The Well

They watched in pregnant silence, as the water lashed and slushing sounds filled the well. It had been too long since he dived in, would he even live? The stench was unbearable. The slushing in the water caused the smell to rise up, wafting into my nose, an itching sensation, irritating me.

“What in the name of hell is in that well anyway”, I asked the kid beside me. The kid wore a shirt, which pretty much was not a shirt, but a few buttons over torn cloth. His shorts was held tight by a black rope (Arunakayiru in Tamil). If not for that, he would be roaming ‘freely’ in the village, and no one would have questioned why.

“Urine”, he replied casually. “We all urinate into that well only, anna.”

I was shocked. Had that boy jumped into the well knowing fully well, that it was filled with urine from about 50 odd boys, day in and day out? Who in their right minds would even do that!!

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Just shortly, his head bobbed up from the water. He shook his head, wiped his face with his left hand, and looked up.

“ச்சை! வீசுது அண்ணே!” (Crap!! This place smells Anna!)

I was getting impatient. How long will he be there? It was not necessary, and it was not the least hygienic!

“Come up! It’s okay!” I shouted. “We don’t want it!”

He shook his head. He wasn’t giving up. He dived right back in. True to his efforts, a few minutes later, he came back out with the prized possession – A ball. All for a rubber ball! Jubilant screams and applause ensued, and he was pulled out of the well.

The ball was given to him as an award. He was the happiest soul that day.

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This incident happened in the year 2000, pretty much 50 + years since independence, when the 2K IT bubble was solved, pretty much when we were anticipating to boom into heavy development. India was all set to become a powerhouse. We were on our NSS Camp, headed to a village, to teach a few kids on education and its importance.

Little did we know about the kind of people who may live off the urban areas. There they were, kids, exhilarated to see us. We were demi-gods to them. We would entertain them for a week. We were going to teach them the way of life!

Pfft. We were kids in our 8th standard in school, who had lived in luxuries little known to them. We were lazy kids who groaned, at the merest mention of ‘Homework’, and here we were, to teach these little kids from the village. Had a ball fallen into a well, we would have bought one more. The kids there, were heroes. Unsung heroes who would not know what the grass on the other side even looked like.

It has been fourteen years since the day, that day, that changed my vision of the people from the lower strata of society. Today is Children’s day, and I cannot help but think of that boy, who would jump into a stinky well, to fetch a little valued ball, to keep a game going. I wonder, fourteen years hence, what has happened to him. Would he have, in the same perseverence, succeeded in life?

I just wish he got the same privileges, as we do, to see and to build this world to be what it can be and not just as what it is. I just wish things could get a lot better from this day on for every one of them. A happy Children’s day to them, a happy Children’s day to you!

Note : This is a true incident that happened in a village called Boodhakudi, just off Madurai.