His mother had always loved him. Shankar knew he had never done his duty as a son. He never spoke loving words, never cared for her health. Having lost his father at a young age, his mother should have been the only parent to look up to. But he could never feel anything for anyone, for any human being or living being for that matter. That was the only reason he had never married. But he couldn't deny that his mother's supposed vast royal wealth was too appealing to his greedy mind. It was a well known story in the family that there had been an enormous royal treasure that the ancestors had hidden away to prevent it from being acquired by the government. It was also a practice to disclose the location of the treasure only when the eldest member is preparing to depart. Losing the eldest member to a sudden accident and forever losing the secret of the treasure location was a risk they always ran. But he was also sure that his mother would disclose the location in her later days.
He still remembered the day his mother had had the paralytic stroke. She was nearing 90 and was utterly helpless, so much like a child. One part of him was shamelessly excited because it envisioned the prospect of inheriting the enormous wealth his family had always passed along. At the same time his world had come falling apart, not because he couldn't bear to see his mother helpless, old and weak. But because, being the only son he was expected to take care of her. His sister was a widow with a daughter Rekha who loved her ailing grandma. Although he was not ashamed to admit it, he felt a twinge of guilt realizing that she had been taking more care of his mother than he did. She made sure she visited every morning before her college classes began and fed her grandma delicious breakfast that she prepared with her own hands. She took care of her morning chores, chit chatting with her about little things that made the old lady smile. She then visited her every evening before going home. Shankar would often return home from the library to find his niece either playing the Veena for her granny, or reading out an article from a magazine. His own sister didn't do half as much. The young girl was everything that he and his sister were not. And he couldn't help but think that she was going to make things difficult for him in future.
His malicious mind kept imagining prospects of his mother choosing to bequeath everything that belonged to the family to his intelligent and loving niece, instead of this uncaring and distant son. He didn't know what to do to prevent such a thing from happening. He also knew that he wasn't such a fiend to resort to foul play to prevent a disaster of that sort. He simply wished to defeat his niece with the same intelligence and smartness that she possessed.
He knew his mother was riding out the last few days of her life. She was bound to let out the secret to her darling granddaughter sooner or later. So he bugged the room his mother slept in. He listened daily to the tapes that recorded the ladies' conversations all day long, then erased and reinstalled the tape, before he wound up to go to bed. This went on for two months but not once had his mother mentioned the treasure.
Then one day, as he played the tape as usual and drank his warm milk, the conversation happened. He casually listened and his mother talked.
"My dear, my last day is coming closer. I want you to know something. There is a secret treasure this family has hidden for many generations."
Shankar sat up straight.
"I know, Grandma" Rekha said.
"Today I want you to know where I hid it after your grandfather died. Look for it where the years discern the quality."
Then there was a silence.
"It is where the years discern the quality" she repeated.
Then Rekha exclaimed "There!!??"
And the old grandma said "Yes" with a kind of euphoria in her voice.
Shankar couldn't believe it. In less than a minute the secret was out and Rekha had already guessed the hiding place. He banged the table he was seated at. Smart Rekha had probably anticipated her greedy uncle to have bugged the room and had simply pointed out the place rather than say it out aloud.
"I will take care of it Granny."said Rekha much to Shankar's annoyance.
"Don't let my son know" said Granny and Shankar's blood was boiling.
He stopped the tape after he realized there was nothing more useful in it.
"It is where the years discern the quality." his mother had said. How on earth did Rekha know immediately where this place was. He couldn't even imagine what she was talking about.
He spent all of next day trying to think what could years discern- time? clock? He checked the grandfather's clock in the living room, but there was nothing in it at all.
Within a week, his mother's health started deteriorating. He knew her time was running out and started to feel very guilty and sorry. But it was too late. He couldn't do anything more now.
He sat next to his mother on her last day. And apologized for being an imperfect son. As the mother forgave him, he felt relief. But it didnt last long. Next morning, she was gone and Shankar felt worse than ever.
He didn't shed a tear but felt terrible. But now he was more worried than ever about not finding the treasure. He knew that Rekha knew. And he was racing against time, her time.
The good thing was he had completely barred Rekha from entering the house now that Granny was no more. He tried to rack his brains in his solitude. Rekha had asked her granny "There?". This meant that the place was most probably in his mother's room itself. Or atleast in the house.
He quickly went into the room and started scanning the place for anything that looked like it may hold a treasure. There was the bed his mother used to sleep in, the cupboard, music system, instruments, laptop, window, curtains, attic, washroom....he couldn't even start to imagine what Rekha could have pointed at.
He still spent the whole night ransacking the place and combing every nook and cranny- to no avail.
Exhausted he went to bed at 4 am. The next morning when he woke up, he decided to give it a fresh attempt. He thought he could google the phrase "It is where the years discern the quality." May be it was a famous quote or a dialogue from a movie that indicated something he may be missing.
