Engine Trouble is a funny and ironic story by R.K. Narayan, first published in 1972 as part of his collection Malgudi Days. The story revolves around a man from the fictional town of Malgudi who gets into a lot of trouble after winning an unexpected prize at a village fair.

The story begins when a fair is held in the village. Fairs in India are big events where people enjoy rides, buy toys and participate in lotteries to win prizes. The grand prize in this lottery is hidden under a black cloth and no one knows what it is, which makes it very exciting. The narrator, curious like everyone else, buys a ticket and to his surprise, his number is drawn as the winner of the biggest prize. When the black cloth is lifted, instead of a valuable gift, the prize turns out to be a massive road roller engine.

At first, the narrator is shocked and confused. He has no idea what to do with such a large machine. He wonders how he’s going to take it home, but that’s just the beginning of his problems. The next day, he gets a notice from the municipal corporation asking him to pay 100 rupees per month for parking the engine on government land. Now, the narrator is in even more trouble because he doesn’t want the engine, but no one is willing to buy it from him. Desperate, he sells his wife’s jewelry to pay the tax, but the engine still stays there, causing him endless stress.

Things get worse when the municipal corporation sends another notice, telling him to remove the engine within 24 hours. In a panic, the narrator goes to the temple to ask for divine help. The priest at the temple suggests using the temple elephant to move the engine. Feeling relieved, the narrator arranges for the elephant to help him. But then another priest advises him to hire 50 laborers along with the elephant because one elephant might not be enough to move the heavy road roller.

The laborers and the elephant try their best, but the engine’s wheels won’t move. It just rolls straight ahead and crashes into a wall. Now, the person whose wall was destroyed complains and the narrator is forced to agree to rebuild the wall. The police get involved and they warn the narrator that if he does not rebuild the wall within 30 days, he will be arrested.

Just when things seem like they ca not get any worse, a thunderstorm comes one night and the engine falls into a drain. The person whose wall was damaged sees the engine and thanks the narrator, as he had been receiving notices from the municipal corporation to cover the drain, but could not afford to do so. The narrator, seizing the opportunity, agrees to leave the engine in the drain to help cover it. The man, grateful for the solution, decides to pay all of the narrator’s debts, what a relief!

In the end, the narrator finally gets rid of the troublesome engine and all his debts are cleared. What started as an unexpected stroke of luck turned into a series of headaches, but in the end, things worked out in the most surprising way. The story is a humorous take on how life’s troubles sometimes resolve in unexpected and ironic ways.