The Blue Umbrella is a 1980 Indian novel written by Ruskin Bond.
An endearing story of love and sacrifice. When Binya, a sweet little village girl, receives a charming blue umbrella from some tourists, she is overjoyed. She runs through her village Garhwal and plays with it. The village shopkeeper becomes jealous of her possession and tries to steal it but fails. In the process, he loses his good name with the villagers and everyone boycotts him. Binya however befriends him and sacrifices her gift just so that he could be happy and restore his name. Thus starts a sweet and innocent friendship.
In this simple story two differing characters are shown - one of innocence and one of possession. Both traits are part of us humans in varying measures. We can be evil at times and act on our impulses in words or actions. And we can also be extremely benevolent and generous. This juxtaposition is beautifully depicted by the pleasant writing of Ruskin Bond.
The Garhwal village
Nature is also symbolically used to elucidate this. As typical of Bond, the setting is a beautiful scenic hill station. Tall pine trees arrayed on the mountain slopes and tiny huts and houses hardly visible among the fog and dense wooded greenery. Fog vs sunlight. Hardy nature vs soft flowing spring water. Innocence vs hard heartedness. Varying themes disguised by the wonderful writing of Bond.
It was adapted into 2005 Hindi film by the same name, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, which later won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.
Nature is also symbolically used to elucidate this. As typical of Bond, the setting is a beautiful scenic hill station. Tall pine trees arrayed on the mountain slopes and tiny huts and houses hardly visible among the fog and dense wooded greenery. Fog vs sunlight. Hardy nature vs soft flowing spring water. Innocence vs hard heartedness. Varying themes disguised by the wonderful writing of Bond.
It was adapted into 2005 Hindi film by the same name, directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, which later won the National Film Award for Best Children's Film.
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