And with the sound of a Klunk, there was no water...

March 16, 2010
“Klunk.” With a smack, the bucket jerked to a stop at the end of the rope. I looked with surprise at the boys pulling water for Didi, Rupa and I as we washed a mountain of clothes. Arun peered intently down the chasm to the small circular reflection over 30 feet below. With a grin, he looked up and stated, “I think we’ve hit the bottom!” Concerned, I looked over at Didi and said, “Then how do we finish the wash?!” A hurried Nepali discussion flew between them, before we established that we would finish washing at home, and then walk about 30 minutes to rinse the clothes in the river. Arun looked at me with pleading eyes and said, “Sister, can I go to the bottom of the well?! There are some buckets that fell down there!” As Auntie and Uncle were out, I wasn’t about to authorize a 14 year old boy to climb down the well, with or without water! As he pouted I ran upstairs to grab my laundry bag to take to the river.

When I got back downstairs, I found almost all the kids gathered around the well, and Arun and Shiva’s arms were rippled with strain as they gripped the rope leading into the well. After doing a quick head survey, I discovered Laxman was missing, and I has a suspicious suspicion that I knew exactly where he was. “Laxman?!” I called as 12 heads turned and looked at me. A small, echoey “Yes?!” was the reply that returned to me. “Is he IN the well?!” I asked Shiva and Arun. Their grins that said “I wish I was in there but I’m still glad to be part of the action” told me everything I needed to know. I ran over and looked down into the darkness, where Laxman was standing with one foot in the bucket and the other in mid air as they lowered him down. Again, I’m a terrible parent as I quickly gauged the distance down vs. the distance to come back up and deemed he might as well finish his journey down and tell us what was at the bottom.

After a few year-long seconds, he reached the bottom, to my utter relief. There were a couple of old buckets that had long ago fallen to what we thought was their end, finally rescued months or years later. Laxman shouted up to let us know the water was only ankle deep, which explained why we were having trouble pulling up any water! Finally, he was ready to come back up. Now, Laxman is shorter than me, but he’s build solidly. More so than any of the other gangly older boys. I have a little more strength than my boys, so I grabbed the rope with Arun and we began to heave Laxman up. “Ugggh! LAXMAN! NO MORE RICE FOR YOU!” we shouted down the well. “Whoa! Be careful with me!” was the frantic reply. Slowly, we finished his ascent, and we twisted him this way and that to get him out.

We then determined that we would in fact have to do our clothes washing in the river, for the rest of the dry season (which I hear is through May). The other well still has a little water at the bottom, but it’s the reddest, smelliest water you’ve ever seen and can’t be used for dishes or for clothes. So, we’re down to the drinking water (when the power’s on) and the big semi-drinking water tank. Needless to say, I’ve been incredibly proactive when there’s power making sure every single water jug is filled to the brim before the power goes out! Uncle told me this happened last year too, and they just make a day of it each week, spending a relaxing day at the river washing clothes, bathing, and just sitting. Which sounds just fine to me :).