Beyond the baoli.

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

The old well in Lado Sarai still stands in a corner of the South Delhi village. This afternoon, a few men sit facing it and talking. At first glance, the scene could belong to the era when villagers would gather at the village well to draw water, and to exchange news.

But the well no longer supplies water. Its mouth is covered with a metal grille. Residents say there is still water below, but nobody draws from it. Like most of Delhi, the village now receives piped water. Even the village no longer resembles a village of conventional imagination. Quite a few posh-type artists have studios here.

That said, wells survive in many of Delhi’s urban villages. They are often difficult to spot, tucked behind markets, apartment blocks and narrow streets. Some wells are abandoned. Some are sealed. A few still hold water.

The hard truth though is that Delhi’s wells are often overlooked because our attention instinctively focus on the city’s romantic baolis. Those stone stepwells are extremely instagrammable, with flights of steps descending to the water below. The baolis are also historic, many dating back centuries.

In contrast, the wells scattered across Delhi’s urban villages are ordinary. Mere circular shafts dug deep into the ground, from which water was traditionally drawn by bucket and rope. They resemble those found across the length and breadth of mera-gaon-mera-desh. Yet these modest structures are historic relics in their own right. For they once formed the centre of everyday life in Delhi’s villages.

Take the fashionable Hauz Khas Village. A narrow lane behind the noisy restaurants leads to a yard containing the remains of an old well. It was once central to village life, back when Hauz Khas still had farmers (their descendants today are owners of airbnb guest houses). In those long-ago times, bulls would draw water from the well using a “charsa.” Men would bath there. Women would do the hard work, collecting water in pots.

In Chirag Delhi village, a well survives in the middle of a square. Shops, tea stalls and eateries surround it. The well was covered with a metal grille some years ago after a peacock fell inside.

A very few wells remain in use. At the shrine of Hazrat Sarmad Shahid in Old Delhi, water continues to be drawn from a very deep well within the shrine.

As for the well in Lado Sarai, it today serves as a small temple, with idols of Shivji Bhagwan and Devi Parvati placed on the covered grille. The well also has the ironing stall of Suneel Press Walla; bundles of clothes are piled up along the ledge of the well! One side of the well harbours Sonu’s chai stall where folks gather over chai and exchange news. Indeed, in this way, the old watermark (landmark if you will) succeeds in retaining something of its earlier role as a social gathering place.