The Search (abridged)

It is dark out there

Fire-force troop had a tough time clearing the bushes, with little cooperation from the local crowd, to figure out the exact location of the mysterious well, one of the oldest in the village. For them it was just another rescue operation in a remote place, which meant that they had no clue whatsoever regarding what they were getting into. They could hardly see the inside, making it hard to measure the depth. The kerosene lamp which they sent down, tied to a rope, came back with the fire put out. There was no oxygen down there. Then the long wait for the oxygen masks. The crowd was impatient, but they had no choice. Finally one of the  well-built and courageous sergeants went inside  and came back with the dead-bodies of 3 young men in their twenties. The trauma and chaos which followed was beyond description. But Raghavan master was more curious about some of the other facts, which he thought were more important than the life itself. So he approached the sergeant, who kept a cold-blooded composure throughout the rescue act. The sergeant's still eyes and deadpan look didn't give away much. He smoked continuously and did not seem to pay much attention to master's naive and seemingly unimportant questions. He was either not expecting such questions from an old man in his 70s or he was just not in the frame of mind to comprehend those questions.

Reincarnation at the unexpected place 

There was a period during which only black magicians and outlaws inhabited that compound and carried out their murky business during the odd hours of the night. The incantations to trap the exorcised spirits into the chopped heads of cats and the ceremony of dumping them into the darkness of the well brought many of the souls together inside the mystique boundaries of the well. Many stillborn and newborn babies ended up bathing in the cold water at the rock bottom to wash away the memories of their fleeting encounter with the cursed world. But all of us believed that the water at the very bottom of the well was pure as heaven and had this magical power to cure any thought, and interestingly it changed colors every evening…..the deep red of dripping blood to - the magical blue of snake bite to - the thick black of owls' eyeball to - the milky white of latex from the injured devil tree….and many more.

During the 1920s many villagers lost their lives in  the smallpox epidemic. People used to abandon the diseased or bury them alive.  A young priest was pushed into the well, wrapped inside a mat, thinking that he was dying. But his body did not reach the bottom. For three days, suspended  between life and death, he was stuck in the mesh of creepers. They believed that the Veliyila goddess, who meditated inside the petals of the wild flowers,which grew in abundance even inside the darkness of the well, healed him. On the fourth night he climbed up the well,  naked, like a newborn out of the womb and disappeared into the darkness, never to return. 

The Myth of Unnuly Granny:

Unnuly granny was born in a Dalit family. But she was very beautiful and fair unlike her parents. And even at the age of 90 she boasted that her biological father was the Lord of the province for whom her parents worked for. The Lord was very wealthy and had a palatial bungalow, outside the compound of which Unnuly granny's thatched hut was  located. During the riot, the bungalow was attacked, but the enemies could not get inside, thanks to the ironclad thick wooden doors.  Frustrated they set fire to the bungalow.
After a few hours the wind caught up and the bungalow went ablaze like a fire mountain. Suddenly people started running out half burnt. Most of them were killed by the fire and the rest by the aggressors. In the middle of all this, the main door was pushed open and one human fireball rushed out through the courtyard  and jumped into the depth of the well. Unnoly granny believed that it was the Lord. And she very secretly told her grand kid, Raghavn during one of their story telling sessions that the Lord had a box full of diamond and gold clasped to his chest while going down to the bottom of the well. Apparently that was the treasure many fancied…. including Ravunni. The  wealthiest are always the greediest.

What do they seek?

That was during the emergency period, when there was a severe famine everywhere. The local grocery storekeeper decided to hide 8 sacks full of rice hanging inside the well. He was betrayed by his own son. And the youth of the village - the so called Naxalites - caught hold of the shopkeeper and almost beaten him to death. They dragged Ravunni all the way through the street, followed by a procession of villagers, to whom subsequently the rice was distributed free of cost. That day onwards he hated the youth, including his own son, who very soon had to run away from the village. 

But watching the proceeding he seemed a little shaken…For a longtime he stared at the three bodies lying on the floor,..probably trying hard to imagine his son's grown-up figure...?  Trying to recollect those youth who went to the extremes just to show-off ?……My be he was just looking at the diamond ring falling out of the stiff hands of one of the bodies - shining through the smudged dark mud. But only he could see that….

The failed Interrogation

Like any other person from that village -  living or dead - the questions Raghavan master had were very simple. But the Sergeant couldn't recollect anything that happened inside the well. And he didn't know at that point in time  that the rest of his life will be spent in this futile exercise of trying to recollect those moments.  Master looked very eagerly and pleadingly into those indifferent eyes, which faded after every sip of the local brand of alcohol served at the Bar. The disappointed master left the place around midnight. And on his way back home he tried to imagine the bottom of the well - like everyone of us does during our prayers- and he could see that the water was as pure as it could get and he saw the full moon down there. But of course ,others might see it differently.