Author - Ruskin Bond

Publisher - Penguin Books India, 2006

Genre - Anthology

Price - Rs 200/-

Ruskin Bond's entrancing travelogue Tales of the Open Road captures the reader in a magical trance taking him to small, undiscovered and unexplored places with their dusty roads or rain-washed streets, the mountain streams and hidden waterfalls as well as to well known places like Delhi, Jamnagar and Mussoorie. A person may not have travelled in a tonga or experienced the 'gulabi thand' in Bhaironghati but through the pages of this enriching book, the reader can enjoy all the joys of travelling.

Untouched places like Chuttmalpur and Najibabad, alienated from the bigger cities like Dehradun and Meerut have been beautifully penned by Ruskin Bond. This anthology is divided into four sections - The Open Road, Plain Tales, At Home in the Hills and Into the Mountains. It gives a glimpse of each landscape acquainting us with the most common locals of the place and at the same time describing the enthralling environment that envelops them. This anthology consists of the author's travel writing of over fifty years amalgamated with beautiful photographs taken by him during his travels.

"Ruskin Bond writes about the uncomplicated things in life, and raises the experience to the sublime" - Deccan Herald. Truly, Bond with his simple and lucid writing captures the reader and takes him to faraway, deserted lands. He travels in all forms of transportation, be it a rickshaw or a huge truck and enjoys the journey to the fullest. He pays attention to minute details like the "OK TATA" sign on lorries as well as the aroma of milk-less tea sold at local 'dhabas'. The essence of a place is in its flora and fauna that do not change with time and are always as they have been decades back. In the words of the author himself, "The world keeps changing, but there is always something, somewhere, that remains the same."