A delectable offering from a writer who not only knows how to make us laugh but also knows how to laugh at himself Playful tigers; ‘ghosts’; elephants; crows and old favourites like Uncle Ken; Miss Bun; the author’s slightly eccentric grandfather and Bond himself weave in and out of the pages of this wildly eclectic; thoroughly delightful and absolutely irresistible anthology featuring previously unpublished pieces like ‘Respect Your Breakfast’ and ‘Uncle Ken Goes to Sea’ as well as beloved classics from Bond’s books. Marked by the signature charm and subtle wit of one of India’s best-loved writers; Ruskin Bond’s Book of Humour; will make even the hardened among us crack a smile.

Features playful tigers, ghosts, elephants, and crows, as well as old favorites like Uncle Ken, and Miss Bun. The author's slightly eccentric grandfather and Bond himself ease in and out of these pages.

For over six decades, Ruskin Bond has celebrated the wonder and beauty of nature as few other contemporary writers have, or indeed can. The Book of Nature brings together the best of his writing on the natural world, not just in the Himalayan foothills, but also in the cities and small towns that he has lived in or travelled through. In these pages, you will find leopards padding down the lanes of Mussoorie after dark, the first shower of the monsoon that brings with it a tumult of new life, the chorus of insects at twilight, ancient banyan trees and the short-lived cosmos flower, among other fascinating beings. This volume proves, yet again, that for the serenity and lyricism of his prose and his sharp yet sympathetic eye, Ruskin Bond has few equals.

A gun-toting, violin-playing headmaster A homicidal barber A hungry leopard and about a hundred frogs on the loose Boys with a talent for pranks and jokes Mr Oliver, a history teacher, arrives in Simla with a trainload of hungry boys to start a new term at the prep school. As he records the antics of the amazing characters there, and all that they get up to, we quickly realize that there is never a dull moment. A fire, a missing Headmaster and runaway students make sure that not a day goes by when Mr Oliver has nothing to report in his diary. He writes about the eccentric teachers, the girls’ school next door and the lovely Anjali Ramola, whom he secretly admires. Laugh-out-loud funny, with a core of old-world charm that is trademark Bond, Mr Oliver’s Diary has stories and characters that have never appeared anywhere before. With his runaway wig, pet shrew and endearing dry wit, Mr Oliver is sure to become as well-loved as those other vintage Ruskin Bond characters, Uncle Ken and Rusty.

Read all the stories about Ruskin Bond’s bumbling and endearing Uncle Ken in this collection. Whenever Uncle Ken arrives at Grandma's house, as he does frequently, there is trouble afoot! Uncle Ken drives his car into a wall, is mistaken for a famous cricketer, troubled by a mischievous ghost, chased by a swarm of bees and attacked by flying foxes. Be it the numerous bicycle rides with the author or his futile attempts at finding a job, Uncle Ken's misadventures provide huge doses of laughter. Crazy Times with Uncle Ken includes old classics as well as new stories, and will be enjoyed by all Ruskin Bond fans.

Watch out as mischiefs and mischief-makers of all shapes and sizes come tumbling out in this hilarious collection of stories. Is your school a hotspot for jokes? Do your family members regularly fall victim to pranks? Do ghosts and spooks get you into trouble? Find every kind of funny, crazy, impossible mischief in this book. Here you will find the girl who turned into a sloth just for her mother, the horse who went to the library and ate up some classics, the substitute teacher who saw dead people, the play where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, and many more amazing tales of pranks and troublemaking! Selected by Ruskin Bond and Jerry Pinto, these stories have been written by some of the best children's writers of the country, including Sukumar Ray, R.K. Narayan, Ranjit Lal, Subhadra Sen Gupta, Paro Anand, Bulbul Sharma and many more. As an added bonus, watch out for brand new stories by Ruskin Bond and Jerry Pinto, too. Prankenstein is a delicious treasure trove of trouble and will have every mischief-maker plotting that perfect prank!

H.H. is the spoilt, selfish, beautiful widow of the Maharaja of Mastipur. She lives with her dogs and her caretaker, Hans, in an enormous old house in Mussoorie, taking lovers and discarding them, drinking too much and fending off her reckless sons who are waiting hungrily for their inheritance. The seasons come and go, hotels burn down, cinemas shut shop and people leave the hill station never to return, but H.H. remains constant and indomitable. Observing her antics, often with disapproval, is her old friend Ruskin, who can never quite cut himself off from her. Melancholic, wry and full of charm, Maharani is a delightful novella about love, death and friendship.

I have lived to see Bombay become Mumbai, Calcutta become Kolkata, and Madras become Chennai. Times change, names change, and if Bond becomes Bonda I won't object.' With these lines, begins another brilliant collection of essays, stories and poems by writer par excellence, Ruskin Bond. With an ability to look at ordinary situations with unique wit and acuity, Ruskin Bond invites us into his home, his countryside, his life. Peopled with monkeys, wild boars, an aunt with a phobia of flowers, an eccentric cousin who thinks he is the great cricket player Ranji, the wise seven-year-old Gautam, this collection is an absorbing read for readers of all ages.

The residents of Pipalnagar, a dull and dusty small town, hope to one day leave behind their humdrum lives for the thrills of Delhi. Deep Chand, the barber, dreams of giving the prime minister a haircut; Pitamber wishes to ride an autorickshaw instead of pulling a cycle-rickshaw; and Aziz will be happy with a junk shop in Chandni Chowk. Sharing their dreams of escape is the narrator Arun, a struggling detective-fiction writer. As he waits for inspiration to write a blockbuster, he seeks and discovers love in unusual places—with the young prostitute Kamla, wise beyond her years, and the orphan and epileptic Suraj, surprisingly optimistic despite his difficult circumstances. In Delhi Is Not Far, one of his most enduring novels, Ruskin Bond sketches a moving portrait of small- town India with characteristic sympathy and quiet wisdom.