swooping, looping aeroplanes, and listened to tall tales told by a loving ayah and a colourful cook. He also describes his schooldays in Shimla—being dressed up as Humpty Dumpty for his very first stage performance, making friends, planning pranks and discovering a secret tunnel. He remembers his days in Delhi, where he lived with his father for one magical year when they explored monuments and cinema halls and became each other’s closest companions. And he recalls his time in Dehra when he developed his love of reading and writing, cycled far and wide and loafed in the bazaar with new-found friends, and finally set out on the path of becoming a writer.