Key will not work in this lock

Locks are dime a dozen. But this one really takes the cake. It weighs five kg and can be opened by just sleight of the hand by only the family members of the maker.

Proudly displaying the lock created by his father Narayan Prasad seven decades ago, Lal Babu boasts: "Art is something which cannot be described in words. When persistent energy blends with creative power, some wonders in art evolve. In 1940 my father created this lock. Since then, scores of people, including technocrats and other locksmiths, have unsuccessfully tried to open it. I am convinced my father's creation is something that can be safely called wonder in art."

While others sweat it out to lock/unlock, 56 year-old Lal Babu does it with just a sleight of hand. He does not even use the key!  

Though there is a key attached to it, they do not use it for locking or unlocking.

Lal Babu claimed that his father had toiled hard for seven months on making the lock. His work caught the fancy of the people when he displayed it at an exhibition organised by the Bettiah Estate. At that event, the organisers had organised a competition by announcing a reward of 11 silver coins for the person opening the lock.

When the manager of the then Maharaja Harendra Kishore Singh expressed his desire to buy the lock, Narayan Prasad politely said no.

Lal Babu claimed that way back in 1972, premier lock manufacturer, Godrej India Limited, had also offered Rs one lakh to Prasad in exchange of its patent right. "But my father refused as he wanted to retain the right and in any case the amount was too meagre for such a unique creation," Lal Babu avers.

Lal Babu himself is an artist and has made a name. He moulds wooden pieces into dainty buffalo-horns, exquisite ceramics and other artistic creations for interior designing. Lal Babu is probably the only sculptor from the cow belt of the country to have sold over 1500 pieces of work in past one decade at prices ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 40,000. He has taken part in several major exhibitions held in different parts of the country.