Celebrated author Ruskin Bond Friday said children find their own ways to discover books and that he was not "too worried" about curbs on freedom of expression.

"I think children discover their books and they do so at different ages. You can't really keep things from children.

"So sometimes being told that certain books or literature is not good has the opposite effect and is an incentive to go and discover it," Bond said at the inaugural session of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet at the Victoria Memorial Hall grounds here.

Children and young adults queued up to catch a glimpse of the cherubic Mussoorie-based author who answered all their questions that centred on some of his cult books like "Room on The Roof", "Night Train At Deoli" and the Rusty series among others.

Quizzed on free speech vis-a-vis children's right to express themselves, the 80-year-old Padma Bhusan recipient said reading makes one capable of judging good literature from "shoddy" ones and therefore, he was not too worried.

"Good writing transcends and you get bad writing... I think the more we read, more capable we are of judging what's good literature and what's shoddy. I am not too worried, therefore, about curbs on freedom of expression because we find our freedom one way or the other," he said.

The author said the habit of reading was not absent but readers always have been a minority, even during his own school days.

"Today, reading is still a minority pastime but that minority in terms of numbers has grown and grown because of education and the larger number of people who can read," he added.

Tagore's works convinced Ruskin Bond to return to India

 (16:42)  Kolkata, Jan 23 (IANS) Celebrated author Ruskin Bond Friday said proximity to nature helped shape his writing, and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's works "convinced" him to make a writing career in India.

"I do owe a lot to Kolkata and to Bengali literature because when I was a boy and when I was stranded in an island between England and France for three years, with great difficulty I caught hold of collected plays and poems of Rabindranath Tagore," Bond said at the inaugural session of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet at the Victoria Memorial Hall grounds.

"I read them one by one, 'The Post Office', 'Red Oleanders' etc. and they all brought me to India, and in a way convinced me that I had to come back and make my writing career here itself and that's why I am here today," the 80-year-old Padma Bhushan recipient said.

Looking at the crowd that comprised primarily children who had gathered at the sprawling venue to hear him speak, Bond said: "Literature is far from dead."

The author of popular stories like "Room on The Roof", "Night Train At Deoli", the Rusty series and others said he realised the importance of nature over the years not just as a writer but as a human being.

"Nature is responsible for making me the kind of writer I am. Nature has over the years become of greater importance to me as time goes by. As a boy I rather took nature for granted as most of us do," he said.

Bond also emphasised on conserving nature.

"The longer I have lived and the closer I have become to the world of nature, the more I have realised how important it is to me not just as a writer but to all of us as human beings and to people who live in this world and how lucky we are to have these trees around us... the beautiful environment... and it is something that we have to look after for ourselves and for our children," Bond added.

Not sure if vanity publishers good for literature: Ruskin Bond

 (16:26)  Kolkata, Jan 23 (IANS) Encouraging youngsters to have a good command over language, noted author Ruskin Bond Friday questioned the role of vanity publishers who charge aspirants "large sums of money" to have their books published.

Bond also highlighted the shrinking of the literary platform provided by newspapers and magazines earlier.

"You can reasonably expect you will get something for your work, although when I see the number of vanity publishers that have sprung up and are taking large sums of money from aspiring young kids who want to see their name on a book, I am not sure if they are doing a service to literature," said Bond at the inaugural session of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet at the Victoria Memorial Hall grounds here.

Children and young adults queued up to catch a glimpse of the cherubic Mussoorie-based author who answered all their questions, which centred on some of his cult books like "Room on The Roof", "Night Train At Deoli", the Rusty series, among others.

Talking about the changes in the Indian publishing scene, Bond said he used to write for newspapers and magazines in the 1950s and 60s to make a living as a writer since the industry was in its infancy.

"When I set out as a writer from the 1950s and 1960s, publishing in India was at its infancy. There were very few book publishers around and I wanted to write and I wanted to make a living from writing so I would really write for almost every newspaper and magazine in the land."

"Fortunately the publishing industry has grown and I know publishers who are doing well," he added.

The 80-year-old said newspapers and magazines today offer limited scope to writers.

"In those days newspapers and magazines actually did publish those stories, essays and poetry so a writer did have a platform."

"Now the magazines and the newspapers do not really have a literary platform and if they do it's a limited one, so writers have to look for publishers," Bond said.

Advising youngsters to stress on "writing well and have a good command" over the language they choose to represent themselves in, irrespective of profession, the Padma Bhushan recipient stressed on perseverance and patience to follow a career in writing.

"I would never discourage anyone from writing. I would only say don't be in too much of a hurry to look for fame and fortune."