The Curious Case of Pyarelal Indrajeet

Pyarelal Indrajeet sat leaning against one of the pillars of the small Vinayak temple beside NH8, a few kilometers from Vapi in Gujrat. His face had a blank expression as he stared at the elephant faced idol which seemed to be mockingly smiling back at him.

The last of the season's monsoon was drizzling outside. The headlights of the innumerable vehicles plying on the busy highway provided illumination inside the temple intermittently.

The monsoons had always boded ill for Pyarelal. He had barely been ten when a fever had gripped his tiny frame along with the onset of the monsoons. For months, he lay under the fever's deathly spell. So much so that, even his parents had given up hope, however, with the last of the season's monsoon, young Pyarelal's fever too subsided.

He had been fifteen when he found to his great dismay that he had failed his board examinations. The first rains of the season washed away his red hot tears which poured profusely after his father had administered a sound beating. His father decided to discontinue Pyarelal's education and bought an autorikshaw for him, dashing all his hopes of higher studies.

A few years later, it was during the monsoons that he got married and the very next year, it was during the monsoons that he lost his father and became one himself.

Understandably, Pyarelal had been jittery while transporting a few engineers in his autorikshaw as black clouds could be seen lining the horizon. As he took a turning off NH8 near the Vinayak temple, it began to rain. Pyarelal- who had always been an astute and keen observer of the rains due to his fortunes being inexplicably and inextricably linked to the monsoons- noticed that the rain was especially heavy and intense. His small auto bumped up and down over the ill maintained road leading to a quarry.

Pyarelal wasn't especially shocked when his auto's wheel got stuck in a puddle and refused to budge, after all, this was the least he expected. Since the quarry was well removed from the highway, no mechanic could be found nearby. Leaving his auto behind, Pyarelal braved the downpour to find a mechanic near the highway. As he trudged past the Vinayak temple, he noticed that the Bhilkadi river flowing next to the highway had flooded its banks and had formed a great lake where there had once been green pastures.

The mechanic got his scooter ready after much coaxing by Pyarelal and the two of them rode out to the place where the auto had gotten stuck in the mud only to find that it had simply disappeared. The mechanic explained to Pyarelal that either the auto could have rolled into the deep hole in the ground that had been blasted by the quarry owners, or it could have been stolen. Pyarelal thanked him for pointing out the obvious and cursed the rains, and Indira, the God of rains.

The police inspector laughed so violently that his huge belly wobbled. Pyarelal sat with hunched shoulders and looked around him with a sheepish expression. Apparently, the bribe that Pyarelal had offered for tracing his autorikshaw had been abysmally low when compared to the industrial standard prompting the jocularity on the part of the huge man in khaki.

Pyarelal's wife couldn't make ends meet and had weeks ago decided to take the kids and go to her maternal uncle's house. This was indeed a great insult to any Indian "man", and Pyarelal couldn't brook the embarrassment of not being able to provide for his family. But there was little he could do, now that his only source of income, the autorikshaw had been taken by the rain gods.

The monsoons continued to beat down mercilessly upon the Indian subcontinent, bringing great joy and vibrancy throughout the region, however, Pyarelal's situation had only worsened with each passing soggy day.

Driven to work as a casual labourer, Pyarelal joined the workforce at the very quarry where his fortunes had taken a huge dip. This however only worsened his mental and physical condition such that he decided to let the very rains take away his life.

So, Pyarelal walked through the last of the season's rain, which had turned into a gentle drizzle. As he reached the Vinayak temple on NH8, he decided to sit there to rest his aching bones and curse the unhelpful Gods before taking his final plunge into the lake that had been formed by the Bhilkadi river which had flooded its banks. However, sleep overcame his tired mind and body and it was the temple priest who woke him in the morning which had dawned sunny and bright.

Pyarelal walked around the temple preparing to jump into the lake when he noticed that the water level had considerably reduced, and visible right in the middle of the river was the top of a black submerged object. He suddenly noticed that the skies were clear blue and hope sprung in the deep dark recesses of his soul. Excitedly, he jumped into the lake and swam to the middle. He dove under the water to inspect the submerged object and found to his unbounded delight and amusement that it was indeed his lost autorikshaw!

With the help of a considerate and kind-hearted manager at the quarry, he managed to get a crane to pull out his autorikshaw. With the little money he had managed to accrue while working at the quarry, he got it repaired. The mechanic reported with great amusement that the auto's engine had started at the very first attempt to crank it after he had serviced it.

"You must be a very lucky man!" cried out the mechanic.

"Only until the next monsoons my brother, only until the next barsaat!" replied Pyarelal in a resigned manner,