The Blue umbrella summary

by Ruskin Bond
By Aryan, Tanish and Vedansh
• ‘Neelu! Neelu!’ cried Binya. There was a small girl named Binya running
barefoot and trying to get hold of her cow, Neelu. She also had another cow,
whose name was Gori. Binya belonged to the mountains in a part of the
Himalayas known as Garhwal. Binya was probably ten. She may have been nine
or even eleven but no one was sure, as in the village birthdays were not
celebrated. But Binya’s mother told her that she was born in the winters,
almost ten years ago. Binya’s full name was Binyadevi and her brother, Bijju’s
real name was Vijay, and Binya was 2 years younger to her brother. Binya had
now stopped calling for Neelu as she heard the cowbells tinkling. Then
suddenly she heard voices, laughter, the clatter of plates and cups, while
stepping through trees. She saw a group of picknickers. They were
holidaymakers from the plains. The women were dressed in bright saris and the
men wore summer shirts. Everyone was having fun, but suddenly something
caught Binya’s eyes. There was a blue umbrella lying on the grass, besides its
owner. Binya had seen many umbrella’s before, her mother even had a black
umbrella, but it was of no use as rats had eaten holes in it. But this one was a
small, dainty, colourful umbrella, made of silk.
 It had a great blue colour, which flashed in everybody’s eyes. She moved a bit
more forward so that she could see it more clearly, and comes out of the
shadows into the sunlight, and the Picknickers see her. One of the older women
said ‘Hello, look who’s there, a little village girl’. ‘Isn’t she pretty?’. She also said
that her clothes were quite torn and dirty. ‘They’re very poor in the hills’. One of
the man said this and encouraged the other people to give her something to eat.
Binya moved a few paces further, normally she would have fled away but the
blue umbrella had cast an attraction spell on her, drawing her against her will.
‘What’s that on her neck?’ Binya said that it was a tiger claw pendant, replying
to the younger woman. The man considered the pendant as a lucky charm. ‘Oh, I
want one too!’ Said the man’s wife. Her husband told her that they couldn’t be
bought in shops. The woman then told her husband to buy Binya’s pendant
asking him to give some money. Binya refused to sell her pendant and then after
being asked about what she wanted in exchange, she pointed to the blue
umbrella. So after a lot of debating they traded the pendant and umbrella.
• After getting the umbrella, Binya forgot about the picknickers, and kept on
seeing the umbrella’s beauty. No one in the village had such a beautiful
umbrella, and where ever she went, she carried the umbrella with her. There
were many people who envied Binya. But the person who envied Binya the
most was Ram Bhosla. Ram Bhosla had a tea shop on the Tehri road. He kept a
few bottles of Coca-Cola too, but with no ice, with some toffees and candies
too. But Ram Bhosla astonished to see Binya’s Blue Umbrella. Astonished to see
the umbrella, Ram Bhosla asked ‘What have you there, Binya?’ Then he said
that this umbrella was only for the memsahibs. ‘how did you get it?’ He further
asked. Binya replied that she had exchanged it for her lucky necklace. But Ram
bhosla again replies that it is of no use for her, It is just a play thing for rich
woman, why don’t you sell it to me, for five rupees. But Binya says that it is
worth fifteen rupees. Ram bhosla asks her to sell it in ten rupees or twelve
rupees. Binya who has no interest in selling it, places a five paise coin on the
counter and says, ‘I CAME FOR A TOFEE’. Ram Bhosla, gave her a wry expression
and places a toffee in her palm. As Binya walked to her home everyone kept on
staring at her beautiful blue umbrella
• Then Binya sits under a pine tree, keeping the umbrella beside her, and lays
down to sleep. But while she sleeps, suddenly a gust of wind blows the
umbrella away, as it stirs on the grass. Slowly, slowly the winds get stronger
Then the wind gets the umbrella and carries it about six feet from the sleeping
girl, but this sounds suddenly wakes Binya up. She was in her feet immediately,
and was leaping on the cliff, just as she gets her hands quite near the umbrella,
the wind picks it up again and carries it further downhill. Every time the slope
was getting steeper and steeper, and Binya knew that after twenty yards, the
umbrella would fall down in a precipice. She runs faster and the wind picks up
the umbrella again. But suddenly another and more powerful gust of wind
blows it till the edge of the cliff, where it balances for a few second before
toppling over and going out of sight. The umbrella was stuck in a cherry tree.
