My Grandparents' Episode of Adventure

'Hari, you are looking upset today, anything's the matter? Ravi threw the question at Hari as he appeared. ' No, nothing really, just old age worries. I'll overcome it sooner' replied Hari with much confidence.

Both Hari and Ravi were my grandfathers, maternal and paternal respectively. They lived close by and spent much of their free time together as they were good friends. They were in the defense services at a young age and retired within one or two years of each other. After retirement, they individually built their own houses close to each other purposefully to be able to spend time together. Their wives mean my grandmothers were also mutual friends.

My family lived elsewhere as my father, also an army personnel was posted at a different location. My mother was a teacher in the army school so she also moved when my father got transferred.

Now coming back to my grandparents as this story is concerning them. Having spent their entire young age in the armed forces had made my grandparents both physically fit and adventurous even at this age.

Hari my maternal grandfather had come to Ravi my paternal grandfather with a little worry at the back of his mind.

Hari told Ravi that he had heard a story that their maid had brought and told his wife which had caused the worry. While out of her home for work she had overheard a conversation between a few men at the local tea shop. She said that the men were discussing that there is a report of a hidden treasure in the retired army brigadier Hari's backyard. And the men were making plans to dig out the ground two nights from now when there would be no moon in the sky.

This story was narrated to me by both the grandfathers' when I visited them during vacation. My writing is solely based on their storytelling skills. 

Ravi, being the adventurous army general during his heydays had not lost his enthusiasm. He patted Hari's back and then they got down to detailed planning.

They decided to dig the ground two days before the gang of culprits were due to dig. Both of them had no clue about what they would be digging and what would be the location of the treasure.

On the very night of the day when the news had spread, they decided to do the digging. Both my grandfathers had a taste for gardening and had various types of flowers and other trees in the garden. A trusted gardener used to do the job for both of them. This gardener was given the assignment of digging and was told to keep totally private the matter. The gardener had also heard that some people were interested in exploring the backyard because some treasure from years gone by had been buried there. My grandfathers appointed the gardener also for one more reason: he knew the ground well.

But the big question was should the gardener dig the ground during the day or at night. As the ground had to be dug quite deep with a lot of soil piling up around the pit it would raise suspicion amongst the local populace as to why such deep digging was being done for simple gardening needs. Then the digging needed to be done at night and that too without lights to avoid suspicion. With all these challenges, the digging began. Minimal light was used from the mobile phones. One of my grandfathers kept watch to observe any prying eyes. After a couple of hours with a huge pile of topsoil removed, there was no luck. So the plan was abandoned for the time.

The next morning, the gardener was told to come early and search the pit he had dug. But still, there was no development to please anyone. That night again digging was done and after some time something hard was struck. It took several minutes and a lot of labour to bring the mysterious object out. In the dim light from the mobile, they couldn't discern the object. But it was pretty heavy and it took my two grandfathers and the gardener's cumulative effort to bring it to the light in the household. It was an ivory box covered with so many years of mud accumulation that was carefully wiped off. It was finally opened to reveal some old documents that were mostly eaten away by insects. 

My two grandmothers were discussing their next shopping episode least bothered with my grandfather's episode. They were however told to be alert and answer the doorbell and cautiously answer any suspicious queries raised.

At the most opportune time, the doorbell did ring and one of my grandmothers went to answer the call. At the door was standing a group of men, the same as per the description which the maid had given.

'' Where is Brigadier Saheb? We want to talk to him, '' cried out hoarsely from the group. Then they almost were in the mood to just barge in. My grandfather hearing Hari came rushing out to rescue his wife. The crowd seeing Hari just pounded on him as if he were their prey.

They kept up their loud chatter that they had heard my grandfather had employed a person to dig out the treasure. All the reasoning that Hari gave fell on deaf ears. My paternal grandfather Ravi and the gardener Bechu came out with the box they had found to put for display in front of them. They did this to save Hari from the plight.

The men examined the box which was full of documents and some parchments but no treasure. They began to suspect foul play and slowly started to lose their mind. Gradually a mob mentality was taking shape and a sense of reason was falling by the wayside.

Just when the situation was turning adverse, a posse of Police force came and saved the day. The assailants were driven out.

The Police assured my grandparents to immediately call for their help if the situation arose.

After the Police left, my two grandparents and Bechu the gardener assembled again to examine the foils. Very cleverly, Bechu had separated the wheat from the chaff to have the box examined by the mob. There had been some gold coins in the box which Bechu had removed before the box and its contents could be displayed.

Hari told me later that the papers were a type of invoice displaying a business transaction that had taken place then. On further examination the next day under the bright sun because much of the writing had faded, it revealed that there had been a sale of a few crates full of mangoes in consideration for a few pouches of sovereign gold coins. Knowing fully well that whatever is found beneath the earth becomes sovereign property and no individual can lay claim to it. So the Archeological Society was informed and their officials summoned. They had examined the documents and revealed the underlying mango deal. 

My grandparents handed over whatever they had unearthed from beneath the ground just keeping two gold coins as family heirlooms for me.