Title: Delhi is Not Far
Author: Ruskin Bond
Reviewer: Navin Sigamany

Ruskin Bond - the name conjures up hills, green valleys, forest walks, small-town antics and of course, Dehra Dun. But one reading of 'Delhi is Not Far' is enough to change all that. The author emerges triumphant as a creative artist without any labels - his intensity of living and the breadth of experience are easily perceptible throughout the book. Also traceable is the creative process - how the same experience, or similar experiences bundled together, have impacted his writing, the selection of genre, and the treatment given to the subject - everything is laid bare.

Delhi Is Not Far is a 1994 collection of Bond's writings, from his first published poem ('Lost,' published in the Illustrated Weekly of India in 1952) to extracts from his more recent novels. Short stories, vignettes, travel pieces, poetry and two novellas are included in this collection.

What comes through to the reader is how intensely Bond has lived, and more importantly, how the intensity of living has unashamedly transformed itself into writing. There is an innate sensuality in the whole corpus of works. Many places exude a sexuality that is barely concealed, without overt expression. Many feelings - of love, of lust, of joy, of hate, of disappointment, of bereavement, of exhilaration - are brought effortlessly alive. Yet in the background hovers something unfinished, an impatience to get on with it fighting an inability to do so. The entire collection is a paean to the creative intelligence of the author, and as a chronicle of his writing, is a must-read for every aspiring author.