1.0technotimes.infohttps://technotimes.infoTitashttps://technotimes.info/index.php/author/titas/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="7MY6DPpwR5"><a href="https://technotimes.info/index.php/2024/09/16/in-search-of-treasure/">In Search Of Treasure</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://technotimes.info/index.php/2024/09/16/in-search-of-treasure/embed/#?secret=7MY6DPpwR5" width="600" height="338" title="“In Search Of Treasure” — technotimes.info" data-secret="7MY6DPpwR5" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://technotimes.info/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script> “It’s seriously so hot today!”, cried Samar. “Yes it’s boiling. Can we please take anotherstop mom?” begged Prateek. Samar and Prateek were twins. They were heading totheir maternal grandmother’s house in the rural areas of Bengal. Their mother, Rekhawas simply furious by her sons’ constant complaining and whining. She scorned themsaying “can you boys please keep patience for sometime. We are almost there. If wekeep on taking frequent stops, we’ll get very late to reach there”. Their father, Madhav,was a pretty calm man. He didn’t speak much except when things went out of hand. It was their grandmother, Arati’s 80th birthday. So all the siblings were planning to pay avisit to her. It had been months since they didn’t spend quality time with their mother. Around 2pm they finally reached Shantikunj, their maternal home. On reaching, Rekhaimmediately saw Rudra, her brother and Anu, her sister. Their kids got already busyplaying in the courtyard. The house caretaker Damu helped them carry their luggages totheir rooms. All the siblings had met after a very long time. So immediately all thewomen and men seperated and got busy to share their individual juicy gossips. In the evening they all sat together for snacks. “Since when Tara turned 13, doesn’tlisten to me at all. These teenagers are all turning so disobedient. I miss theirchildhood”, complained Anu about her daughter. “My Anjali always looks for excuses toskip school”, said Rinku, Rudra’s wife. Amongst all the palaver, Rudra suddenly spoke.“Hey ma, do you think the rumours about treasures being buried under this house isactually true?” His mother, being thoughtful responded, “the village people alwaysassumed that since we have such a large property we might be having gold biscuitsburied under our house. But nothing of that sort is here”. Rudra, seemingly disheartenedby the reply, didn’t say anything else. That night the children, extremely fascinatedabout the idea of finding a treasure, couldn’t sleep. They remained awake till late nightdiscussing about the possibility of finding a treasure. “We should do something about it”said Prateek. “Yes, we should definitely make a plan” added Anjali excitedly. The next day the men went out to the local market to find ingredients for a hefty lunch.The women planned to cook all the delicious delicacies that their mother loved. Aftertheir father passed away their mother had been through a lot. Well even when he wasalive she never had much peace in her life. She was a victim of domestic violence. Theirfather was a drunkard. Contrary to the name of their house, there was never solitudeinside. Well there was a twist to this. No one ever knew how he died. Neither didanyone know where he went. Nobody even knows if he’s dead or alive to this date. Hejust didn’t return from work one day. After the disappearance they did everything. Theyfiled police reports multiple times, went house to house in the village, but nothingworked. Finally after a year of futile waiting and efforts, they accepted their fate. The siblings just knew that their mother’s wish came true. She always said, “may god takeyour father away. I cannot tolerate this anymore.” After having lunch everyone got comfortable in their respective rooms. “Now is the time.We have to think of something fast to unveil the treasure”, said Samar. “What if we gotreasure hunting tonight after everyone’s asleep?” suggested Prateek. Just like that thechildren decided search treasures in those 8 acres of property. The backyard was intheir focus. That night they patiently waited in their room for the noise to die down and the lights togo off. As soon as they saw the conditions favourable, they went out with torches. Fromthe backyard they collected shovels. Then they started digging. First thirty minutes, theyan hour and then two hours passed. Nothing was found. After almost three hours theyhad no hope or energy left. They gave up. Just as they were finishing up putting back allthe dug up soil in different areas, Anjali felt something hard in the mud. She starteddigging it up. She had never imagined what she would find there. It was a human skull!She shrieked, jumping back. The others ran to her and saw it. They started shoutingand crying not daring to image the inevitable. Their parents came rushing out of the house hearing the cacophony. “It’s a skull!” theypanicked. The parents astonished to see the scene, stood there, stunned. SuddenlyMadhav said, “But we have to call the police now. A human skull being found in thebackyard. It’s a terrific thing”. “Don’t speak out of your mind. Do you know what thepolice will do to us if they get to know about this? They’ll tear us into pieces withinterrogation. One of us can also go to prison for this” said Rudra. “I think Rudra is right.The cops will suspect one of us as the murderer and we’ll be jailed at once. Rather weshould solve this amongst us” added Anu. In all this disagreement, their mother cameout. She seemed relatively calm. Learning everything, she said “The police have neverstepped into our house. And I don’t want to be dragged to jail or interrogated in the lastdays of my life. Nobody will call the cops. We should settle this family matter byourselves”. After much negotiation and disagreement it was decided that the skull would be buriedin the forest, just a few kilometres away from their property. The children were strictlyinstructed not to mention this incident to anyone. They nodded in unison. Arati laid in her bed, satisfied, that such a big burden was now down from hershoulders. The truth that she hid from everyone was now out and dusted. The truth thatonly she and Damu knew.