How to Live Your Life by Ruskin Bond urges readers to figure out what they are good at

on May 20, 2022

In honor of Ruskin Bond's 88th birthday, HarperCollins India published his book "How to Live Your Life." "If you have a gift, make use of it." It's something that some of us are born with, and for others, it's something we discover and acquire along the road. "I believe most of you have it in some form or the other," Bond writes.

He found his own literary talent at a young age. He remembers how he used to be a "dreamy fellow," with his head "buried in a book of verse or a fiction or an encyclopedia of natural history." While his peers were enthralled by athletics, he relished the opportunity to "live vicariously" through the characters he encountered in tales. He gradually earned the confidence to begin developing his own characters and stories.

Bond encourages readers to discover their strengths in an affectionate and encouraging tone. He believes that with "work and devotion," this skill can be polished and used to help others. Because the author recognises that adults – parents, guardians, and teachers – have a tendency to impose their own objectives on youngsters, he recommends readers to pursue only what they are passionate about.

The book ends on an optimistic tone, although it is not overly sweet. Bond's optimism is offset with his pragmatism. He claims that a constant state of happiness is undesirable since it might lead to people becoming overly self-absorbed. They can lose concern for the pain of others. In fact, if there are no difficulties to face or answers to seek, they may lose all motivation. Bond, on the other hand, does not criticize himself. He regrets quarreling with his mother, neglecting his sister, being nasty to his instructor, and damaging his classroom windows, but he also recognises that he cannot reverse what he has done. Nobody benefits from brooding. It is hazardous.

This book also shows how elders can keep themselves busy as their bodies get feeble.Perhaps Bond's work is as endearing as it is because it evokes a simpler life.