Money may not grow on trees, but gold leaf does, proclaimed a three-column bold headline in a prominent English language national daily.

In a Sydney-datelined report AFP said Australian researchers have found minuscule nuggets of gold hidden inside the leaves of eucalyptus trees, in a discovery that, they say, could help prospectors find new deposits of the precious metal.

Scientists from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (Csiro) made the find in the resource rich Kalgoorlie region of Western Australia, which was the site of a major gold rush in the late 1800s.

The report quoted Geochemist Mel Lintern as saying it appeared that the trees sucked up the gold particles from 100 feet below the ground through their roots. “The eucalypt acts as a hydraulic pump — its roots extend tens of metres into the ground and draw up water containing the gold,” he said.

“As the gold is likely to be toxic to the plant, it’s moved to the leaves and branches where it can be released or shed to the ground.”

Well, there could not have been a more appropriate time for the news about the discovery to break in India where millions of people are directly or indirectly engrossed in the big exercise of digging out ‘1,000 tonne of gold’ from a site near Unnao in central Uttar Pradesh.

It all started when a ‘sadhu’ (ascetic) claimed that the spirit of the Hindu ruler of the region, Raja Ram Baksh Singh, who was hanged by the British in 1857, had told him in a dream that he had had the gold buried under his fort to save it from the British forces.

His disciple made public the saint’s wish that the huge quantity of the precious metal be dug out and utilised for the good of the community and the country’s economy. The saint is highly revered in his region for the great deal of social work done by him.

A team of Geological Survey of India experts surveyed the site and reportedly confirmed presence of “some metal”, not necessarily gold. That reinforced the public perception of the sadhu’s dream and brought in the Archaeological Survey of India also which started digging too.

In no time, Outdoor Broadcast vans of national and international news channels descended. Thousands of hopefuls from far and near also converged to be a witness to the great gold find. “1,000 tonne! My God!” they would exclaim and wonder whether it was in the form of jewellery, coins or gold bricks.

Was the underground gold as glittering and shining as portrayed by some over the ground TV channels? Several million people got glued to their TV sets in their homes all over the country to satisfy their curiosity and anxiety about the ‘khazana’ (treasure). Many pretended they were not interested in the “hoax” yet would not shift their eyes away from the TV set.

Such is the charm of the yellow metal — a universal phenomenon.

As the digging operation near Unnao would take a long time, gold hunters or gold lovers would have to wait with their fingers crossed.

Mercifully, the report from Sydney should bring some cheer and hope to them. They should feel assured that some day they may be able to shake a eucalyptus tree to make it shed gold leaves which when processed would yield the yellow metal.

The quantity would be nominal so the more trees you have the more gold will be in your jewellery box. It would also imply moving out of flats in congested localities to spacious villas with sufficient space for planting the gold aka eucalyptus trees. Since every leaf would be precious, guarding the trees and the leaves, especially when you are away, would be a stupendous task. Perhaps, hiring a guard may not be an advisable proposition. Leaves can be shoved into all the pockets of a uniform.

I think the proposition may not work in a foolproof manner. It would only add to life’s existing tensions. So better give it up and continue to stay in your closed flat. When needed go to the Gold Souq in Dubai or to any jeweller in your city elsewhere.

Or, better still, wait till the 1,000 tonne gold haul in Unnao and another of 2,500 tonne prophesied about in its neighbouring districts have been dug out. You know the huge quantity would bring down the price when you — and of course me — could go together to buy that glittering yellow metal at throw-away prices. Cheers!

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.