Timeless

We meet the author in his room at the Taj President,Cuffe Parade. He’s in town to launch his two new books — Mr Oliver’s Diary and Escape from Java. “The latter is a collection of adventure stories,some old ones. Mr Oliver’s Diary,on the other hand,is a completely new work. It’s the humourous account of a school teacher,who starts out as a figure of fun. He writes a diary in which he complains about the wretched children who bother him at school. He eventually falls in love with a teacher from the girls’ school next door.”

As India’s most loved children’s author,it’s entirely appropriate that Bond was the chief guest at the Crossword Book Awards,which has just started an award in that category. Does it surprise him that it took so long to institute such an award in India? “Not really,” he confesses,“Writing for children is not seen as being very remunerative. Even the advances and royalties for such writers are very low.” But he points out that even the categorisation of books into children’s books and adult books is problematic. “Children should be given a free run of the library,” he says,“Everyone matures at a different pace. I myself started reading ‘adult’ books at a very young age. Besides,its not as if children’s books are not appreciated by adults. Each age group interprets a certain book in its own way.”

Bond is known for his insightful and sympathetic portrayal of real people and relationships. “If you’re interested in people,you’ll always be able to write,” he informs,“Of course,as you grow older,your perspective changes too. There are a lot of people and incidents from my youth,which I look at quite differently now,so obviously there are new stories to tell there.”

He recommends keeping a diary. “You can always mine it for material,” he says. Bond himself doesn’t keep a diary anymore,just some rough notes of anything that catches his attention. “I’ve tried keeping a diary twice,with unfortunate results,” he reveals,“The first time was when I was in school and I filled it with unflattering things about my teachers,which were read by them. The second time was when I was living with relatives in England. You always have to be careful with diaries,” he says,with a chuckle.

A lot of the appeal in Bond’s writing comes from how visual it is. “I always see a book before I actually write it,” says the 76-year-old,“I watched a lot of movies as I was growing up,so that influenced my style a great deal.” So its no wonder that many of his stories have been translated onto the big screen,the latest being Vishal Bharadwaj’s Saat Khoon Maaf,based on Bond’s short story,Susanna’s Seven Husbands. Bharadwaj,who has earlier also filmed the writer’s The Blue Umbrella,even convinced him to make a short appearance in the movie as a bishop. “Acting is very hard work,one has to keep repeating the same action until it is just right,” Bond says,”There was a scene which required me to kiss Priyanka Chopra on the cheek and I needed 20 takes. Everyone thought I was doing it deliberately,” he laughs.

As we get ready to wind up our conversation,Bond reveals that he still likes to write his books the old-fashioned way. “I send handwritten copies to my publishers,Penguin,and luckily they always have someone who can decipher them,” he jokes. We’ve of course heard of his lovely penmanship and informed of this,he generously asks,“Would you like me to write a note for you?” It’s an offer we can’t refuse.