As he opened his laptop and started typing, he realized he was unable to type the letter 'S'. The key was getting stuck and he knew he had hit on something. He immediately started to play with the key, wondering how on earth his 90 year old mother could have gotten hold of the laptop. He removed the key and sure enough there was a note there. A tiny folded piece of paper. Excited, he started opening it, but he was not entirely sure he was on the right path. The paper seemed white, not yellow (pretty new in look and feel for something passed on from generations). He opened it to find this-
"Look where the sounds reverberate."
It was the Veena. He knew it now. How could he have missed it the last night.
He ran into the room and started uncovering the Veena that was lying in the corner at its usual location. He was glad he had stopped Rekha from entering the house the very day his mother passed. He knew now that she must have guessed the Veena and pointed out at it.
He reached for the resonating chamber and started feeling the edges. He found a small square of wood that looked chipped at the edges. He moved it and a small piece of paper stuck out. He carefully pulled it out. This one also looked pretty new and he wondered if his mother had left a treasure hunt for him.
He opened the note and read the following words:
"If you thought you'd get away with greed
Grandma loved me more than you. When she said 'It is where the ears discern the quality.', she meant the Veena. Because the last string of the Veena was always off tune and Granny and I always critiqued it while I played. You would have known if you had spent more time with her. But I discovered the note rolled into a groove of the Veena, the day before Granny passed. The note pointed to the backyard. Hidden deep under the banyan tree was what I now possess and what once belonged to you, but I earned it with love rather than entitlement."
Truer words were never spoken, Shankar thought. His niece had left a mocking note, that too an artistic mockery what with the poem and the accompanying lecture. He had to accept defeat at the hands of his smart and wise niece. What he had thought was "years discern the quality" was actually "ears discern the quality", which meant the musical sound of the Veena. He deserved the defeat, he realized. But he hated to admit that the younger and much smarter girl would either put the wealth to good use or many years would pass until her children could have it.
He didn't have a right to know. So he put the Veena back in its place. With nightfall, he lay in his bed thinking what he would have done with the treasure if he had it. Just then he heard something drop in the hallway. He was worried that there were burglars in his house. He didn't have anything today that was worth robbing, he thought with irony as he inched towards the hallway. He saw moonlight seeping in from under the main door that was entrance to the house. And part of it was blocked with a packet that lay in front of the door. Someone had dropped it from the window that lay open next to the door.
He rushed to the door and grabbed it open to see who it was. His faint and old eyes caught sight of a girl wrapped in a shawl rushing away towards the main street away from the house. He knew it was Rekha. May be she had decided to drop in another poem to ridicule her old uncle he thought and picked up the packet.
It was a simple envelope with something bubble wrapped on the inside. He opened the wrapper and was dazzled. In his hands lay the most exquisite necklace he had ever laid eyes on. And next to it was an enormous finger ring with a bright blue stone shining in the moonlight.
An accompanying note said "For the son a mother always loved".
Shankar felt sad. But within a moment his smile shone brighter than the jewels.
"Bless that girl" he thought as he headed back to his room, missing his mother more than ever.
He still remembered the day his mother had had the paralytic stroke. She was nearing 90 and was utterly helpless, so much like a child. One part of him was shamelessly excited because it envisioned the prospect of inheriting the enormous wealth his family had always passed along. At the same time his world had come falling apart, not because he couldn't bear to see his mother helpless, old and weak. But because, being the only son he was expected to take care of her. His sister was a widow with a daughter Rekha who loved her ailing grandma. Although he was not ashamed to admit it, he felt a twinge of guilt realizing that she had been taking more care of his mother than he did. She made sure she visited every morning before her college classes began and fed her grandma delicious breakfast that she prepared with her own hands. She took care of her morning chores, chit chatting with her about little things that made the old lady smile. She then visited her every evening before going home. Shankar would often return home from the library to find his niece either playing the Veena for her granny, or reading out an article from a magazine. His own sister didn't do half as much. The young girl was everything that he and his sister were not. And he couldn't help but think that she was going to make things difficult for him in future.
His malicious mind kept imagining prospects of his mother choosing to bequeath everything that belonged to the family to his intelligent and loving niece, instead of this uncaring and distant son. He didn't know what to do to prevent such a thing from happening. He also knew that he wasn't such a fiend to resort to foul play to prevent a disaster of that sort. He simply wished to defeat his niece with the same intelligence and smartness that she possessed.
He knew his mother was riding out the last few days of her life. She was bound to let out the secret to her darling granddaughter sooner or later. So he bugged the room his mother slept in. He listened daily to the tapes that recorded the ladies' conversations all day long, then erased and reinstalled the tape, before he wound up to go to bed. This went on for two months but not once had his mother mentioned the treasure.
Then one day, as he played the tape as usual and drank his warm milk, the conversation happened. He casually listened and his mother talked.
"My dear, my last day is coming closer. I want you to know something. There is a secret treasure this family has hidden for many generations."
Shankar sat up straight.
"I know, Grandma" Rekha said.
"Today I want you to know where I hid it after your grandfather died. Look for it where the years discern the quality."
Then there was a silence.
"It is where the years discern the quality" she repeated.
Then Rekha exclaimed "There!!??"
And the old grandma said "Yes" with a kind of euphoria in her voice.
