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Today we talk about the biggest issues in our society. We talk about terrorism and hatred. We try to figure out where we went wrong. But the matters keep intensifying, cutting into the social fabric like moths, not only affecting the intellectuals but also the young impressionable minds. How about going back to the basics, addressing the problem at the grass-root level, while the roots still emerge out of the ground and unify into individuality by way of something as simple as value education through storytelling?

The rustic character of Binya from Ruskin Bond’s ‘The Blue Umbrella’ with her adventurous pursuits and eventual triumph out of each predicament, narrated beautifully by the legendary author, makes it rich with values and bravery. This video talks about the character and her relationship with other elements in the story.

Transcript of the video –

How to Win Friends and Influence People like Binya

The Blue Umbrella – ByFriendsRuskin Bond.

Hi friends! Do you want to influence people and make friends just like our favourite character Binya from the story Blue Umbrella by Ruskin Bond?

I do.

Maybe we can take a leaf out of Binya’s character.

Binya is her cow’s favourite master, she is loved by everyone in the village, by her brother, and then eventually even by her biggest enemy Ram Bharosa!

Character Analysis – ‘Binya’ from Ruskin Bond’s The Blue Umbrella.

Children, it doesn’t matter what age you belong to, you may be this small or that big, but you can still influence people in your unique way.

Binya is a countryside girl living in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. She is 11 years old. She would feel nature closely, walk barefoot over the grass when she is out with her cows and feel the grass just as much as she would feel the rocky mountain path.

No matter how preoccupied she is with her daydreaming she would always keep an ear to the tinkling of the cow bells and would know their whereabouts.

Let’s analyze her character with every other element in the story.

Binya and her cows – She seems to take the responsibility of chaperoning the cows very seriously. She is empathetic towards the animals and the cows love their master as she would many times allow them to wander about in the open fields, and remain all by themselves. So the amazing relationship she has with her cows is that of trust, freedom, and empathy.

Binya’s relationship with the self – Children, our hero, Binya – finds happiness in her heart through simple acts of kindness and forgiveness. When she finds out that her flaunting of the pretty blue umbrella is making Ram Bharosa, the tea seller greedy enough to be wanting the umbrella at any cost she surrenders her treasured possession and allows Ram Bharosa to have it forever. Not because she is afraid of him, but because she pities him seeing that he is abandoned by the villagers for his wrong behavior and forgives him in her heart.

Everyone loves Binya, not because she wants everyone to love her, of course, we all do, but more than that because Binya is forgiving, compassionate and generous.

Binya ends her story with a beautiful note – ‘No possession is a bigger source of happiness than the beholding of a forgiving human heart!’