'Bonding Over Radio:' Ruskin Bond to read out handpicked stories on AIR
Make a wise choice of escape from lockdown blues. Ruskin Bond, one of the most celebrated authors from India, will now greet you on All India Radio (AIR) with his handpicked feature stories. As part of Prasar Bharati’s initiative to keep listeners engaged during the COVID-19 nationwide lockdown, All India Radio (AIR) will broadcast a series of short stories by the renowned author.
The stories will be read by the author himself. The country’s public service broadcaster released a statement that the series will start from May 1, 2020 and will be available on Akashvani’s terrestial and digital platforms.
The series is titled ‘Bonding over the Radio’ and will initially run for a period of 15 days. The series will feature stories which are exclusively handpicked for AIR by Ruskin Bond himself. A wide range of tales will be narrated by the author in his quirky style, including fantasy and ghost stories, autobiographical sketches, boarding school stories, family anecdotes, and young love stories as well.
The stories have been recorded over telephone from Ruskin Bond’s cottage in Mussoorie and is expected to engage young adults who are the target audience of the series, told PTI. The stories will be made available on Prasar Bharti’s mobile app ‘NewsOnAir’. They will also be available on three channels- Indraprastha, FM Gold and AIR Live News 24×7. The timings will 7.10 AM and 10.10 PM everyday. This initiative is a collaborative production effort between the Central English Features Unit of All India Radio and the External Services Division.
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Ruskin Bond is a multiple award-winning author, essayist, and novelist. The Padma-Shri awardee has been a writer for over 50 years and has written acclaimed masterpieces in children’s literature, autobiography, fiction, non-fiction, romance, and few other genres. Bond’s work is influenced by his life in hill stations where he has spent most of his childhood. He is one of the few authors who continues to live his own tales.
Some of his most celebrated works include The Room on the Roof, The Blue Umbrella, The Night Train at Deoli and Other Stories, A Flight of Pigeons, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, Susanna’s Seven Husbands, and more. Many of his works have been adapted into television shows and movies. The Doordarshan televison series Ek Tha Rusty is based on his Rusty stories. Susanna’s Seven Husbands was adapted into the Bollywood film Saat Khoon Maaf, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, starring Priyanka Chopra in the lead role.
