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The Hidden Treasure                                   them. Manjul shouted back informing her that they were coming.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 When they reached back, all dusty and muddy, clothes all tainted with mud,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Mummy ran and shouted as to what they had been up to. Mridul had a small
                                                                                                                                                                                       Manjul sat concentrated on his newly-acquired tool – a magnifying glass,   cut on his hand, bleeding profusely. So, his hand was washed with Dettol and
                                                                                                                                                                                       which his father had gifted him recently. He was studying the black ants, how   bandaged by his Papa, who had just arrived from his College. Both were given
                                                                                                                                                                                       they moved in a line so systematically. Some of them went astray and he was   a quick bath. They wore clean dresses before sitting down for lunch. Their
                                                                                                                                                                                       trying to guide them with a leaf to their proper destination, while viewing   Grandfather and Grand Mom were also quite concerned as to what had
                                                                                                                                                                                       their  antics  through  the  glass.  Suddenly,  his  younger  brother,  Mridul,   happened but all kept quiet to maintain a calm atmosphere.
                                                                                                                                                                                       appeared  from  out  of  the  blue,  yelling  “Bhai....yaa......aaaa!  Looking  up
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Everyone had their lunch first as all were hungry. Then both of them told the
                                                                                                                                                                                       sardonically, Manjul commented, “Oh! What the hell! See, you disturbed my
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 story to the entire family…of how Mridul had landed on discovering the
                                                                                                                                                                                       entire observation.”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 buried treasure. His grandfather and father walked to the site and consulted
                                                                                                                                                                                       Mridul was breathless, having run for quite some distance. He puckered up his   each other, finally deciding to inform the police regarding this.
                                                                                                                                                                                       nose and bringing his mouth near Manjul's ears whispered, “Listen. I've found
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The police came in an hour and inspected the site, digging it up for any further
                                                                                                                                                                                       a treasure, a real treasure! Come with me, quickly!”
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 hidden treasures and for sure, found some more gold jewellery in a muddy
                                                                                                                                                                                       The urgency in his tone made Manjul jump up and follow him. Together they   state.  Photographs  were  taken  and  the  site  was  ear-marked  for  further
                                                                                                                                                                                       scampered across the garden, to the back gate of their house in one breath.   investigations. A week later, it was found that a certain gang of robbers had
                                                                                                                                                                                       Mridul stopped and pointed excitedly towards a small tree stump. “Is that the   buried  these  things  cleverly,  probably  in  the  night,  a  few  months  ago.
                                                                                                                                                                                       treasure?” Manjul thundered. Mridul went over and exposed a large hollow   However, one of the gang members, who used to deposit the spoils at this site,
                                                                                                                                                                                       towards the bottom end, not visible from one side. He scraped further inside   had met with an accident. Hence, the others had no clue to this booty.
                                                                                                                                                                                       with a shovel and fished out what looked like a gold chain. It was Manjul's turn
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The jewellery owners too could be identified and given their lost items. The
                                                                                                                                                                                       to be surprised now.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 police gave the children a surprise gift for their unstinted efforts and all the
                                                                                                                                                                                       “How did you discover this?” questioned he. Mridul told him that he had been   people who got back their lost jewellery blessed them a lot. Both, Manjul and
                                                                                                                                                                                       playing tennis on the yonder side with himself only and the ball he tossed, flew   Mridul were happy for having been of some help to the society. Their parents
                                                                                                                                                                                       over and got stuck here. When he tried to catch the ball, it went inside the   and grandparents too blessed them a lot for this good work.
                                                                                                                                                                                       hollow. Then he brought the garden shovel to scrape through it a little to get
                                                                                                                                                                                       his ball. And it was just then, that he discovered the gold chain.
                                                                                                                                                                                       Together, both of them scraped through, panting and puffing, for almost an
                                                                                                                                                                                       hour. Some more jewellery in an old purse was found – a maang teeka, a                   ~ Poonam Nigam Sahay ~
                                                                                                                                                                                       bejewelled watch, two more gold chains along with six pairs of earrings and
                                                                                                                                                                                       three rings. It looked as if these things had been buried for quite some time
                                                                                                                                                                                       now. The eyes of the children shone with wonder and delight, with each
                                                                                                                                                                                       discovery. It was almost lunch time and they could hear Mummy looking for


             64 | Dr. K.C. Sethi & Sunita Sethi                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Never Cease to Amaze | 65
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