Materialism is an invisible force that can make you feel inferior and selfish. Well, I agree that all of us are behind something that will make us happy. And most of the time it is materialistic. We often say things like “ I wish I could buy this” or I wish I could afford this”. There are so many examples that clearly tell that the world runs on materialistic happiness these days. I am saying this because we tend to own more than what we need, mostly the things that bring instantaneous pleasure. Even the market and e-commerce sites run on this. So, you see the algorithm is there, but another major contributor is people’s will to own more. But does this apply to all of us? There are a lot of people in this world who possess less, and even the smallest of things can make their lives brighter. I drafted this paragraph after reading The Blue Umbrella which captures this aspect of materialism.
A ten-year-old Garhwali girl Binya gets a beautiful blue umbrella from the picnickers in exchange for her beautiful lucky necklace. She loves it so much that she carries it everywhere she goes. Everyone is jealous of this possession of hers, especially the shopkeeper Ram Bharosa. He eyes it so much that he decides to go to an extreme level to own that umbrella. Will he succeed?
This is a simple and short story, but I loved the unusual characters in this story - Binya, her brother Bijju and the Shopkeeper Ram Bharosa. Also, the illustrations make it easy to visualise the characters nicely, at least some characteristics of them. In less than 100 pages, we get a great story, perfect ending and the valuable message. Other than this, we also get a peek into hilly village life.
I recommend this beautiful book filled with humour, wit, empathy and compassion to all of you. Grab it and read it.
I am going to watch the movie based this book super soon!!