The Trunk of Ganesha

Hello everyone, This blog is a part of my thinking activity. In this blog I will discuss about

Jayanta Mahapatra's short story “The Trunk of Ganesha” 

Introduction

“The Trunk of Ganesha” is a story written by Jayanta Mahapatra. The story is of one skilled idol maker named Govinda. He makes idol of all gods and goddesses. He is a married man and his wife’s name is Sulochana. He has three sons but only the youngest one Ranju was interested in making idols and he was learning this art.

About Author

Jayanta Mahapatra is a major Indian English poet. He is the first Indian poet to win Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. He is the author of such popular poems as Indian Summer and Hunger, which are regarded as classics in modern Indian English literature. Jayanta Mahapatra was awarded Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour in India in 2009.

Summary

Once Govinda has one idol of Ganesha to make but he was not able to complete it. The trunk of the Ganesha idol was breaking everyday. In day he complete the trunk and next day he found it broken. He has measured the weight of the clay and everything but then even trunk is breaking. Then he started thinking that may be god is not happy with him. Ge thinks about several reasons from which god can be unhappy with him. He thinks that may be he charges more for this idol that’s why, or he started making goddesses slim that’s why, this is happening to him.

One night he decided to see what happens in night with Ganesha’s trunk. After completing the idol he goes for dinner. Then he and Ranju hide themselves in corner where no one can find them. Ranju was asleep. Then Govinda has seen some creature in window and its jump on Ganesha’s trunk. That was a cat which used to slide on the trunk. At that time Govinda feels relief.

The end of the story is very interesting and witty. We can not even think after all these tension through out the story that, this simple thing can also be reason.