The Great Indian Treasure

By Vadla Raghunandan

Long, long ago, Ashoka, the great emperor of Indian Subcontinent had hidden a massive treasure, that he intended to get utilized when his beloved land, Bharatavarsha (Indian Subcontinent), would be in a dire need. He left behind many clues to realize that great treasure.
A group of youngsters who were determined to shape India as a developed country by utilizing the treasure, set out for a life changing adventure to unearth the treasure and guard it against the evil forces that are eager to get hold of it for their vested interests.
What is the Great Indian Treasure?
Will those youngsters really have capacity to realize the treasure and transform India as a developed country?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vadla Raghunandan
• Release date: Apr 21, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370761739

Book preview

I will forever be indebted to this book, which led me to meet my role model Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and strike a conversation with him that led to several inspiring things in my life.

The book is about a quest to find a treasure which has the capacity to not only change our country into a developed country but also transform the world into a better place.

I remember Dr. Kalam saying that the development of any country is not only being developed in economic sense but also to be developed in a more human sense.

He told that marriage of both the development in economic sense and humanity is what is needed for India. He hoped to see India as a developed nation in this manner and be a role model for development to the entire world.

He stressed upon the importance of being proud of our rich history, to get inspired for future advancement of our country.

I firmly believe that we can find the treasure which can transform our country into a developed country with human ethos.

So what are we waiting for….

Let’s find the treasure and change our future.

Foreword

Raghunandan’s novel, The Great Indian Treasure can be characterized as a work of fiction with a purpose. A large, diverse society with a rich, ancient and complex history needs a strong sense of civilizational foundation to be stable. And yet, we need to play our rightful role in the modern world, and accelerate economic growth and prosperity to fulfil the potential of every child. Integration of ancient wisdom with modern technology and aspirations is therefore the need of the hour. We have many pearls in our tradition and culture. Often, it is mixed with a lot of unnecessary baggage. We need to separate the two.

Raghunandan has made a remarkably innovative and creative literary attempt to weave our glorious tradition and modern challenges into a seamless tapestry. We need a redefinition of nationalism that will transcend narrow sectarianism and bind all Indians together, and strive to fulfil the aspirations of every single child irrespective of circumstances of birth. I hope this engaging and exciting literary venture will help this synthesis of the old with the new and the traditional with the modern. I congratulate Raghunandan for his labour of love.

With warm regards Jayaprakash Narayan (Former IAS officer, Founder of Loksatta, Founder and General Secretary of Foundation of Democratic Reforms)

Testimonials

It was a pleasure reading The Great Indian Treasure by Raghunandan. The book weaves an engaging story based on archaeological investigations conducted at several locations of historical significance in South Asia. The reader gets a glimpse of glory and wisdom of the people in ancient India. I found it to be an inspiring book.

K.L Srivastava

(Professor at Centre for Social Initiative and Management)

A suspenseful drama unfolds along the way to an exciting treasure hunt involving great Indian minds. The historical insights about Indian ingenuity and inventions bring to focus the rich legacy as well as enormous potential of the country to once again be the envy of the rest of the world. A great source of inspiration and pride for young Indians.

Bhaven Shah

(Chair, Young Indians National Projects Team, Co Founder http://freightbazaarcom )

Acknowledgments

The energy of positive thinking of multiple people has created a synergized effect enabling me to complete this book. I express my earnest gratitude to all the people who were involved directly or indirectly in this endeavor.

Let me begin by thanking my mother, Pushpavathi, father, Goverdhan, and brother, Rakesh, for constantly supporting me in all my endeavors. Without your support and understanding, I wouldn’t have been able to take any bold decisions in my life, which includes the decision to become an author.

I am indebted to Dr. Jayaprakash Narayan, one of my role models for writing the Foreword for my book. His insightful words indeed inspired me.

I would be an ungrateful friend if I do not acknowledge Praveen, my friend from the days I was pursuing B.Tech. I thank you very much for all the unsolicited support during a very difficult phase of life.

Thank you very much JJ Chaitanya for helping me with your thoughts, editing the book before I took it to the publishers, motivating and supporting me. The book would have been very different without your efforts.

Thank you so much Hanu B Krishna for helping me to release this book. I’m thankful to Nani Malloju, Nishanth Appari and Mallikarjun for their constant support to the project. Thank you very much Latha Shreedhar for composing the book.

