Bella’s pink umbrella

Ashrafi Antia writes about a beloved umbrella’s incredible journey and the lives it touches along the way.

When Bella was twelve, her aunt brought her a fancy umbrella from England as a gift. It was beautiful — pink with sprays of purple and violet flowers with blue butterflies hovering over them.

Bella was the centre of attention when she opened it at school on a wet, rainy day. She carried the umbrella with her, come rain or shine — using it as a parasol on sunny days too. The pink umbrella was amongst her most prized possessions.

One wet and windy day, as Bella walked home, the howling wind tugged at her umbrella this way and that, whilst she held on to it as tightly as she could. As Bella walked past the lake, the gusts of wind swirling around her lifted her skirt. She held the umbrella tightly in one hand whilst trying to hold down her skirt with the other. The mischievous wind seized the opportunity and tore the umbrella from her grip.

Much to her dismay, Bella watched her beloved umbrella fly away — soaring high, like a kite in the sky; till the treacherous wind dropped it with a plop, right in the middle of the lake.

Luckily, the umbrella landed upside down and floated on the water with its handle in the air, bobbing along on the surface of the lake. The wind pushed the umbrella along like a boat, until it reached the other side of the lake and got entangled in some weeds there. 

The dainty umbrella was a muddy mess. Suddenly it heard a voice exclaiming, “What’s this?”, as a boy wearing shorts and a torn vest pulled it out of the weeds. “I’ll give it a good wash and then present it to my elder sister who sits on the footpath selling vegetables all day. This will shelter her from the sun and the rain.” True to his word, Ramu scrubbed the umbrella clean and presented it to his didi, Simi, who was delighted with the gift. The umbrella felt useful and appreciated once again.

One day, Simi noticed  a young boy slyly stuffing his pockets with oranges from Shantabai’s cart, whilst the old fruit-seller was distracted. As the boy sneaked away, Simi grabbed her umbrella and hooked its handle around his ankle, causing him to trip. The stolen oranges rolled onto the footpath. Simi gave him a whack or two with
the pink umbrella and said, “That will teach you not to steal from others.” Apologising, the boy ran away whilst the street vendors applauded Simi.

Many years later, a pretty young girl came along with her mother to buy some vegetables. The umbrella recognised them. It was Bella and her mother. It wondered if they would recognise or even notice it in its present condition. Straightaway,  Bella exclaimed, “That’s my umbrella. Where did you find it?” Taken aback, Simi said, “No Ma, this is my old, faithful umbrella that I’ve had for years. My brother found it by the lake.”

“That makes perfect sense”, said Bella, “as my umbrella was blown into the lake several years ago. Please may I have it back? It was my favourite.”

Simi turned pale. Reluctant to let her precious umbrella go, she pleaded, “What will you do with an old, faded umbrella, Ma? I need it.” Bella thought about it and understood that Simi needed the umbrella more than her; yet after finally finding her long lost friend, she didn’t want to be parted from it again. She still felt sentimentally attached to it. 

Suddenly, she had an idea that she thought would make both Simi and her happy. Bella said, “What if I gave you my new, bigger umbrella in exchange? Then would you please consider giving my beloved old pink umbrella back to me? I’ve been searching for it for years.”

Simi realised she was getting a good deal and nodded. She stretched out her hand and took the multicoloured new umbrella Bella was offering her. She folded the old pink umbrella and wistfully said, “Goodbye my friend. You served me well”, and handed it over to Bella, who beamed with happiness.

Bella’s mother bought lots of vegetables from Simi and promised to come back again. As they walked to their car, mum asked Bella, “What will you do with this old umbrella of yours?”

 “I have an idea!  You know how I’ve always wanted to run craft classes in the summer vacation... I’ll use the umbrella for that”, said Bella smiling. “I’ll call it ‘The Pink Umbrella Craft Camp’ and this umbrella will be my logo.”

As planned, Bella, ran her ‘The Pink Umbrella Craft Camp’ in her summer holidays. She put multicoloured umbrellas out in her garden for the kids to sit under whilst working on various art and craft activities while she sat in the centre under her pink umbrella. At the end of the course, each child got to paint their favourite coloured umbrella with fabric paints in any design or pattern they fancied. Thus, all the children left Bella’s camp with an umbrella they made that they could treasure; just like Bella treasured her pink umbrella.