Trunk of Ganesha by Jayant Mahapatra

Short Story Trunk of Ganesha by Jayant Mahapatra

"The trunk of Ganesha'' is a short story written by Jayant Mahapatra. In the Indian writing in English he is known as a well-known poet who was the first Indian port to win the Sahitya Akademi award for English poetry. As a poet, he is very sensitive and his poems deal with every kind of emotions like love, pain, death, faith and so on.

His short story "Trunk of Ganesha" is about an idol maker named Govinda who used yo make an idol of Indian god and goddesses but one day he finds trouble in making an idol of Ganesha. Many times he tried to make an idol of Ganesha but always it breaks down from the trunk. It is the mystery of the novel which solves at the end of the novel.

Govinda, an idol maker is a married man who lives with his wife Sulochana and three sons.

Among all the sons the youngest son Ranju is interested in making an idol like his father. Once when Govinda has to make an idol of Ganesha but he was not able to complete it as always it breaks down from its trunk. Every day he completes the idol of Ganesha but when night passes, in the morning they found that the trunk was broken. It is the mystery that why it was broken. Govinda tried to figure out the clay and weight of it but it was all in right place. After that, he starts to think that God must have angry with him because he started to make eye Cathy idols of god goddesses by making them slim and attractive and also because he might be taking a high price for his idols.

After that one day he and his son decided to hide in the corner of the same room where they put the idol of Ganesha once after finishing it. They both waited for a long time but nothing happens and Ranju falls asleep. Then Govinda has seen a shadow in the window, a creature comes from the window and jumps on Ganesha's trunk. Finally, they come to know that it was a cate who broke the trunk of Ganesha. And this gives some relief to Govinda. Thus the story ends in a witty way.