Without hesitating Binya stuck her bare leg over the edge of the cliff and began
climbing down. After reaching the cherry tree Binya climbed the tree so she
could get the umbrella. Twenty minutes later she emerged from the nettle
clump. After reaching the cherry tree Binya climbed the tree so she could get
the umbrella. Twenty minutes later she emerged from the nettle clump. Biju
was on his way back from school eating Kingora berries.
As he passed Ram’s shop Ram Bharosa asked him ‘What will you have today?’ ‘No money,’
Bijjo replied . Most people in the village were a little envious of Binya’s blue umbrella. Few
days later monsoon arrived. Binya sat on the hillside all afternoon waiting for the rain to come.
As the first drop of rain came Binya immediately put the umbrella over her head. Then big
drops began to come and then there was a cloudburst. Although the umbrella wasn’t a rain
umbrella it still bravely held up. Everywhere on the hillside people were scurrying for shelter
except Binya who had been waiting for rain on her umbrella. Then she found Bijjo taking
shelter in a cave. Neelu, Neelu! Called Binya to the cows who had been left far behind. Binya!
Bijjo! Hurry up and bring the cows in! What are you doing out there in the rain?’ Their mother
called out to them. ‘Just testing the umbrella,’ said Bijjo. Three days of continuous rain had
flooded out a number of small animals who lived in holes on the ground. Binya’s mother
suddenly found the roof full of field rats and had to drive them out as they ate too much flour
and rice from her supplies. Snakes came out to bask in the sun. One day after crossing the
stream at the bottom of the mountain she saw a black snake gliding towards her. Seeing Binya
in its way the snake rose up hissing, prepared to strike. Suddenly the forked tongue darted out
and the venomous head lunged at Binya. Her umbrella was open as usual and Binya thrust it
forward between herself and the snake. The snake’s hard snout thudded twice against the
umbrella’s silk. The snake turned and disappeared into some bushes.
After the summer sun and the endless rain the umbrella had turned a light blue from a bright
blue but Ram Bharosa still desired it. The school closed in the monsoon, so Ram Bharosa asked
Bijjo to work in his shop. After his refusal he hired a boy called Rajaram from the next village.
One day as Binya was passing Ram Bharosa’s shop Rajaram noticed that his employer gave a
deep sigh and began muttering to himself. ‘What’s the matter, Babuji?’ asked the boy. ‘Oh,
nothing.’ It’s just a sickness that has come upon me. And its all due to that wretched girl Binya
and her wretched umbrella. ‘Why, what has she done to you?’ ‘Refused to sell me her
umbrella! There’s pride for you. And I offered her ten rupees.’ ‘Perhaps, if you gave her
twelve’… ‘But it isn’t new any longer. It isn’t worth eight rupees. All the same I’d like to have it.’
In a short while after a lot of talk about it Rajaram asked Ram Bharosa ‘But tell me Babuji, do you want it badly
enough to pay me three rupees for stealing it without being seen.’ ‘You are sharp boy.’ ‘ You’ll
come to a bad end. I’ll give you two rupees.’ After a little arguing about the amount Ram
Bharosa agreed to pay him three rupees. Binya was in the forest glade where she had first seen
the umbrella and was searching for porcupine quills. Binya put the the umbrella down as she
had to search the ground thoroughly. It was Rajaram’s chance! He had been following Binya for
a while anxious not to be caught and recognized. He waited until Binya had wandered a little
far from the umbrella and then ran. He opened the umbrella and dashed with it. As Rajaram
had very big feet, Binya heard him, turning just in time to see him disappear in the trees.
