How did the narrator of The Lowley road think he could profit from the bargain
Answers
Explanation:
The story is told by the talkative man who lived in Malgudi and worked as a correspondent for an upcountry newspaper. In those days of the British Raj, the Magudi Municipality was almost non-existant. It did no service to the people. The town was dirty. Streets and drains were left to their own fate. Diseases appeared, ran their course and disappered without any credit to the Municipality. But when India won her freedom on 15th August 1947, the Municipality of Malgudi suddenly came into action. The streets and drains were cleaned. Flags were hoisted. The Independence Day was celebrated. The Chairman of Municipal Council was well pleased with himself for the successful celebration of the occasion.
The Talkative Man often reported the affairs of the Municipality in good light. He was a favourite of the Chairman and often went to see him.
About a week after the celebration of Independence Day, the Chairman was not happy. He wanted to do something more sensational and more patriotic. So he called a meeting of the Council and proposed to nationalise the names of streets, parks and localities. A few names like Mahatma Gandhi Road, Nehru Road and Netaji Subhash Bose Road were in great demand. The Councillors fellout for them. The result was that more than one street got the same name. This caused a lot of confusion. Letters often went to wrong places.
The Chairman was inspired to do something yet more grand. There was a statue of Sir Frederick Lawley in the Lawley Extension. The Extension was now called Gandhi Nagar. It was odd that it should continue to have Lawley's statue there. So the Council resolved to remove it from there.
But it was not an easy affair to remove it. The statue was about twenty feet high. It stood firmly on a solid pedestal of molten lead.
Tenders to remove it were invited. The lowest quotation stood at fifty thousand rupees. Municipality could not afford it.
So they offered it free to the Talkative Man provided he removed it at his own cost. The talkative man was happy. He hoped to make a good profit out of it. The statue weighed about three tons of metal. He hoped he could sell the metal and recover more than his cost. He hired men to hack it and coolies and bullock carts to cart it away. But the statue was too firm. So the talkative man had it blasted off its foundation. With a great difficulty he had it carted to his house in Kabir Street. He sent a long report about the removal of the statue to his paper.
Soon it was discovered that there had been a mistake of identity of Sir Frederick Lawley. Of course there had been a Sir Lawley during the time of Lord Warren Hastings. He was a cruel and ruthless tyrant. He had suppressed the people. But this Lawley, whose statue had been removed, had been a kind man. He was a friend of people. He had helped the people of Malgudi in many ways.
The Public was angry. They picketed the house of the talkative man where the statue lay supine. They demanded the statue back. They wanted to restore it to its original place.
The talkative man was not willing to part with the statue. He wanted the Municipality to pay him the money he had spent on bringing it to his house. A litigation started between the talkative man and the Municipal lawyer. The talkative man wanted to get rid of the statue in a respectable settlement.The government asked the Municipality about the statue. It was feared that the Municipal Council would be dissolved and fresh elections would be held.
The talkative man was able to persuade the Chairman to buy the statue along with his house to convert it into a National Trust. The Chairman found it cheaper to buy the place than to contest a fresh election. He agreed to buy the house and turn it into a public park. He promised to call Kabir Street as Lawley Road. In this way the talkative man got rid of the statue and the Chairman was able to protect his position.
Hope it helps! ^_^