‘I’ve come to see you,’ she said. ‘For a long, long time, I hope.’ And I took her by the hand and led her into my home, my garden of books. And that was how Kiran came into my life. […] If you meet her, she will tell you about the garden of dreams…perhaps she will take you there some day, for she is a girl who can make dreams come true. In a world that treasures ‘being realistic’ more than daydreaming, we sometimes forget that the only way to aim higher is to daydream a little—how do we have ambition without a little hope? It is at times like this when we should remember the desires of your youth. How we dreamed bigger than we could afford to; how we leapt and then thought of the fall. In Garden of Dreams, Ruskin Bond brings together stories and personal essays that talk of such youthful exuberance. He talks of love and its effect on a tired soul; of friends that become your anchors through stormy days, of romance kindled over chocolates; and many such tales that rekindle our zest for life. This book is for all those who dare to be a little naïve in this sombre world.