Thank you very much Sanjay Mahar for being the first one to risk, reading my book in raw form. Your feedback and suggestions helped the book to evolve.

I cannot thank Ms. Jessie Joseph enough for giving timely and candid feedback on the book. Had I published my book without consulting you, I would have written an epitaph for the writer in me. I am grateful to Praveen for introducing her to me. Thank you very much Yi Hyderabad Friends. Chandra Shekar, Sumit Kabra, Jyoti Das, Rohit Kauntia, Ashish Agrawal, Anand Agrawal for coming forward to help me with my book.

Thank you very much Rajeev Ravulapati for your support and valuable feedback about the book. Your pertinent points really made this book better. I am also grateful to Narendra Luther and Ramana Rao for their valuable suggestions. I also owe my gratitude to Krishna whose creativity helped me with ideas for the initial cover page designs.

Thank you very much Srikanth Uppari for capturing the cover page photograph of mine. You are one of the finest photographers I have seen. Thank you very much Venkata Ramana, it was your suggestion which led me to meet Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and discuss this book with him.

I thank my other friends who have always stood by me. Dinesh, who was my classmate when I was pursuing Higher Secondary, Srinivas Geedi, who was my colleague in Valuelabs, Aditya with whom I prepared for competitive examinations together, Vinay who was my childhood friend, Sreenivas Murthy who has been my partner in several social activities and Sunil Kumar Mogulla who was my class mate in school.

Thank you very much Maruthi for supporting and encouraging me with the lyrics which I wrote for publicity of this book. I also thank Ravinder Reddy for his suggestions. They were indeed useful.

I thank Arun Kumar, Sai Teja Peddineni, Deepak Kachana, Deepak Rao, Narsing Arravally, Anil Penta, and Krishna Chaithanya for their support. There are many many more people who have come forward to help me with this book, if I start putting their names it will become another book by itself. My earnest gratitude to all of you for coming forward to help me.

I’m forever indebted to the Kumbhmela trip which I took with my friends, Naresh, Mithun, Santosh, Raj Gopal and Sridhar. The trip inspired me to write this book. Thank you very much friends for planning that trip.

You will be deeply missed Vikram, thank you for standing by me. A day doesn’t pass without remembering you atleast once, buddy. Vinay and I have many fond memories with you which we will cherish forever. It’s a tribute and privilege to dedicate a character of this book in your name.

Cover page Design Credits, Book Design Credits, Editing Credits : My previous publisher who was supposed to publish my book.

PROLOGUE

A team of Russian archaeologists were excavating at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. A man of huge proportions was savouring the cool weather while a thin man was huffing and puffing over the excavation.

Dig deeper, Comrade! Who knows what treasures lie below? said the big man.

Shut up! You fat, Slob. We’ve been slogging our butts off for the last one month and all we have is dirt to show for it, his companion retaliated.

You need to learn to enjoy your life, Comrade. Enjoy this cool breeze, the picturesque beauty of those Bamiyan Buddhas* and the exquisite scenery of these cliffs, pacified the big man.

Which cool breeze? It’s a fickle climate up here and we are ploughing rocks that even nukes can’t melt,whined the thin man.

You need to understand, Comrade that you are not alone and that there are others who are working just as hard as you are. You should stop being so pessimistic.

If you are done lecturing, can you please take the spade and start digging?

The big man immediately jumped into the pit and started digging feverishly.

Wow, that was quick. Did I scare you? chuckled the thin man.

Don’t be full of yourself, Comrade. You can’t even scare a mouse. Turn and see for yourself, said the big man.

What is there to see except these gun-toting military men? I’m not sure whether they are protecting us or preventing us from running away, muttered the thin man without turning his head.

There is more to look for than these gun-toting men, comrade.retorted the big man.

When the thin man turned his head and looked up after a short while, he saw a tall man of slender build in a brown woollen Eskimo cap, a sweater, and gloves. The man was standing on the edge of the pit and keenly observing the progress of the excavation.

Oh, it’s Andrei Aminev, the chief archaeologist who sent you racing down here,

Reviews for The Great Indian Treasure

[Kumar Swamy · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Best book and I have to be a good n