The Well

Note: The picture has been clicked by a friend, Jasmit Arora. It is put up here with his prior permission. The link to his profile : http://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Profile.aspx?uid=1335823977744501693

Disclaimer: This one is, like many other posts, an imaginary 'interpretation-of-a-photograph' post.

The grandfather put the little girl down from his shoulders. She held him by his hand as the two walked into the fields - the place the grandfather had been going his entire life.

"This is where your father played cricket with his friends", the grandfather pointed out to a patch of land which was now covered with weed that were as tall as the little girl's knees.

"He played cricket here?", she asked, visibly surprised.

"Ha ha, yes, here..", the grandfather said as he patted her.

"And this, my dear, is the well I was talking about...", the grandfather pointed out to a well not too far away, "Your father would jump from that tree into the well for a swim."

She nearly giggled for this seemed so unbelievable to her. "He used to go for a swim there in the well?"

"Oh yes, it was the kids' favourite passtime - especially in the vacations. They'd be swimming almost all day long."

The girl stood by the edge of the well and pushed herself up from her knees.

"Wow, this well is deep", she said.

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The well was indeed deep. The walls were bright initially. As one went to heights too low for light to reach, things became dark. After a patch of pitch-black darkness, there was a circle of light (see the pic). This circle of light was nothing but the reflection of the sky high above.

This reflection was once of a young boy jumping into the well. The reflection now was of a young girl, the boy's daughter peeping into the well trying to have a look.

Was it a well - blocked at one end? Or was it a tube? Connecting two images of the sky at its either ends? Connecting two generations through a long dark tunnel called time?