Book Review: ‘The Ghosts of Indian Small Towns’ by Ruskin Bond

Book Title: The Ghosts Of Indian Small Towns: A Journey Through Time
Author: Ruskin Bond
Publisher: Aleph Book Company
Number of Pages: 136
ISBN: 9365233267
Date Published: Jan. 10, 2026
Price: INR 310

Book Review

“The Ghosts Of Indian Small Towns: A Journey Through Time” by Ruskin Bond – This book reads like a warm conversation with an old friend who has seen India change—and remembers it the way it once was. Through gentle observations and personal memories, Ruskin Bond reflects on India’s small towns, places that once thrived with quiet charm but are now slowly being swallowed by concrete and crowds. As villages turn into towns and towns into cities, Bond mourns what is being lost without sounding bitter. Instead, his tone is affectionate and amused, aware that change is inevitable, even as it leaves behind ghostly reminders of simpler lives, greener landscapes, and slower days.

The book is especially engaging because Bond brings these towns alive through stories rather than statistics. Bangalore appears not as a tech capital but as a tree-lined town with old cafés and bookshops; Meerut glows with memories of cantonments, chance kindnesses, and youthful curiosity; Sardhana unfolds through its fascinating past under Begum Samru. Along the way, Bond recalls the joys of small-town cinemas—the smell of samosas, the thrill of the darkened hall—and their quiet disappearance in the age of expensive tickets and multiplexes. These recollections feel instantly familiar, especially to readers who have grown up watching their own towns transform beyond recognition.

Also Read: Book Review: ‘The Bengal Reader’ by Arunava Sinha

Nature, too, plays a lively role in these pages. From leopards wandering into hill towns to childhood days by the sea in Jamnagar, Bond captures the fragile balance between human expansion and the natural world with humour and tenderness. Hill stations like Mussoorie and Landour emerge as places layered with memory, myth, and mild mystery—full of ghost stories, old cemeteries, and lingering colonial echoes.

By the end, the book feels less like an elegy and more like a loving tribute: a reminder that even as small towns fade or change, their spirit survives in stories, memories, and the quiet nostalgia we carry with us.

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