Binya ran after the boy gaining on him. Near the bottom of the hill the path was beginning to
straighten out and it was here that the long legged boy began to forge ahead again. Bijjo was
coming home from another direction with a bundle of sticks he had collected for the kitchen
fire. After he reached the path he saw Binya rushing down the hill as if all the mountain spirits
were after her. ‘What’s wrong?’ ‘ Why are you running?’ ‘My umbrella’. ‘He has stolen it!’ ‘ I’ll
soon catch him!’ Rajaram was crossing the stream when Bijjo caught up with him. Just as Bijjo
and Rajaram had begun to fight Rajaram let go of the umbrella. Binya dashed into the stream
and got her umbrella. Both the boys where having a tremendous fight. After five minutes of
frenzied struggle Bijjo emerged victorious. Rajaram lay flat on his back with his arms pinned.
‘Let me get up’! ‘Let me go -I don’t want your useless umbrella! Bijjo then demanded that why
did he take it. Rajaram replied that Ram Bharosa had threatened him to get it by saying he’d
lose his job. Then the lovely month of October came and everyone was content except for Ram
Bharosa. Because of the umbrella people had stopped coming to his shop. . Ever since Ram
Bharosa had tried to steal the umbrella, the village people had stopped trusting him. Instead of
buying from his shop people used to walk an extra mile and buy from the shops near Tehri road.
Ram Bharosa began to get short of money, but still had some money left in the Tehri bank. Binya
used to pass his shop regularly, but kept reasoning with herself, that if she was loving the
umbrella more than people.
•One day towards the end of October, she came to Ram Bharosa’s shop, he was surprised as she
was his first customer in almost 2 weeks, she placed a ten paise coin on the counter, and asked
for a toffee, he was suspicious and checked if the coin was a bad one, but it wasn’t. He gave her
the toffee and Binya walked away, but suddenly Ram Bharosa saw the umbrella kept on his
counter, he was surprised and could not believe it. He held it above his head and noticed that he
has no use for it. He ran and shouted ‘Binya you forgot the umbrella. Binya replied, ‘You keep it.
I do not need it anymore, The umbrella is not everything’. Ram bharosa was surprised. Well now
we see that Ram Bharosa has the umbrella, he uses it for many tasks. He also keeps it outside the
shop, so that anyone can use it, so it was everyone’s umbrella. It was a bit faded and patchy
but was still the best umbrella in the village. A few nights ago, a bear visited Ram Bharosa’s shop,
as there had been snow on the mountains and was finding it difficult to obtain food. So it came
to the village to search for food. It crawled over his shop, but lost a claw while doing so. The next
morning he went to the market, and gave the silversmith 10 rupees to convert his claw into a
locket. As the days grew shorter, and Binya had to come home earlier every evening. One day
she was running past Ram Bharosa’s shop and the old man called to her and said ‘Binya, spare a
minute, I want to show you something’. Binya stepped in, as Ram Bharosa said ‘What do you
think about this pendant, made with a bear claw?’, Binya replied, ‘It is very beautiful’. But
suddenly Binya’s face grew sad, as she said, ‘I have no money’. But Ram Bharosa said ‘You gave
me the umbrella, and in return I give you this pendant’.
The pendant looked beautiful on her. She called her goodbyes and started to go home, she was
halfway tp home when she realized that she had left the cows behind. She shouted ‘Neelu,
Gori’. As they came down the path, she started to sing and the trees, the mountains, and the
darkening glade, all were glad.
Information about the Author ( Ruskin Bond )

Born- 19th May 1934, Kausoli, Himachal Pradesh. Grew up in Shimla, Jamnagar
Dehradun and mussorie.
Present age- 88
He presently lives at Landore, Mussorie with his adopted family.
Ruskin Bond has written over 300 short stories, essays, novels and
more than 30 books for children. His first novel was Room on the Roof
which he wrote at the age of 17. ‘The blue umbrella’ won the 2007
national award for best children film.
Roles-
Summary and dialog writing- Aryan, Vedansh, Tanish
Dialog speaking and dialog narration- Tanish, Vedansh
Narrator- Aryan
Formating- Tanish, Vedansh
Characters-
Binya- Vedansh
Bijju- Tanish
Ram Bharosa- Tanish
Woman-1-Tanish
Woman-2-Tanish
Rajaram- Vedansh
Binya’s mother- aryan