The lyricist who penned the immortal lines about "mere Desh Ki Dharti Sona Upjey; Upjey Heerey Moti" must surely have had this Chhattisgarh based farmer and others of his ilk as his role models or source of inspiration........
Fables or folk tales do have this uncanny habit of coming true when least expected as this incident right out of the annals of Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" will more than conclusively prove...,.,
An anonymous farmer hailing from the above mentioned state's Surajpur district and his beloved nephew could neither believe their luck and good fortune as they laid their usurpious and grubby palms on riches beyond their wildest imagination during the course of their customary task of ploughing their agricultural lands on a rather balmy Thursday afternoon........
Phuleshwar Rajwade and his comrade in arms (his nephew Suraj Pratap) were hard at work when they were perturbed and disturbed by the fact that their trusty plough was repeatedly getting stuck at one particular spot during the course of their sweaty and weary travails.........
Suraj Pratap had a brainwave and came up with the priceless idea of excavating the tract of land that was causing them problems and extricating the object or objects that were causing them untold problems....... The duo returned with shovels in a jiffy and proceeded to dig up the particular spot only to unearth an antique and priceless cache of 255 or so coins enclosed in a brass pot or container dating back to the period when Queen Victoria was the uncrowned empress of the India of that period........
Elated beyond belief; the uncle and nephew could not contain themselves and started sharing the news about the source of their new found prosperity and wealth with all and sundry who happened to be in the vicinity........
A particularly conscientious and informed fellow villager rushed to the village headman's sprawling dwelling and duly informed him about the heady developments that had caused untoward turbulence in the otherwise nondescript existence of this village.....
On being apprised of the developments taking place in his very backyard; the mukhiya (headman) proceeded to telephonically inform the officer in charge of the local police station who rushed to the spot with a team of four constables in tow........
They put a dampener on the seemingly intoxicating proceedings and quashed the uncle and nephew's fond and rosy dreams of turning crorepatis overnight by confiscating the brass pot or container and taking the same in their custody while another constable proceeded to inform the District Magistrate about the same........
On hearing of the news; the District Magistrate and other high ranking officials reached the spot assessed the situation and proceeded to take the pot containing the veritable treasure under their wing while bringing the news about the unearthing of the same to the notice of the Raipur based Assistant Superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)........
All is well that ends well as the seemingly priceless treasure trove is now firmly ensconced within the Raipur office of the ASI as the prevalent Indian Treasure Trove Act 1878 more than lucidly states the incontrovertible fact that any amount of money; coins; gold; silver or precious jewellery that is unearthed up to a depth of three feet below the ground automatically becomes the government of India's property and the land owner or then person who unearths the same shall have no claim whatsoever over the same........
So much for the fond dreams nurtured by Rajwade and Suraj Pratap about selling their new found treasure for crores of rupees and subsequently indulging their heart's every whim and fancy thanks to the windfall that had come their way.........
Reminds yours truly of an unforgettable scene right out of the Terence Hill Bud Spencer flick "Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure" where the two leading actors are woefully sweeping the floor outside the enclosure in which the priceless treasure unearthed or then unravelled by them is firmly ensconced for eternity and beyond.........
Fables or folk tales do have this uncanny habit of coming true when least expected as this incident right out of the annals of Ripley's "Believe It Or Not" will more than conclusively prove...,.,
An anonymous farmer hailing from the above mentioned state's Surajpur district and his beloved nephew could neither believe their luck and good fortune as they laid their usurpious and grubby palms on riches beyond their wildest imagination during the course of their customary task of ploughing their agricultural lands on a rather balmy Thursday afternoon........
Phuleshwar Rajwade and his comrade in arms (his nephew Suraj Pratap) were hard at work when they were perturbed and disturbed by the fact that their trusty plough was repeatedly getting stuck at one particular spot during the course of their sweaty and weary travails.........
Suraj Pratap had a brainwave and came up with the priceless idea of excavating the tract of land that was causing them problems and extricating the object or objects that were causing them untold problems....... The duo returned with shovels in a jiffy and proceeded to dig up the particular spot only to unearth an antique and priceless cache of 255 or so coins enclosed in a brass pot or container dating back to the period when Queen Victoria was the uncrowned empress of the India of that period........
Elated beyond belief; the uncle and nephew could not contain themselves and started sharing the news about the source of their new found prosperity and wealth with all and sundry who happened to be in the vicinity........
A particularly conscientious and informed fellow villager rushed to the village headman's sprawling dwelling and duly informed him about the heady developments that had caused untoward turbulence in the otherwise nondescript existence of this village.....
On being apprised of the developments taking place in his very backyard; the mukhiya (headman) proceeded to telephonically inform the officer in charge of the local police station who rushed to the spot with a team of four constables in tow........
They put a dampener on the seemingly intoxicating proceedings and quashed the uncle and nephew's fond and rosy dreams of turning crorepatis overnight by confiscating the brass pot or container and taking the same in their custody while another constable proceeded to inform the District Magistrate about the same........
On hearing of the news; the District Magistrate and other high ranking officials reached the spot assessed the situation and proceeded to take the pot containing the veritable treasure under their wing while bringing the news about the unearthing of the same to the notice of the Raipur based Assistant Superintendent of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)........
All is well that ends well as the seemingly priceless treasure trove is now firmly ensconced within the Raipur office of the ASI as the prevalent Indian Treasure Trove Act 1878 more than lucidly states the incontrovertible fact that any amount of money; coins; gold; silver or precious jewellery that is unearthed up to a depth of three feet below the ground automatically becomes the government of India's property and the land owner or then person who unearths the same shall have no claim whatsoever over the same........
So much for the fond dreams nurtured by Rajwade and Suraj Pratap about selling their new found treasure for crores of rupees and subsequently indulging their heart's every whim and fancy thanks to the windfall that had come their way.........
Reminds yours truly of an unforgettable scene right out of the Terence Hill Bud Spencer flick "Who Finds A Friend Finds A Treasure" where the two leading actors are woefully sweeping the floor outside the enclosure in which the priceless treasure unearthed or then unravelled by them is firmly ensconced for eternity and beyond.........
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