Rohan's Rainbow Umbrella

On the morning of the first heavy rain, Rohan's grandmother gave him an umbrella with every colour of the rainbow. Its red, yellow, green, and blue panels brightened the grey doorway. Rohan opened it carefully and spun the handle once. "It is special," Grandmother said. "It grows bigger when you share it." Rohan laughed. "Dadi, umbrellas don't grow!" She only smiled and packed his schoolbag.

Outside, rain drummed on roofs and gathered in shiny puddles. Rohan enjoyed hearing it patter above his head while he stayed dry. At the next corner, he saw his classmate Sana holding a notebook over her hair. Her umbrella had broken, and water was dripping from her sleeves. Rohan looked at the cosy space beneath his own umbrella, then moved closer. "Come under," he called.

Sana hesitated. "Will there be enough room?" "We'll try," said Rohan. They adjusted their bags and walked shoulder to shoulder. Somehow, the rainbow roof seemed wide enough for both. Sana held the handle while Rohan tightened a loose strap on his bag. They began talking about a drawing they were making at school, and Rohan forgot to worry about having the umbrella all to himself.

A little farther along, old Mr. Joshi was carrying a basket of vegetables. Rain splashed over the spinach, and he was struggling to keep his scarf dry. Rohan and Sana stopped. "Join us!" Rohan said. Mr. Joshi chuckled. "Three people under one umbrella?" But when they turned the basket sideways and took smaller steps, there was room. Sana helped hold the basket steady so nothing rolled into a puddle.

Near the school gate, a stray puppy shivered beside a wall. Its fur was wet, and its ears drooped. Rohan wanted to hurry indoors, but the puppy looked up at him hopefully. He asked Mr. Joshi for help. The old man gently wrapped the puppy in his spare cloth, and Rohan held the little bundle beneath the umbrella. Now four of them shared the rainbow shelter.

At school, a teacher met them under the covered entrance. She found a dry towel for the puppy and contacted a nearby animal helper. Mr. Joshi thanked the children before continuing to the market. Sana shook the water from her shoes and grinned at Rohan. "Your umbrella is wonderful." Rohan looked up at its bright panels. He was almost certain they had stretched, although he could not see a single changed seam.

That afternoon, he hurried home to tell Grandmother everything. "Dadi, the umbrella really grew!" he announced. "First there was Sana, then Mr. Joshi, and then a puppy. We all fitted!" Grandmother opened the umbrella beside the doorway and invited him to examine it. The stitching was exactly as it had been that morning. "The umbrella stayed the same size, beta," she said. "Your heart was what grew."

Rohan thought about the way they had shifted their bags, shared the handle, and slowed their steps. Making room had been something they did together. The next rainy morning, he did not race past the corner where Sana waited. He held the rainbow umbrella high and called her name. It no longer seemed important to prove whether the umbrella was magical. What mattered was that someone who had been standing in the rain now had a warm, cheerful place beside him.

Moral: Kindness makes room for everyone.