A Love of Long Ago

by Ruskin Bond

There are many stages of love—the first encounter, stolen glances, secret kisses, longing, and sometimes, heartbreak. Featuring classics like ‘Time Stops at Shamli’, ‘Who Kissed Me in the Dark?’ and ‘The Girl on the Train’, the heartwarming collection of stories in A Love of Long Ago captures the range of feelings that are indubitably part of the infinite spectrum of love.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 1, 2019

About the author

Ruskin Bond is an Indian author of British descent. He is considered to be an icon among Indian writers and children's authors and a top novelist. He wrote his first novel, The Room on the Roof, when he was seventeen which won John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Since then he has written several novellas, over 500 short stories, as well as various essays and poems, all of which have established him as one of the best-loved and most admired chroniclers of contemporary India. In 1992 he received the Sahitya Akademi award for English writing, for his short stories collection, "Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra", by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters in India. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 for contributions to children's literature. He now lives with his adopted family in Landour near Mussoorie.

Reviews

[Vaibhav · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘I may stop loving you, But I’ll never stop loving the days I loved you.’

The book, A love of long Ago, is a compilation of seven love stories written by Ruskin Bond over the course of his career, more or less autobiographical in nature that takes you to a love rollercoaster riding on the mountains. He in his stories has explored the infinite spectrum of love with the sensitivity it deserves.

Our first ever encounter with something as Love or Romance has to be in some love songs or movies when we hardly understood the lyrics but enjoyed the beautiful sceneries presented in them and then there comes a day when the person we knew for a long time just as a classmate or a teacher happens to be someone a little special to us, when we start looking for excuses to roam around them, that weird consciousness that we feel around them, and that one person becomes our motivation to get through a boring lecture and a bad school day, their one smile at you just makes your day and you start taking a little more time to get ready for your school and get a little more conscious about your looks, now you enjoy those love songs even more and can relate to some of those lyrics and sometimes even imagine yourself in those scenes with that someone.

In the tale, A love of long ago, author remembers his lost love by seeing the flower garden on the balcony of his past beloved whenever he crosses her house. Though nothing much changes in terms of love even when you are a grown up, you will always feel like a teenager in love as explored by him in his tale of Who kissed me in the Dark?

My favorite story was ‘love is a sad song’ – a love story immortalized in the hills beneath the sky. He remembers Sushila in many of his short stories such as Time stops at Shamli(included in the book) and Love and Cricket, but this tale describes their initial meetings, falling in love in the deep valleys, making love in the waterfalls and encounters of bond with her family in Delhi. It’s the longest story in the book written as an imaginary letter to Sushila making her remember the old times. He filled the romance in air, with sun shimmering, streams murmuring through his words. His day with Sunil, Dinesh all forms a part of this story and the struggle to win her back is an exciting read.

Also, Stories include a boy falling in love with a singing whistling thrush he heard in the hills, following the voice and eventually cultivating a lovely relationship with the village girl, Binya and the evergreen love classic, The eyes have it.

He described the features of her lovers inexplicably, adding intimacy to the romance brooding in the hills, how every love in his life made him feel special. We all steal moments from our daily life to meet our loved ones, sometimes behind the metro stations, stairs of our houses, in between the narrow alleys across the streets.

I am sure I am not the only one who has felt that weird sensation in veins without even knowing what it actually was. Love can’t be defined; for it can be only felt as described in his stories.
Love always leaves us memories. Be it a particular smell in the air or sometimes coming across a normal song, we don’t know what thing will make us remember our long-lost love.

[Balaji · Rating 4 out of 5]

These unique love stories are simple, elegant yet they leave a heavy imprint. We walk into the world of various seasons, the mystical hills, the various faces of water as falls, rain, snow and of course the flowers (marigolds). His love for Mussoorie explains why most of his works were born there. These stories have a perfect balance between the silence of the mountains and the roar of the city (Delhi).

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of seven stories most of them are published in other collections. But rereading is a pleasure.

[Ekta Kubba · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Somewhere in life
There must be someone
To take your hand
And share the torrid day.
Without the touch of love
There is no life, and we must fade away."

How beautiful it is to love and to be loved! Ruskin Bond's stories of love makes one feel warmth and passion of love at its various stages and in its various forms. These heartwarming stories are mostly autobiographical in nature. Ruskin sir writes:

"I have had a great love or two. None of which led to anything permanent and so I've remained a bachelor all this time. But what it did leave me with was a bunch of memories and ideas for a few stories..."

Rusty's passionate love for Sushila has a music of its own kind, the music of happy tunes, longing for a gentle touch and a passion of teenage romance. You'll go with the flow and suddenly realise the transition of these happy tunes to a sad song. But it doesn't make you sad. You keep floating in the lovely memories of lost love. Rusty's innocent affection towards Bynya and Kamla symbolizes love in its purest form. It is like true love, without any kind of selfishness. There is a kiss in the dark and a stolen glance through the eyes of the soul. Pick this book up if you want to experience love in all of its forms, but don't forget to take a cup of coffee or tea with you. I bet there will be a smile on your face and a warmth in your heart.

[Asha Seth · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I have had a great love or two. None of which led to anything permanent and so I’ve remained a bachelor all this time. But what it did leave me with was a bunch of memories and ideas for a few stories…"

And thus begins the semi-fictional, semi-autobiographical journey that is ‘A Love of Long Ago’. This is a collection of some of Mr. Bond’s fondest short stories. Comprises of – A Love of Long Ago, Who kissed me in the Dark, Time stops at Shamli, Girl on the train, A year of Kissing, and Binya Passes by. All the tales are short, sweet, and written in the style Ruskin Bond’s books are popular for.

"I may stop loving you, But I’ll never stop loving the days I loved you."

Reading this book transports you to your own years of innocent, nascent love when one would yearn for the mere voice, or sight, or the oblivious presence of the beloved whom the heart dearly loves and can’t be without. One can’t help but cherish those memories as you tread down the road of Mr. Bond’s own delicate encounters with love, in different seasons of his life.

You relive those cute, aching moments as one feels in times of known farewells or unexpected desertion not knowing if there’ll be another chance of rendezvous. All this and a lot more bittersweet emotions come oozing from the anecdotes that the author has ever so delicately penned. The stories tug at your heart and you won’t put the book down unless your done devouring every word there is.

‘A Love of Long Ago’ is a book that grants nostalgic solace on days when the heart’s restless. It promises the exhilaration that bursts through you upon feeling love the first time. From hills to the city plains, it will handhold you through some of the best landscapes and how! So grab yourself some hot tea, a place by the fire, and soak into this book on a rainy night or just find a cozy spot under a tree and enjoy the spring as you delve in it.

Evocative narration, simplistic vocabulary, heartwarming imagery, and soulful snippets of love make the stories a delightful read. Recommended for all ages.

[Nandika Joon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know how to feel about the book.

For the first time ever, a 3 star for a Ruskin Bond book.
But it's just because personally, I felt uncomfortable reading the encounters considering the age gaps.
But other than that, Ruskin Bond is Ruskin Bond.

[bangalimeyreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a collection of short stories that can be read over and over again. 🥰

[Vaikhari Pakade · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very heart touching and hard breaking story.