An erotic story that almost jailed Ruskin Bond

New Delhi: Speaking at the launch of his autobiography Lone Fox Dancing on Tuesday at Taj Mahal Hotel, writer Ruskin Bond recollected how he almost landed up in jail due to a “mildly erotic” story.

The Mussoorie-based author while addressing the gathering also recalled how a non-bailable warrant was issued against him during the Emergency, imposed on June 25, 1975, by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

“A constable from Bombay brought the warrant up to Mussoorie. He was a very nice man and I took him to the pictures,” he said.

The popular author of children’s book said he had to finally appear in a Bombay court, and the case dragged on for about two years.

“It wasn’t much fun at all but in the end, I got an Honourable acquittal and the judge said he enjoyed the story too,” Mr Bond said. The story — The Sensualist — appeared in a magazine called Debonair.

“It was a mildly erotic story about a recluse who reminisces about his misspent youth; but it was no Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” he writes in his autobiography. However, the writer said the reason behind the warrant was not the story alone, but perhaps also that he was editing the Imprint magazine during the Emergency, when strict restrictions had been imposed on the media. “But I was a cautious man. I used to just write editorials on trees, wild flowers and the environment in general. So we managed to survive that period,” he said.

On asking if brought the matter up with Gandhi when he met her, Mr Bond said, “No. I guess she already knew about it. In fact, I was still under trial when I met her.”

Did he play safe at the meeting, too, by talking about birds and trees with the prime minister? “Yes, she was very interested in nature.” Born and brought up in British India, the 83-year-old writer left for England in the 1950s for better prospects, only to realise he had left his heart behind in India.

“India was home. It wasn't just my mother's or step- father's home, home was the land itself... The soil here. I never owned any property in my life and yet I believe everything here belongs to me. The entire country belongs to me,” he said.

So, Mr Bond added, he returned to India “for the relationships, the friends, the attachments — those were the things I couldn’t find there in England.”

His autobiography, which he said he wrote after much persuasion by friends, is an account of a life well lived and “by and large, without regrets.”