If you thought Da Vinci Code is edge of the seat stuff the story I recount here will move your soul and force you to pick up a shovel. Come closer and hear my secret - the sun is beginning to dim over the Inca Empire. The European conquistadors are advancing into Chile and Ecuador even as King Athahualpa is battling his half brother Huascar. The European colonialists are forcing an entire civilization to shed leaves and adopt cotton and silks around both waist and torso – their eyes locked firmly on a treasure in precious metals and jewels. And here’s where we begin to dig deeper!
The moon is but a sliver in the sky. Just before the capture of King Atahualpa at Cajamarca an armada of 18 ships slips out of the harbour. The reflection of the moon on the dark waters dances sensuously along the bows of the ships just like the 100 virgins had danced the previous night in honour of the men embarking on a journey of no return. A journey that would take them across the Atlantic, past the Cape of Good Hope to a land called India where people were already so wealthy that the treasure of the Incas would make nary a difference to the GDP and would remain safe till it was time to bring the booty back. The first recorded instance of a phenomenon that would harass economies 3 centuries hence – global flight of capital.
After a voyage unrecorded by history, the ships dock at a few select locations - at the mouth of the Hugli, near Goa, and the fishing villages near what would be Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai. The booty is carted inland, buried into the ground. Guarded by a generation of Incas as they meld into the local population till faster boats a century later would bring their descendents back home. In a marvel of sailing ingenuity 16 ships made it to India and the sailors and soldiers fanned out burying deep within our nation’s fertile abdomen a king’s ransom - its location mapped on papyrus with indelible ink and consolidated with the oldest captains of the ships across what would be Cooch Behar, Mysore, Travancore and the Western Provinces. But as sometimes is the case this generation of shy Incas passed away over the next 60 years. Only the whispers remained that buried somewhere in the bowels of our nation lies a treasure that could repay the total external debt of many nations.
In 1947 the government of Free India had a conclave near Ahmedabad, a group of select ministers formed a secret cabal in the flickering lights of the night pledging to find the Inca treasure and keep it for India. They took an oath of continuance and swore on their blood to search till the gold, silver and jewels were found – a secret passed by one finance minister to another, the hunt continuing irrespective of party lines. Every government needs an arm to fulfill its wishes but in this case the arms were many – innocuously called PWD, CPWD, Departments of Electricity, Roads, Infrastructure, what have you – united in one common vision – to unearth the treasure that would allow India to repay its debts and colour our combined futures in a Golden hue.
And so our brethren fanned out and started digging, no, not their noses or crotch but the very earth under our feet. Millions of government agents digging ditches and culverts across our land! A mammoth public works campaign that won’t end till the treasures are found and delivered to the treasury. So now when you see the road being dug on your way to work you will know the reason. These are not day wage labourers but part of an elite corps. Holes and pits being dug overnight on a tip off. Complex calculations leading to newly tarred roads being gouged open again. And the hunt for the treasure of the Incas has now taken on a PPP hue with India’s largest conglomerates and infrastructure companies in on the secret. As you sit in a traffic jam with a giant SUV trying to drive over you and the other side blocked by a massive hole know that this is a project of national importance. A ruthless dig - a muddy rainbow that will end in a pot of gold!
Ever wondered, while the first drainage systems were built in Harappan times why we haven’t managed to perfect this in our cities yet?? The treasure! The mystery of half naked men lowering themselves into open manholes at busy crossing?? The treasure! Why bridges, flyovers and metro lines take thrice the average time? The treasure! People digging behind your home, school, college, busy marketplaces for one reason alone – to find the lost treasure of the Incas.
The treasure is not in Paititi, not near Cajamarca or near Machu Pichu. Its buried underfoot right here in India and we are digging deep for it!
The moon is but a sliver in the sky. Just before the capture of King Atahualpa at Cajamarca an armada of 18 ships slips out of the harbour. The reflection of the moon on the dark waters dances sensuously along the bows of the ships just like the 100 virgins had danced the previous night in honour of the men embarking on a journey of no return. A journey that would take them across the Atlantic, past the Cape of Good Hope to a land called India where people were already so wealthy that the treasure of the Incas would make nary a difference to the GDP and would remain safe till it was time to bring the booty back. The first recorded instance of a phenomenon that would harass economies 3 centuries hence – global flight of capital.
After a voyage unrecorded by history, the ships dock at a few select locations - at the mouth of the Hugli, near Goa, and the fishing villages near what would be Mumbai, Kochi and Chennai. The booty is carted inland, buried into the ground. Guarded by a generation of Incas as they meld into the local population till faster boats a century later would bring their descendents back home. In a marvel of sailing ingenuity 16 ships made it to India and the sailors and soldiers fanned out burying deep within our nation’s fertile abdomen a king’s ransom - its location mapped on papyrus with indelible ink and consolidated with the oldest captains of the ships across what would be Cooch Behar, Mysore, Travancore and the Western Provinces. But as sometimes is the case this generation of shy Incas passed away over the next 60 years. Only the whispers remained that buried somewhere in the bowels of our nation lies a treasure that could repay the total external debt of many nations.
In 1947 the government of Free India had a conclave near Ahmedabad, a group of select ministers formed a secret cabal in the flickering lights of the night pledging to find the Inca treasure and keep it for India. They took an oath of continuance and swore on their blood to search till the gold, silver and jewels were found – a secret passed by one finance minister to another, the hunt continuing irrespective of party lines. Every government needs an arm to fulfill its wishes but in this case the arms were many – innocuously called PWD, CPWD, Departments of Electricity, Roads, Infrastructure, what have you – united in one common vision – to unearth the treasure that would allow India to repay its debts and colour our combined futures in a Golden hue.
And so our brethren fanned out and started digging, no, not their noses or crotch but the very earth under our feet. Millions of government agents digging ditches and culverts across our land! A mammoth public works campaign that won’t end till the treasures are found and delivered to the treasury. So now when you see the road being dug on your way to work you will know the reason. These are not day wage labourers but part of an elite corps. Holes and pits being dug overnight on a tip off. Complex calculations leading to newly tarred roads being gouged open again. And the hunt for the treasure of the Incas has now taken on a PPP hue with India’s largest conglomerates and infrastructure companies in on the secret. As you sit in a traffic jam with a giant SUV trying to drive over you and the other side blocked by a massive hole know that this is a project of national importance. A ruthless dig - a muddy rainbow that will end in a pot of gold!
Ever wondered, while the first drainage systems were built in Harappan times why we haven’t managed to perfect this in our cities yet?? The treasure! The mystery of half naked men lowering themselves into open manholes at busy crossing?? The treasure! Why bridges, flyovers and metro lines take thrice the average time? The treasure! People digging behind your home, school, college, busy marketplaces for one reason alone – to find the lost treasure of the Incas.
The treasure is not in Paititi, not near Cajamarca or near Machu Pichu. Its buried underfoot right here in India and we are digging deep for it!
Now I know....
ReplyDeleteCan serve as a great script for a blockbuster, "Feluda and the lost treasure of INCA's" or maybe think bigger(read Hollywood), "Indiana Jones and the lost treasure"