‘The Story of the Ganges, from her source to the sea, from old times to new, is the story of India’s civilization and culture, of the rise and fall of empires, of great and proud cities, of adventures of man….’—Jawaharlal Nehru.
The Ganges is a river which has held India’s heart captive and drawn uncounted millions to her banks since the dawn of history. Originating in the mist-filled valleys of the Garhwal Himalayas—a land of dense forests, icy white glaciers, clear gurgling streams and towering mountains, a land known as the land of gods—the Ganga traverses hundreds of miles through the heartland till flows into the sea.
In this travel memoir, Ruskin Bond provides a wonderfully evocative description of the places and the people he has lived with and encountered over forty years. He captures the splendour of the Himalayan landscape, its streams, wildlife, flowers, villages, and places of pilgrimage, and always, at the heart of it all, the Ganga.
One of India’s finest and most popular storytellers, Ruskin Bond is the author of several bestselling novels and collections of short stories, essays and poems. These include The Room on the Roof (winner of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), A Flight of Pigeons, Time Stops at Shamli, Our Trees Still Grow in Dehra (winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award), Rain in the Mountains, Roads to Mussoorie, and A Little Night Music. He has also, over the years, expertly compiled and edited a number of anthologies.He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Delhi Government’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.
