ROAD ENGINE

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

 

A JINXED LOTTERY PRIZE ‘ROAD ENGINE’ or ‘ENGINE TROUBLE’

 

RK Narayan (Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami) who had a God-given gift of an unmatched sense of parody in his writings was a natural satirical short story writer. The nonpareil author with a wit of humour had the characteristic simplicity to conform to trends and fashions found in his fictional writings. His genius tended naturally in the direction of burlesque and satire in his works which also had the social context in the background and reflected the everyday life of his characters. ‘ENGINE TROUBLE’ or ‘ROAD ENGINE’ was one such story of his.

 

This short story is part of the collection of his works ‘An Astrologer’s Day and Other Stories’. The story carried the full quota of the author’s usual humorous and sardonic literary style enriched by high doses of irony. It depicts a series of problems a lucky lottery winner had to face after taking over the prize from the exhibition organizers that is sure to generate belly-aching laughter in readers. What the winner considered as a good fortune of his life turned out to be a plethora of troubles in maintaining the so-called prized gift without any benefit or gain from it. Rather, it entailed and was fraught with all kinds of woes.

 

A man (referred to as ‘lucky man’ hereinafter) purchased a lottery ticket inside an exhibition. To his astonishment and pleasant shock, he was declared the lottery winner. The prize he earned was a road engine. His friends congratulated him on that. Some wanted him to give them a party and the lucky man obliged. The lucky man thought that all his life problems including his financial constraints would end once and for all and he could lead a peaceful life with the money he would get by selling his pride prize catch. With that intention, he advertized for its sale and also printed and pasted posters. But none came forward to buy it. With the exhibition time over, the organizers left the leased area. The road engine however continued to remain on the same spot in rain and shine uncared for. The municipality ordered the lucky man to remove the road engine from their ground immediately. Since the lucky man could neither sell nor remove the engine from there, the municipality charged him penal rents which he started paying. After some time, he didn’t have the sources to pay. He, therefore, had to pledge some jewels of his wife to pay the recurring rents.

 

Meanwhile, some hitches and problems developed in the road engine as it had to remain open to the sky for many days including inclement weather at times. He, therefore, decided to move it away outside of the municipality area at the first instance to avoid paying rent. Moreover, the municipality had given permission to another organizer to host a cattle show at the usual exhibition site. Hence the lucky man was under immense compulsion and intense pressure to move the road engine elsewhere immediately. Some well-wishers helped him with a temple elephant and some workers. While the elephant pulled the engine from the front, the workers pushed it from the back. Thereupon, the road engine started moving majestically from where it remained for many days like a King with his entourage. But because of the force applied in moving, it rammed against the compound wall of a house blowing it to smithereens. The owner of the house scolded and slapped the lucky man, and the police marched him off.

 

On release from the lock-up, some serious consequences were awaiting the lucky man. He was forced to incur the liability to reconstruct the compound wall at his cost including payment of wages to workers. He also had to incur the liability of expenditure on the treatment of the knee injury sustained by the pachyderm. Since the lucky man was in financial constraints as he had to spend a lot for retaining and maintaining the road engine far from gaining anything from it, his wife took him to task and threatened to leave him. Thus, the lucky man’s ordeals only continued in an endless spiral almost shattering his life.

 

At this time, a miracle happened. A Swamiji visited the town. He conducted an open event showcasing his occult powers including key yoga exercises. Among other things, he ate bits of glass pieces, drank acids, licked white-hot iron rod, chewed and swallowed sharp nails, etc. The whole crowd including the lucky man watched the Swamiji in stupefaction and became dumb-stricken. To everyone’s surprise, particularly the lucky man, Swamiji asked if there was any road engine that could be run on him. The lucky man was delighted at the Swamiji's call and grabbed the opportunity by raising his arms in affirmation. As requested by the Swamiji, two pillows were given to him to be placed on his chest on which the road engine could be run. The lucky man thought that after this adventure show he could ask Swamiji’s assistant to drive the road engine away to a safe place where there would be no scope for any further problems. While he felt euphoric at the turn of events, and when the Swamiji’s assistant was about to start the road engine to run on his master, a Police Inspector appeared on the spot as a stumbling block. As if to throw 'a spanner in the works' he prevented the assistant from driving the road engine and the Swamiji from proceeding with his run-on programme, as, according to him, it was against law. He also showed a Magistrate’s order to drive home and assert his point. But Swamiji protested and made vociferous and forceful pleas to allow him to demonstrate his special skills and prove his extraordinary prowess but all in vain. Becoming frustrated and angry, Swamiji left the place cursing the authorities. The lucky man muttered “Oh my God, what is this happening? All my hopes have been shattered. This police officer has torpedoed everything. When things are about to be set to give me relief, it is now going topsy-turvy and back to square one. Am a jinxed person?”

 

With the abrupt end of the Swamiji’s show, the crowd dispersed; but the road engine remained intact where it was without being moved even an inch. Disappointed, the lucky man went back home and narrated what all had happened much to his bad luck, to his wife. The lucky man started preparing to leave the town for good abandoning the engine to its fate with all commitments unfulfilled. Yes, the couple decided to leave the town as they increasingly felt a bad omen in continuing to live there. The lucky man asserted, "Enough is enough. We have suffered a lot. We can't put up with the ignominy anymore. If we continue here, ordeals and tough times would only increase in the days to come." Proposing to leave at the dawn, they fell asleep.

 

But alas, Nature came to their rescue in an unexpected manner. There was an earthquake in the country and it also affected the place where the road engine was stationed. In the impact, the engine was thrown into the well of the house whose compound wall was destroyed by it earlier.

 

The next morning, the lucky man went to the spot not to find the road engine in its place. On a search, he found that it had made a perfect dive into the well of the house owner with whom he already had problems. Now starting to fear further, he murmured, “I already have problems with this house owner. What will he do now? He is sure to kill me this time around!”

 

The house owner, on seeing what all had happened around, heartily laughed and beamed at the lucky man. Whatever the house owner said thereafter was music to the lucky man's ears. Wishing the lucky man, the house owner said, “Oh, you are my saviour. I have been served notice after notice – almost every week - by the municipality for closing my well as it contained the dirtiest water on the Earth causing pollution. The penalty amount kept on increasing with every notice and I also have no money to appropriately close the well. Your road engine has done the job perfectly. See, how beautifully it is fitting the bill? Yes, how nice it is to see the engine perfectly fitting and filling the well as a cork? Now that you have done a great help to me, I will withdraw all my complaints and charges against you. Don't worry. I will get my broken compound wall re-built at my own cost.” Elated but hesitantly, the lucky man taking the cue said, “That’s hardly enough. I have a few other financial liabilities that this engine had brought on me.” The house owner readily agreed to discharge all those liabilities also. Thereupon, the lucky man abandoned his idea of leaving the town. After some days, he paid a leisurely visit to peep over the well. He found the mouth of the well neatly cemented up. Then only he heaved a sigh of great relief, at long last of course!

 

It is worthwhile recalling here the proverb ‘Man proposes, but God disposes’.

 

(R.SAMPATH)

26/1/2021