2007, March. Done with my 7th grade annual exams, and now I am worried about failing math. I am sitting on the terrace, trying to enjoy the evening breeze. It is dark outside, with the coconut trees swaying constantly, and the rustling of leaves adding to the spookiness. A light is attached to the wall of the attic facing the terrace, making the words of the book I am holding legible. Time Stops At Shamli. That's the book I am reading, written by my favourite writer Ruskin Bond. I feel the quiet acropolis creep up on me even though my grandmother is giving me company with her Phillips radio playing in the background. Manna Dey is at his best. I try to focus on the book, knowing that my mother could call me in any minute to cover the textbooks we purchased yesterday for 8th grade.

I am happy because I am 13 and I can't wait to grow up…

As an Information Technology professional, my life is an intense psychological thriller oscillating between what-if and what-is. It takes me motivational quotes to be up and running. With constant rants from peers and higher-ups and deadlines appearing closer than they look, it is hard to maintain sanity. Hustling through codes, incomprehensible documentation, shady code-testers, condescending clients, and vain scrums, I realize my cheeks are moist and I am caged in a world bereft of all meaning. The base of Maslow’s hierarchy is wobbly itself – I am devoid of any basic happiness.

I think of my childhood... I think of the days when the mind was happy with the smallest of things. How an evening rain would prompt me to run to the terrace, how I would keenly observe the wet footprints of a train of ants that would emulate a dashed line, how winters would mean the smell of oranges and lotions, locked up sweaters, and dry skin. How safe I would feel... I take comfort in reminiscing about the simple life I used to live, leaving me with a strong desire to return to that world. Oh, how I long to experience that simplicity again!

Internet frivolity (read: reels and videos) has been of little interest to me as I have always been a reader and an observer. But one might find it amusing how a book recommendation coming from the same social medium changed my perspective on life. I came across a reel that recommended a few ‘books to uplift mental health’. My usual self would have been nonchalant, but since the topic of mental health was being discussed, I sat through that reel. Consequently, I ordered A Book of Simple Living: Brief Notes from the Hills by Ruskin Bond. I am glad I did. It was exactly what I was looking for.

One of the myriad reasons I admire this book is because it has opened my eyes to the other side of loneliness; to put it better – solitude. His words made me realize that loneliness is a mere state of mind that solidifies if you abhor it, and it depends on the way you see it. Spiritual healing is closely related to introspection. Bond explains how solitude offers a great deal. The most significant gift in solitude is finding peace in silence.

I got introduced to Mr. Bond when I was in school. I still remember the first time I read The Night Train at Deoli. Enchanted by the world he had created in it, I went on to explore more of his works like The Thief and Time Stops at Shamli to name a few. But A Book of Simple Living: Brief Notes from the Hills is one of the author's most personal works, aside from his stories involving Rusty. It is a journal detailing his wonderful experiences in the hills and a compilation of his daily observations of nature.

There are books that you like and read so voraciously that you storm through to the last page, rave about it, and then there are books like this one, which you savour page by page. You want to immerse yourself in its world for as long as possible and never want it to end.

For me, this book was the childhood I kept longing for. I wanted it to stay with me.

If there is pedantry in keenly observing things, there is spirituality in doing so when it comes to nature. We, as a species, often seek answers, but seldom search in the right places. If we manage to connect with nature, we will understand that the answers lie within ourselves. ‘Live close to nature and your spirit will not be easily broken, for you learn something of patience and resilience. You will not grow restless, and you will never feel lonely,' Bond writes. I have had spiritual epiphanies as I flipped through every page of the book, but the biggest one is that I have started appreciating everything around me the way I used to in my childhood.

I have realized that the material things I have been seeking happiness in are all a lie.

As we rush through dividends, profits, shares, income taxes, ego, and unnecessary desires in life, Ruskin Bond offers us an important reminder – to slow down. Akin to spiritual leaders who often state the power of now, Ruskin Bond urges us to do the same by appreciating the beauty of nature and staying close to it. In the book, he reflects on geraniums, finding perfection in the intricate designs of the smallest plants and insects. He is besotted by the whimsical illumination of his dark room by fireflies and how he would wait for their company every single night. He has found consolation in the sounds of nature that otherwise get drowned by urban humdrum.

For someone like me who has measured life by great achievements and tangible results, this book made me realize that the answers do not lie in attaining things but in celebrating life itself. Ruskin Bond's depiction of nature, flowers, fireflies, and his extended family, and adventures instantly transported me to the hills. I could put myself in the author’s shoes and vicariously experience nature's bliss, serenity, and sanctity. Amidst my mundane surroundings, I could relish nature's silence, the birds' sound, the warmth of simplicity and the happiness of being alive, which would otherwise get lost in the ruckus of materialism.

So, now whenever I am stuck in scrums, befuddling codes, I am reminded of the fact that this is not the only world I can be in. There’s a simpler world that is waiting for me that requires no extra cost to commute to. I am now calmer and more at peace as I can easily transport to that world even when I am sitting in my chaotic office space. As Bond says -

For all its hardships and complications, life is simple.

Whenever I feel lonely, I know that I can be alone with myself, the setting sun, the ebbing wind, the smallest of insects and appreciate life as it is and not how it is going to be. I don’t seek happiness in acquiring things but in things that I already have and my surroundings. As Bond rightly points out, and I quote:

‘Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much. But it is as elusive as a butterfly, and we must never pursue it. If we stay very still, it may come and settle on our hands. But only briefly. We must savour those moments, for they will not come our way very often.’

I walked in as one person, and I was a different man when I finished the book.

There are self-help books that offer advice on maintaining both mental and physical health, but I highly recommend this specific book for its ability to improve mental health, as it has done for me. I urge everyone to stop wherever they are in life, take a step back, sit with the book, and introspect. This book has the power to cleanse a person inside out.