The Lost Heritage

Rakesh was an archaeologist. He not only explored ancient secret places but also protected them. He has participated in various national and international seminars and given various evidences of his achievements as archaeologist. His habit was to study ancient text and whenever he found something interesting, he used to explore that place with his entire team and dig out the hidden ancient secret of that place.

One day a man named Raj came to meet him at his home. Rakesh asked, "Hello Sir, how can I help you." The guest said, "Mr. Rakesh, my name is Raj. I need your help." Rakesh smiled and said, "Sure sir please come inside." Rajshekhar observed Rakesh's beautiful small home. Everything was so systematic, the book shelf, the almirah, the utensils in the kitchen, the laptop everything was placed at its proper place. Rakesh asked, "I think you liked my house. Thank you very much." Raj said, "Yes. It's so beautiful. When everything is placed at its proper place, it looks beautiful. Did you build this house?" Rakesh said, "No, it was built by my grandfather's uncle who was elder brother of his father. We always lived in a joint family. Nobody in our family had a seperate home. We live together. But right now I am alone." Raj asked surprisingly, "But why?" Rakesh laughed and said, "It is because after two days from now my cousin is getting married. Everyone has gone to our village. I am so unfortunate that due to some crucial official responsibilities, I did not get holidays. I am really feeling sad but what to do? Job is job." Raj smiled.

Rakesh served tea to Raj and asked, "Tell me Sir, how can I help you?" Raj was observing the wall of Rakesh's home. The wall was full of his ancestors photo, beautifully framed. He said, "You care so much for your ancestors. You respect them so much. You are a good man." Rakesh said, "Thank you Sir. It is our ethical and moral responsibility to protect and preserve our ancient heritage. Our ancestor's honour is our true reputation. We are in this planet because of them. The luxurious life that we enjoy, it is because of blessings of our ancestors only." 

Raj smiled and said, "But some people don't care about their ancestors. They don't preserve their heritage. They just forget their roots. In my village, there is a broken palace of King Rajshekhar. He was a great warrior of our place. He made many roads, Gurukuls , hospitals, rehabilitation centers during his reign. But today nobody remembers him. People have forgotten him. He grabs palace is standing like a huge graveyard in my village. Nobody cares for that. You will be happy to know that in my village everyone is post graduate. It is because during the reign of King Rajshekhar, special focus was being given to education and people still follow that tradition, the tradition of being educated. But after becoming educated, they forgot their own king."

Rakesh packed his bag and immediately left for Raj's village. Traveling by train they reached the village. Raj lived alone in a small house, little away from village, he had no family. Ramesh asked," Why you live seperately? Is it you have done something wrong and villagers have thrown you out? Both of them started laughing. Raj said, "No brother, I love nature. Because of this beautiful lake, I made my house here. In the morning, the sweet churping of birds is mesmerizing. The morning sun slowly comes out of the water and gradually kills the darkness." Rakesh understood Raj is a nature lover.

After breakfast, Raj took Rakesh to that palace. It looked really old, broken from everywhere. But it was huge. Ramesh, as an archaeologist, had never seen such a grand palace in his life. As they entered, there was a grand courtyard of the king. Moving further, there were some manuscripts and pictures on a desk. As Rakesh touched those pictures, Raj stopped him," Oh, they are old papers, come on let me show you king's library." They moved towards king's library. A grand library, full of books written in Hindi, Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit. Rakesh was surprised to see those such old documents. Excited, Raj and Rakesh moved ahead into a big room where there was a big dining table with 40 chairs. Rakesh had never seen such a big dining table in his life. His excitement level was at its peak. As they moved towards the next room, they saw a huge mirror. Rakesh said, "Wow, what a big mirror! Entire family can see it's face here." Both of them laughed.

Now they moved into an adjecent room. As Rakesh opened the room, he saw a big picture covered with red cloth. As Rakesh pulled down the cloth, he was shocked. It was Raj, dressed like a king, with crown over his head and a proud smile on his face, a big sward in his right hand, sitting on a singhasan. Rakesh shouted, "Raj this is you, see, this is you Raj, Raj, Raj....." He saw here and there but Raj was nowhere around. He rushed towards the grand picture and saw the caption beneath, King Rajshekhar, 6th century. He understood everything. He immediately took out his laptop and connted his team of archeologists. He called his team at the site. For 11 days, he and his entire team explored that place and took out all the ancient secret from there, jewelleries, weapons, clothes, gold coins, paintings, manuscripts everything. Rakesh and his team decided to convert the place into a museum. Taking help of State governments, within 7 months the place was converted into a grand museum by the name, "Rajadhiraj Rajshekhar Museum." A grand ceremony was organized by Rakesh and his team to celebrate the museum inauguration of the mighty king.

Rakesh was called on the podium for speech. The chief minister of the state honoured Raj and his entire archeological team with gold medal, trophy and Certificate of Honour. Everyone in the audience was clapping. One man, dressed in black coat suite was giving standing ovation, smiling and clapping happily. Everyone was happy to see the excitement of that person. Raj closely examined who he was. He was none other than Rajadhiraj Rajshekhar."

Rakesh rushed towards him. Seeing Rakesh he walked fast and moved away from that place. "Please stop Maharaj", Rakesh shouted, but the man moved on. As Rakesh was about to be closer, Rajshekhar moved into the sky. His dress changed into a kind's wardrobe. A mukut appeared over his head with a sward in hand. He folded his hands in front of Rakesh and said, "Aapka Koti-Koti Dhanyawad." Rakesh bend down his knees and bowed his head in front of King Rajshekhar. King Rajshekhar gave blessings to Rakesh and disappeared.

Rakesh remembered the first day when king Rajshekhar came to his home. He thanked God for this beautiful experience and thought, "May be I have done something pure and divine in my life that our great heros from past spent there valuable time with me for so long."