Life’s Magic Moments

Some books come your way in the most unexpected of ways. Ruskin Bond’s Life’s Magic Moments was never on my reading list—not for any reason except that there is always so much I want to read that I have to pick and choose what I make time for. 

But this beautiful, hardbound book, with its gorgeous pages came to me, and it sat on my shelf for a while unopened. It promised something gentle and lovely. How could it stay unopened for long?

And so, I found myself picking it up. Before I knew it, I was smiling, feeling all those magical moments Ruskin Bond’s words bring to life. 

What is it that makes us write? What makes us create art?
A sense of yearning, beauty, wonder, and magic. 

In little snippets, Bond describes these moments—fresh water when you’re parched, the suddenness of a wildflower growing in a pot in your window, earthworms wriggling in the soil … And of course, I loved Bond’s trademark humour, like when he writes about borrowed books that are never returned and treasured moments with a cup of tea (not my drink of choice, but enjoyable in literature nonetheless)!

Bond talks of having to take on jobs once in a while when his bank balance dipped. He speaks of doing these jobs with patience, a word I love, and a clear understanding that his pen and notebook were his true calling. So much of what he describes touches something within me. With disarming honesty, he confesses that appreciation still matters to him. Life’s Magic Moments  is a beautiful book that makes us slow down. It reminds us to pay attention. 

As I sit on a rainy day and write about this lovely little book, I look up and know that these are precious, treasured moments—rainy days that change the landscape, pattering rain that makes you dream. And to find each moment expressed so beautifully and simply in literature creates a sense of oneness, of something elusively enchanting.