Saving the wells – The Hindu

The cultural history of India includes the village well. Visit an old Indian village, you will surely see a well covered with dust, weakened and broken at the very edges, and filled with trash and garbage today. But once it was seen as very important to the community.

It was not just about water. It was about the connections people share. About stories, seasons, and sustainability. And yet, in today’s rapidly changing rural landscape, wells are being forgotten and restrained by bore wells, piped water schemes, and a culture that is drifting away from its roots.

In rural India, the well was where life happened. Every morning and evening, women gathered here with pots on their heads not just for water but for community. They exchanged songs, shared village gossip, and taught the next generation how to balance a matka with grace.

Wells were deeply woven into rituals, weddings, and harvest festivals. Often considered sacred, many had tulsi plants, painted stones, or even idols guarding them. They were social hubs, spiritual centres, and environmental solutions all rolled into one humble structure.

Unlike bore wells that drill deep into aquifers and deplete water reserves, traditional open wells worked with nature. They tapped into shallow water tables and allowed for natural recharge during the monsoon.

The design was simple, built from local stone and soil, with an intimate understanding of the land’s behaviour. No motors. No concrete tanks. Just community wisdom and respect for natural limits. They taught that water is not unlimited.

With modernisation came bore wells, hand pumps, tankers, and now, piped water schemes. These are fast, easy, and often government-sponsored. In contrast, wells seem slow and outdated. But that convenience came with various consequences: groundwater is over-extracted; wells are drying up or getting contaminated; traditional practices are fading; and perhaps worst of all people no longer know where their water comes from.

The well once used to be a symbol of community and care, but is now either locked, broken, or worse used as a garbage pit. Is it possible to bring them back? Across India, small initiatives in cleaning, reviving, and celebrating old wells are going on. They are being de-silted, decorated, and turned into community rainwater harvesting points. In some villages, reviving wells has brought back groundwater levels and even helped during droughts.

But the real challenge? Mindset.

Many see wells as outdated relics. Without community ownership, these efforts risk being temporary fixes.

Restoring wells is not just an act of nostalgia, it’s an act of climate resilience. It’s a way to reconnect people with their water sources. It’s about respecting traditional ecological knowledge. It’s about giving rural youth an appropriate reason to care about sustainability through something that is local and tangible.

The state of our village wells reflects the state of our relationship with nature. If the well is dry, polluted, or forgotten, so is our connection to earth.

So next time when you walk past an old well, stop. Look in. Not just for water but for the reflections of a wiser time.

Maybe it’s time we drew from that well again.

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