Manik Bandopadhyay & Ruskin Bond

Manik Bandopadhyay

Born:19 May 1908

Died:3 December 1956

He was a Bengali writer and novelist, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th century Bengali literature.
During a lifespan of 48 years, plagued simultaneously by illness and financial crisis, he produced 36 novels and 177 short stories.
His notable works include Padma Nadir Majhi (The Boatman on The River Padma, 1936) and Putul Nacher Itikatha (The Puppet’s Tale, 1936), Shahartali (Suburbia, 1941) and Chatushkone (The Quadrilateral, 1948).
In 1938,he started his career as the Headmaster of Mymensingh Teachers Training School.
But, throughout his life, writing was the only source of income for Manik Bandopadhyay and, hence, he languished perpetual poverty.
However, for a short while he tried to enhance his earning through involvement with one or two literary magazines.
He worked as editor of Nabarun for a few months in 1934.
During 1937–38, he worked as assistant editor of literary magazine Bangasree.
He established a printing and publishing house in 1939 which turned out to be a short-lived endeavour.
Also, he worked as publicity assistant for the government of India in 1943.

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Ruskin Bond

Born:19 May 1934

He is an Indian author of British descent. He lives with his adopted family in Landour, Mussoorie, India.
The Indian Council for Child Education has recognised his role in the growth of children’s literature in India.
He was awarded the Sahitya Academy Award in 1992 for Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra, his novel in English.
He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2014.
The 1978 Bollywood film Junoon is based on Bond’s historical novel A Flight of Pigeons (about an episode during the Indian Rebellion of 1857).
It was produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Shyam Benegal.
The Rusty stories have been adapted into a Doordarshan TV series Ek Tha Rusty.
Several stories have been incorporated in the school curriculum in India, including The Night Train at Deoli, Time Stops at Shamli and Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra.
In 2005, the Bollywood director Vishal Bhardwaj made a film based on his popular novel for children, The Blue Umbrella.
The movie won the National Award for Best Children’s film.
He made his maiden big screen appearance with a cameo in Vishal Bhardwaj’s film 7 Khoon Maaf in 2011, based on his short story Susanna’s Seven Husbands.
He appears as a Bishop in the movie with Priyanka Chopra playing the title role.
He had earlier collaborated with Bharadwaj in The Blue Umbrella which was also based on one of his works.