Shankar couldn't believe it. In less than a minute the secret was out and Rekha had already guessed the hiding place. He banged the table he was seated at. Smart Rekha had probably anticipated her greedy uncle to have bugged the room and had simply pointed out the place rather than say it out aloud.
"I will take care of it Granny."said Rekha much to Shankar's annoyance.
"Don't let my son know" said Granny and Shankar's blood was boiling.
He stopped the tape after he realized there was nothing more useful in it.
"It is where the years discern the quality." his mother had said. How on earth did Rekha know immediately where this place was. He couldn't even imagine what she was talking about.
He spent all of next day trying to think what could years discern- time? clock? He checked the grandfather's clock in the living room, but there was nothing in it at all.
Within a week, his mother's health started deteriorating. He knew her time was running out and started to feel very guilty and sorry. But it was too late. He couldn't do anything more now.
He sat next to his mother on her last day. And apologized for being an imperfect son. As the mother forgave him, he felt relief. But it didnt last long. Next morning, she was gone and Shankar felt worse than ever.
He didn't shed a tear but felt terrible. But now he was more worried than ever about not finding the treasure. He knew that Rekha knew. And he was racing against time, her time.
The good thing was he had completely barred Rekha from entering the house now that Granny was no more. He tried to rack his brains in his solitude. Rekha had asked her granny "There?". This meant that the place was most probably in his mother's room itself. Or atleast in the house.
He quickly went into the room and started scanning the place for anything that looked like it may hold a treasure. There was the bed his mother used to sleep in, the cupboard, music system, instruments, laptop, window, curtains, attic, washroom....he couldn't even start to imagine what Rekha could have pointed at.
He still spent the whole night ransacking the place and combing every nook and cranny- to no avail.
Exhausted he went to bed at 4 am. The next morning when he woke up, he decided to give it a fresh attempt. He thought he could google the phrase "It is where the years discern the quality." May be it was a famous quote or a dialogue from a movie that indicated something he may be missing.
As he opened his laptop and started typing, he realized he was unable to type the letter 'S'. The key was getting stuck and he knew he had hit on something. He immediately started to play with the key, wondering how on earth his 90 year old mother could have gotten hold of the laptop. He removed the key and sure enough there was a note there. A tiny folded piece of paper. Excited, he started opening it, but he was not entirely sure he was on the right path. The paper seemed white, not yellow (pretty new in look and feel for something passed on from generations). He opened it to find this-
"Look where the sounds reverberate."
It was the Veena. He knew it now. How could he have missed it the last night.
He ran into the room and started uncovering the Veena that was lying in the corner at its usual location. He was glad he had stopped Rekha from entering the house the very day his mother passed. He knew now that she must have guessed the Veena and pointed out at it.
He reached for the resonating chamber and started feeling the edges. He found a small square of wood that looked chipped at the edges. He moved it and a small piece of paper stuck out. He carefully pulled it out. This one also looked pretty new and he wondered if his mother had left a treasure hunt for him.
He opened the note and read the following words:
"If you thought you'd get away with greed
and reap the benefits of others' good deeds
Well you're in for disappointment indeed
For I always knew where the treasure was buriedGrandma loved me more than you. When she said 'It is where the ears discern the quality.', she meant the Veena. Because the last string of the Veena was always off tune and Granny and I always critiqued it while I played. You would have known if you had spent more time with her. But I discovered the note rolled into a groove of the Veena, the day before Granny passed. The note pointed to the backyard. Hidden deep under the banyan tree was what I now possess and what once belonged to you, but I earned it with love rather than entitlement."
Truer words were never spoken, Shankar thought. His niece had left a mocking note, that too an artistic mockery what with the poem and the accompanying lecture. He had to accept defeat at the hands of his smart and wise niece. What he had thought was "years discern the quality" was actually "ears discern the quality", which meant the musical sound of the Veena. He deserved the defeat, he realized. But he hated to admit that the younger and much smarter girl would either put the wealth to good use or many years would pass until her children could have it.
He didn't have a right to know. So he put the Veena back in its place. With nightfall, he lay in his bed thinking what he would have done with the treasure if he had it. Just then he heard something drop in the hallway. He was worried that there were burglars in his house. He didn't have anything today that was worth robbing, he thought with irony as he inched towards the hallway. He saw moonlight seeping in from under the main door that was entrance to the house. And part of it was blocked with a packet that lay in front of the door. Someone had dropped it from the window that lay open next to the door.
He rushed to the door and grabbed it open to see who it was. His faint and old eyes caught sight of a girl wrapped in a shawl rushing away towards the main street away from the house. He knew it was Rekha. May be she had decided to drop in another poem to ridicule her old uncle he thought and picked up the packet.
It was a simple envelope with something bubble wrapped on the inside. He opened the wrapper and was dazzled. In his hands lay the most exquisite necklace he had ever laid eyes on. And next to it was an enormous finger ring with a bright blue stone shining in the moonlight.
An accompanying note said "For the son a mother always loved".
Shankar felt sad. But within a moment his smile shone brighter than the jewels.
"Bless that girl" he thought as he headed back to his room, missing his mother more than ever.
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