To guard against theft, a farmer in Rajasthan, India, buried 5 lakh rupees (500,000) in his field. But he later forgot where he had put it. When he finally found the money about a year on, there was nothing to be done: termites had shredded every note.
The farmer had received the 5 lakh rupees about a year earlier from selling a plot of his land, and had planned to build a house with it. Fearing the money might be stolen or frittered away if kept at home, he put it in a polythene bag, dug a hole in his field and buried it.
But because of a drinking habit and forgetfulness, he could not recall exactly where he had left it. After searching several times without success, he finally told his wife and sons.
At first the family did not believe him. They then began digging in various spots in the field, but despite many attempts found no trace of the money.
Then, about a year later, while the field was being prepared for cultivation in the monsoon, the polythene bag surfaced from underground. But in the dark of night no one noticed it.
The next morning, while repairing the field’s fence, the farmer’s wife and son spotted the bag. When they opened it they were stunned. Inside was the 5 lakh rupees buried a year earlier — but by now termites had torn the notes to shreds.
Hoping to recover some value from the ruined notes, the family gathered the damaged cash and went to a local branch of the State Bank of India (SBI). But on seeing the state of the notes, the bank refused to accept them.
They then went to the district’s main SBI branch, but were turned away there too. And so the family’s effort to recover the 5 lakh rupees they had saved ended in disappointment.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report