The Blue Umbrella

Binya heard voices, laughter, the clatter of plates and cups; and stepping through
the trees, she came upon a party of picnickers.
They were holiday-makers from the plains. The women were dressed in bright saris,
the men wore light summer shirts, and the children had pretty new clothes. Binya,
standing in the shadows between the trees, went unnoticed; and for some time she
watched the picnickers, admiring their clothes, listening to their unfamiliar accents,
and gazing rather hungrily at the sight of all their food. And then her gaze came to
rest on a bright blue umbrella, a frilly thing for women, which lay open on the grass
beside its owner.
Now Binya had seen umbrellas before, and her mother had a big black umbrella
which nobody used anymore because the field-rats had eaten holes in it, but this
was the first time Binya had seen such a small dainty, colourful umbrella; and
she fell in love with it The umbrella was like a flower, a great blue flower that had
sprung up on the dry brown hillside.

Ruskin Bond

Ruskin Bond (born 1934) is one of India’s best loved and acclaimed writers. The
foreword to his ‘Children’s Omnibus’ of stories describes him as ‘the man with the
golden pen’.
He has written over 300 stories (including 30 books for children), as well as essays,
poems and novels. His writing shows a deep love of nature and people.
Binya, a 10-year-old girl, trades her bear claw for a blue umbrella and the story
goes on to describe what happens when the local shopkeeper is envious of Binya’s
umbrella and sets out to steal it.
The Blue Umbrella was made into a film in 2005.
A descriptive piece about finding and falling in love with a colourful umbrella.