On Rudyard Kipling's 159th birth anniversary, let's remember the writer behind The Jungle Book.
Rudyard was born in Bombay. His father John Lockwood Kipling was the principal of the Sir J J School of Arts and he grew up in a bungalow on the premises of the school and was brought up by Indian attendants and ayaahs.
His ode to Bombay:
Mother of Cities to me,
For I was born in her gate,
Between the palms and the sea,
Where the world-end steamers wait.
He lived in Bombay till he was 5, then packed off to school in England. He later described that Bombay period as days of 'strong light and darkness'.
Rudyard returned to India in October 1882, then worked for newspapers in Lahore and Allahabad and spent time in Simla.
His most famous books celebrate his India roots. The Jungle Book (1894) was a collection of stories in which animals and Mowgli, a young boy raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, were the heroes.
Kim (1901) chronicles the life and intrigue of Kimball O'Hara, an orphan who becomes a secret agent for the British in colonial India.
Kipling was impressed by Buddhism and its take on the world and Kim reflects this interest.
Several early editions of Kipling's books had the Indian right-facing swastika printed on their covers, highlighting his connection with India.
His last visit to India was in 1891 to visit his ayaah.