A Gathering of Friends Quotes

“What should he be like, this lost man? A romantic, a man with a dream, a man with brown skin and blue eyes, living in a hut on a snowy mountain top, chopping wood and catching fish and swimming in cold mountain streams; a rough, free man with a kind heart and a shaggy beard, a man who owed allegiance to no one, who gave a damn for money and politics, and cities and civilizations, who was his own master, who lived at one with nature knowing no fear. But that was not Major Roberts—that was the man I wanted to be. He was not a Frenchman or an Englishman, he was me, a dream of myself.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“Have you been in love before?’ ‘Many times. But this is the first time.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“He’s a real man!’ shrieked Neena. ‘Not a namby-pamby bastard like you!’ ‘Any more abuse and I’ll leave you here with Mr Lobo. You can both occupy the VIP suite. Many famous people have slept in it—Emperor Haile Selassie, the Panchen Lama, Pearl S. Buck, Raj Kapoor, Helen, and Polly Umrigar the cricketer.’ ‘What—all together?’ giggled Neena. ‘It must have been quite an orgy!’ ‘Not all together, Your Highness. Separately, and at different times.’ ‘Helen of Troy, too.’ ‘Not Helen of Troy. Helen, the Bollywood dancer.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“It isn’t time that’s passing by, my friend. It is you and I.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“Life has its ups and downs and periods of darkness, but now and then it springs a surprise, such as an encounter with an old friend, and makes us want to go on a little longer.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“There are so many trees in the forest,’ said Rakesh, What’s so special about this tree? Why do we like it so much?’ ‘We planted it ourselves,’ said Grandfather. That’s why it’s special.’ ‘Just one small seed,’ said Rakesh, and he touched the smooth bark of the tree that he had grown. He ran his hand along the trunk of the tree and put his finger to the tip of a leaf. ‘I wonder,’ he whispered. ‘Is this what it feels to be God?”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“We said goodbye. ‘Remember this day, Ruskin,’ said my father. He patted me gently on the head and walked away. I never saw him again. Three months later I heard that he had passed away in the military hospital in Calcutta. I dream of him sometimes, and in my dream he is always the same, caring for me and leading me by the hand along old familiar roads.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories

“Along its banks, for hundreds of miles, lived millions of people, and Sita was only one small girl among them, and no one had ever heard of her, no one knew her—except for the old man, the boy and the river.”
― Ruskin Bond, A Gathering of Friends: My Favourite Stories