It’s a wonder how such a small book of barely 30 pages has been so popular among readers and even been made into a feature film, which I intend to watch soon. But then, it's authored by Ruskin Bond, a writer who can invoke a teary smile in your heart and a vivid display in your mind with just a few words.
A smile is a constant when you are reading Bond’s stories. And only he would consider a subjective thing such as a smile that could be lent to someone who was unhappy. As usual, nature forms an innate part of Bond’s world - prickly shrubs to berried bushes, leeches to lilies, teasing winds to bleating rains.
This is a simple story woven around a small village in the hills of Garhwal where a young girl’s constant companion and her reason for joy is a pretty blue umbrella. Within a few conversations and interactions between the characters, you get a complete picture of the life on the hills and how starkly different it is from the rest of the region. And this is what makes Bond’s writing so special – his ability to say so much with so little. As the story progresses so do the seasons. And just as each new season paints a new scene in the hills with its own unique shades, so does the story, bringing out a new dimension in each of the characters. It is amazing to see that, despite this being a novella with minimum characters, all the characters are full of life and relatable in many ways.
Bond describes the life in mountains as subtly as possible. Slowly you see, that this is a place where the food on your plate is from the fields you plough and the milk in your glass is from the cows you herd, where little boys go to school while the little girls tend the cattle, where a shopkeeper is the richest man in the village and where you have monsoon holidays instead of summer vacation, which are spent lending a hand in the fields instead of being at leisure.
This is another one from Bond that will bring a teary smile to your face as you reach the ending. It also contains a sweet message which is delivered in such few words, it’s a remarkable feat for any writer. With something for readers of every age group, this is one of those rare books which one can finish in half an hour and yet, reminisce about it for days.
