A beautiful book, with a few poems and illustrations, this work lives up to the author’s reputation, with an apt title and vivid description of each season, so distinct and discernible in the mountains.
Each section that covers a season is introduced through a short extract from John Lang’s travel book of 1859, Wanderings in India. These lines give us a glimpse of the season and the primary activities that were highlights of that season during that period, adding a quaint, old-world charm. The book captures the transition of nature from one season to the next, as well as the corresponding and accompanying changes in the lives of the people.
Meditative and reflective in its slow-paced flow, the author captures his observations of the various trees, plants, birds and insects around him and presents them as an easy, interesting read to nature lovers across all ages.
A chance love affair with ‘Maplewood Lodge’ on one of his trips to Mussoorie resulted in the author’s impulsive decision to give up everything in Delhi and move to the mountains. If he had not made this move, we would have been the poorer for missing out on such beautiful and lucid writings of a lover of nature’s beauty.
Bond ends the book on a celebratory note, applauding his own determination and stubbornness, which have helped him survive as a writer for over 60 years, and promising to continue to enthral us beyond the age of 91.