How had Binya got the blue umbrella?

Ruskin Bond (b. 1934) is an Indian author of children’s books. He did his schooling from  Bishop Cotton School in Shimla. After completing his high school education, he went to  United Kingdom for further studies. While in UK, and still only 17 years old, he began to write  his first novel The Room on the Roof. Published in the year 1956, the novel won the John  Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize in 1957. Bond used the advance from the novel to pay for his  sea voyage back to India, where he settled down in Dehradun. Some of his most acclaimed  works include Time Stops at Shamli (1989), The Ruskin Bond Children’s Omnibus (1995), Crazy  Times with Uncle Ken (2011) and Tigers for Dinner: Tall Tales by Jim Corbett ’s Khansama (2013).  In 1992, he won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his collection of essays Our Trees Still Grow in  Dehra (1991). Today, he is the most famous author in India and lives in Landour, Mussoorie. Binya’s Blue Umbrella is an extract from Bond’s novel The Blue Umbrella (1980). Most of  Bond’s works is set in the mountains. He is inspired by the beauty and innocence of the  mountain life, a reason why he decided to settle down first in Dehradun and later in Landour.  Bond weaves his stories around the simplest of things in life. In 2005, the Indian film-maker,  Vishal Bhardwaj, adapted The Blue Umbrella into a film. It won the National Film Award for  Best Children’s Film in 2007.

Explanation:

the first proposition is to question economic materialism and victorian christianity. the lines are:

“it moves us not.—great god! i'd rather be

a pagan suckled in a creed outworn; ”

wordsworth is stating that nature no longer interests mankind, that the latter is not “moved” by it and explains that ancient western paganism had a more positive attitude concerning nature since it lacked the perv erted judaeo-christian interpretation of having received the world and all its animals and elements from god to use as we , instead of humans actually being not only part of nature but its wardens, meant to appreciate it and protect it.

the next lines are:

“so might i, standing on this pleasant lea,

have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;

have sight of proteus coming from the sea;

or hear old triton blow his wreathed horn.”

wordsworth here make it very clear that by actually looking and contemplating nature, human beings would reconnect with happiness, serenity and purpose. the use of mythological figures is quite evocative as well, proteus is a greek mythological god of the changing sea. he personifies the sea that changes, which symbolizes the way nature changes and inevitably can change to be destructive not only due to natural causes but to human pollution. furthermore, the sea is even more symbolic since all life originated in the sea so it is not only our past but our future since no life form in our planet can survive without water and if all water is destroyed in earth all life will be gone as well.

he then uses triton which is symbolic of the synthesis of both nature and mankind. triton is a mythological greek god that has the upper body of a man and the lower body of a fish (a merman). this human fish duality evokes the fact that humans are not only human but also part of nature, the fish tail representing nature. the main attribute of this god was that he used a conch shell as a horn to calm the roaring seas. in other words, triton uses nature through science for the benefit of human sailors who risk death during tempests. with the use of such metaphor, wordworth is conveying the message that human technology   is supposed to use nature to preserve nature and thereby humanity as well.

the answer should be

the simple past tense of strive.

hope this !