A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

by Ruskin Bond

I asked him if he had any idea why his writing held up so well, and what made it retain its lustre decade after decade, reading after reading. ‘I’m not sure I know,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘It is not something I have given much thought to. What I do know is that I have always approached my writing with the wide-eyed curiosity of a kid. It’s the same today as it was in the beginning, and if there is any secret ingredient to my work that would be it. I hope I never lose that.’

A policeman sitting on a stool outside a tiny police outpost yawned, stretched, stood up, looked up and down the street in anticipation of crimes to come, scratched himself in the anal region and sank back upon his stool.