The Wells of Our Past

When we got water from wells..........

Today, water is piped to our homes, but in the past we had wells to get water. Living on a small hilltop, we had to go down about two hundred meters to get water. There were several wells near the paddy fields on several sides.

In the past, we used to go to the well below Siripala uncle's house to bathe. It was next to the paddy field behind Jinadasa uncle's house. The well, which was beautifully built with a few stone steps, never dried up. Similarly, we got water for drinking from the well in the bungalow. The bungalow was the accommodation of the owners of the distillery in this village. The distillery belonged to the father of Niranjan Devaditya, who was a member of the British Parliament, or to a relative of his father.

I must say something else about that bungalow. The water for that bungalow was pumped from this well with a water motor. That's why it became the bungalow's well. That well was beautifully built with cement, with two sides and concrete so that clothes could be washed. Similarly, a small room was built in one corner of the well, and the water motor was installed and locked. Climbing on the concrete roof of that room was also a fun experience for us little ones.

There were two more wells near the bungalow's well. One was the well used for bathing. Near it was an enclosed area. It was a pond. Parakrama uncle's pond. Inside it was a wonderful small well. It was a private well. Although there were times when people from those wells secretly went to this well, no one went to that well very often. What made it beautiful was that it had clay clay. When I was asked to bring clay for school work, I would clear the kekilla bushes around the well and find clay from that well.

Although there was a madan tree near the well in this bungalow, I had never seen any madan fruits on it. Similarly, there was always a tree full of jackfruit near the bathing well there. Jackfruit fruits grew right at the bottom of that tree's trunk. Even my little one could touch them with his hand.

We used to carry buckets and jugs to fetch water for drinking and walk about 200 meters down the hill, jumping over the fence of the house garden. There were two roads to these wells. The coconut trees belonging to the distillery were the most abundant in this part. There was no other house near the well except the bungalow on this six- or seven-acre land. One of these roads was near another land of Parakrama Mamala. The fruits of two coconut trees in that garden fall on this road. One is a coconut tree. The other is a small type of coconut tree. It is our habit to pick coconuts on our way to and from fetching water. The other road had fallen near a hole that had been abandoned after digging a well. We called it the deserted well. When we went on that road, we had a habit of peeking into that deserted well without the adults knowing. We also used to shout at the well to hear the echo from inside the hole. That road was close to the bungalow and in a way that the bungalow's well could be easily reached.

When the forest was cleared, these two roads were within sight of each other. Similarly, while going on these roads, we came across sour guava trees, sago trees, bovitiya trees, cashew trees, eraminiya vines, date palms, etc. It is mandatory to eat the yam and bovitiya fruits to turn your mouth purple. Since bovitiya fruits contain seeds, you should eat them twice before eating them.

As soon as you go along the road near the beach tree, you will first come across the bathing well. Beyond that is a piece of fallow paddy field about 10 perches in size. There was a large water hole near that fallow paddy field and the bathing well. That is the buffalo bathing well. After grazing in these fallow paddy fields, the buffaloes go down to this water hole to bathe and drink water. Because of this, that fallow paddy field was always muddy. Otherwise, that heavy rain would only occur during certain periods. So, it was not easy for us to come back without getting a little muddy when we went to fetch water.

But during the rainy season, it is very beautiful there. They pour water over that fallow paddy field. Then we would love to jump into that water where there is not even a drop of mud. Similarly, the well in the bungalow overflows. It is a beautiful sight to see. It is very happy to be able to draw water from the well without a rope by putting a bucket in it. Similarly, the small Haldummulla stream that flows from that place starts from the water that has gone down the mountain.

My hobby is to draw water in buckets for competitions. The competition is to bring more water than the amount of water that my grandmother and great-grandmother bring. So sometimes I lift two buckets of water with both hands and run to get it. Then about half of the water is wasted. Similarly, I wear only a pair of shorts because the water drips on my body.

The elders did not let me go to these wells alone when I was little. Because a man from the village in that bungalow well fell and died. My grandmother says that he fell into the well and died from his injuries. But why that man didn't float in the water is still a mystery to me. However, until I was much older, when I went to the well in that bungalow, I was very nervous about going alone. Because there was no other house or door near the well except the bungalow that was located a little further up the hill.

In addition to this, another well was built on the edge of the paddy field on the eastern side of the village. It was beautifully built with cement by the United National Party government around 1990-91. This well, which was on the edge of a well, did not stagnate. We did not forget to jump into the well and play along the canal when we went to bathe in it. Our grandfather also did that paddy field twice or three times.

In addition to these wells, the village boys and girls had another beautiful place to bathe. That was the water tank of the distillery. Madyasa