lure for Gold ... burying Gold and providing maps for digging them out !!

     How to make easy money and become rich ! – lottery, treasure hunt and more !!

It was an interesting film featuring two fictional villages ‘Jaishankarpuram and Ashokapuram’  presumably named after the ones who played the hero and villain in Ganga which was first of its genere in India.  The town of Jayshankarapuram, home of Tamil-speaking cowboys, is ruled by a one-eyed tyrant Kizhakku Kattai  (literally translating to East Wood as in Clint Eastwood) - Singaram, a man with a noble heart, who has been sentenced to death for negligence of duty is saved from execution  bears a striking resemblance to the man who fought  tyranny !  The villagers at Jayashankarapuram find a map that is hidden in their ‘MGR Timesquare’. But it is only one half they have. They have to find the other half to hunt for treasure that is preserved and hidden somewhere far away.

~~  that was the plot of ‘Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam’ directed by Chimbu Deven, starring choreographer-turned-actor Lawrence Raghavendra, Sandhya, Lakshmi Rai and Padmapriya in lead roles.  A "Westernadventure comedy film" based on Cowboy stories,  set in the 19^th century ran to packed houses. 

It is not alone ! – most people would in wake up in their dreams chasing a treasure.  To become rich overnight and not have to worry about anything is seemingly a common desire.  The pure fascination for a treasure and for the very thought of riches has been around for ages and it will probably never go away;  be it  children’s’ classic books like “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “Treasure Island” 0r the many many Hollywood and Indian movies. 

An old legend tells of a fortune in gold hidden in the "Cañon del Oro," guarded by the Apache spirits. Along with several others, a man named Adams found it when he was a young man, only to be captured and blinded.  Years later, Marshal MacKenna (Gregory Peck) chases the treasure begetting the map ! Mackenna's Gold, released in 1969, directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif remains a classic.  The film is based on the novel of the same name by Heck Allen using the penname Will Henry, telling the story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people.

If you ever thought that such things are only movie stuff, read this article in MailOnline.  A retired engineer has buried £850,000 (8.25 crores of Indian Rupees) worth of gold in his five-acre back garden using a digger, according to the chief executive of a commodity broker. Known only as Ron, the widower with a total of 18 daughters and grandchildren had the gold delivered to his house between November 2015 and April 2016, which he subsequently buried in 18 different locations for each of the beneficiaries.

He has plotted unique co-ordinates and created 18 unique versions of a map which reveals its whereabouts, according to Josh Saul, the chief executive of The Pure Gold Company, which sold it to him and has Ron as a private client. The maps will go to each of his family members and have been given to his lawyer for safe-keeping.  

He requested the gold was only delivered to him on sunny days so he could immediately bury it once received. It comes as the price of the commodity has risen 17 per cent since start of the year thanks to fears over the global economy, including the impact of a Brexit and stock market wobbles earlier in 2016. Mr Saul says there has been a 32 per cent jump in enquiries for gold in the last four weeks.

Ron - who wished not to be fully named for obvious reasons -  in his 80s, lost a considerable amount of his pension in the 1980s crash, rebuilt it, and lost more in 2008, with a duff investment in Lehman Brothers and struggling to recoup cash in Northern Rock. Ron sold all of his properties last year amid fears over the property market and has also decided to remove all exposure to cash, equities, banks and other financial firms. Instead of storing the gold in vaults which is the more common path to tread, Ron decided to bury his assets instead, harking back to the days of pirates and treasure hunts.

Mr Saul said: 'Fear and uncertainty are powerful motivators and the gold price is the clearest indicator of how worried people are. Gold is still a third below its 2012 peak. 'So worried that bankers inside the financial system are turning to physical gold to hedge their bets, expats are buying up gold to safeguard their hard-earned currency, and retired engineers are burying it in their garden to leave a physical legacy instead of a potentially worthless electronic paper trail.'

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

7^th June 2016.