Breakfast at Ruskin's

RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Ruskin Bond, that grand old man of letters, is often asked by aspiring writers at literary meets to share tips on good writing. “Start the day with a good breakfast!” he advises with a twinkle in his eye, to the amusement of an admiring audience.

Impish humour is Ruskin Bond’s forte. He is right, of course, in implying that an empty stomach is not amenable to a generation of creative juices. In fact, a hungry stomach is likely to produce a surfeit of acidic liquid to the detriment of one’s health! But I was intrigued that an eminent writer like Ruskin Bond should credit ‘a good breakfast’ as the foundation
rock to clock a promising literary career. I tried to imagine what a good breakfast that sets his pen rolling would look like.

When it comes to his morning meal, Ruskin Bond settles for the good old English breakfast, with the helping of two toasts, a glass of milk or juice, a boiled egg and tea, along with cut fruits and corn flakes in milk, followed by a couple of well-done eggs, all swallowed down with a cup of tea.

The spread can be made more sumptuous by including sausages and bacon, plus French fries and/or mashed potatoes for good measure. Thus well-fortified, Ruskin looks out of his window at the birds and the trees and lets his ink flow. As regards lunch, he has a weakness for the famed Railway Chicken Curry. He admits candidly that there’s no place like India to live in. Ruskin Bond’s ample girth suggests that he has little respect for dietary prescriptions of any kind and likes to indulge in a spectrum of dishes, that too in liberal quantities. What a wonderful measure for his creative brain to proceed unimpeded to infuse flesh and blood into his inimitable and immortal characters in equal proportion as his diet!

It is significant that Ruskin Bond has remained a lifelong bachelor and enjoys the privilege to eat whatever takes his fancy. Come to think of it, how can you aspire for a life in writing when your mother (and thereafter your wife) ensures that you never get to ‘enjoy’ a good breakfast?