Book Review: The Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond

The Blue Umbrella, one of all Ruskin Bond’s best works, has acquired a superb deal of appreciation from each reader and critic. The narrative is brief and straightforward but elegantly touches on compassion—a fundamental human quality. Through his practice, Binya Ruskin cultivates in children an attitude of kindness. Everyone should read this great novel.

The author’s writing is admirable as it is simple but effective, and his creativeness is hospitable and kind. The author, who changed into raised in a hilly region, is enthusiastic about expressing in this series of phrases the keenness of individuals who stay there.

A little orphan named Binya lives in a remote mountain village in Garhwal with her mother and older brother, Bijju. She stumbles upon several city people having a picnic in the valley one day while she is herding her two cows back home. Their money and well-groomed appearance enthral her. She desires to be like them and notices a frilly blue umbrella amongst their belongings. She is quite eager to have it.

On the alternate side, the town humans are lured to her harmless splendour and the jewellery she is wearing. The necklace consists of a leopard’s claw that is respected withinside the hills as a mascot. Binya trades her jewellery for a military blue poncho.

The villagers talk about her blue umbrella a lot because it is so pretty, and the kids are so enamoured with it that they constantly want to touch or hold it. Since she believes it looks so gorgeous while it’s open, Binya is in seventh heaven and rarely closes it.

Food, groceries, and smooth beverages are bought through Ram Bharosa at his small keep, without a refrigerator. He is so smitten with the umbrella that he makes the unavoidable decision to buy it. He offers to buy the umbrella from Binya as a result. She, however, rejects the invitation. The refusal turns him off. He swiftly hires a young person from a neighbouring village to work for his company. The youngster, who’s committed to him, grabs the umbrella from Binya as she is outside the jungle harvesting porcupine quills.

Ironically, Bijju manages to trap the child. The locals shun Ram Bharosa and refuse to go to his store after the boy admits he was involved in the crime. Ram Bharosa consequently experiences a setback, endangering his ability to support himself. Ram Bharosa’s situation saddens Binya, and she feels responsible for his pain. She then hands her umbrella to Ram Bharosa. Ram gives her a pendant with a bear’s claw embedded in it because it is believed to be luckier than a leopard’s.

In this story, the umbrella is transported from one hand to another in a gorgeous but risky scene that captures a young person’s confused attitude on how to handle its beauty.
It is a book that comes highly recommended on the list. Adults can utilise it to teach themselves that empathy is the only way to succeed, not through arrogance. The author has extravagantly exaggerated the environment and characters from a mildly critical perspective. Everything else is pleasant and alluring aside from that. A metaphor for our yearning for minor pleasures in life is the passion for the umbrella.