Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh , on 19th May, 1934, and

grew up in Shimla, Jamnagar, Dehradun and Mussoorie. As a young man, he

spent four years in the Channel Island and London. He now lives in Landour,
Mussoorie, with his adopted family.

In the course of a writing career spanning thirty five years, he has written
over a hundred short stories, essays, novels and more than thirty books for
children. Three collections of short stories, The Night Train at Deoli, Time
Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra have been published by
Penguin India. He has also edited two anthologies, The Penguin Book of
Indian Ghost Stories and The Penguin Book of Indian Railway Stories. Bonds
writing is greatly influenced by the hills, and the valley of Dehra Dun, where
he spent his childhood.
Ruskin Bond?s first novel, The Room on the Roof, written when he was
seventeen, won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Vagrants in
the Valley was also written in his teens and picks up from where The Room
leaves off. These two novellas were published in one volume in 1993. His
non-fiction writing, Rain in the Mountains was also much acclaimed. Since
then he has written several novellas (including Vagrants in the Valley, A
Flight of Pigeons and Delhi Is Not Far), essays, poems and children?s books.
Ruskin Bond has also written over 500 short stories and articles that have
appeared in a number of magazines and anthologies. His novel, The Flight of
Pigeons was adapted into a movie.

Summary of Blue Umbrella

This is the first comic by ACK that blends stories from Contemporary Indian
literature. The book consists of two stories, The Blue Umbrella & the Angry
River. The Blue Umbrella is about a 10-year-old little girl named Binya who
comes to own a beautiful umbrella. Soon, Binya and the umbrella become
inseparable companions and her fondness for it grows with each passing day.
However, there are some people in the village who envy the little girl and are
willing to do anything to get hold of the umbrella.
The second story, Angry River revolves around Sita, who lives with her
grandparents on a tiny island in the middle of a big river. One day, the river
floods and destroys Sitas beloved home when her grandparents are away.
Her only hope of survival is to cling on to a sturdy peepul the only tree on
the island. But even the fifty-year-old tree, she discovers, cant withstand the
angry flood.
Elaborating on the concept of introducing stories of Ruskin Bond in Amar
Chitra Katha, Reena Puri, Editor, ACK, said, At ACK, we have a segment
called Ancient Indian Classics which includes stories by Kalidasa, Bana
Bhatta, Ilango Adigal and other great writers of long ago.
But we felt the need to have stories from contemporary Indian literature
because Contemporary Classics bring us closer to our times and the issues
that are important to children today. So, our thoughts immediately went to
Ruskin Bond as his stories have simple yet strong plots and lend themselves
beautifully to the visual format.
With these stories I hope to tap the rich variety of stories that have been
written in India, for children, in the last 100 years not just in English but in all
Indian languages.
The special part of this book is the rapport we shared, during its making, with
Ruskin Bond. He was very supportive and encouraging and did not change
even one word of the final script, which was the biggest compliment for ACK.
The Blue Umbrella & the Angry River have strong child heroes who confront
difficult or complex situations with simple courage and compassion. The comic

is priced at Rs 50 & it is available at most bookstores and online.

My congratulations to the talented artists and script-writers at Amar Chitra
Katha for making my stories so attractive in comic book form. Both The Blue
Umbrella and Angry River are among my early books written especially for
children, and their popularity has increased over the years.
When the Blue Umbrella was published in the USA, it was named Book of
the Month by the Parenting magazine. Recently, it was made into a wonderful
film by Vishal Bharadwaj. And now here it is in a new avatar. My good wishes
to all my readers and Amar Chitra Katha. May you all prosper and be
happy, shared Ruskin Bond
Highlighting more on the Blue Umbrella-Stories by Ruskin Bond, Reena,
stated, I think the USP of the Blue Umbrella Stories is launching it in the
comics format. In this medium, the story is told with more visuals than words
and becomes easier for a younger child to read and understand.
Nimmy, our scriptwriter has been careful not to disturb Ruskin Bonds style
and has retained his use of words as much as possible. The stories are a
visual treat with fresh and vibrant illustrations.
A lot of thought has been put in by the artist, Sabu Sarasan, into perfecting
the feel. The attractive element of this book is its color fusion. Colorist
Ramesh has managed to portray through his palette the freshness of the hills
and the darkness of a river in spate.