A Journal of Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

them in a queue said, “Saib, they do not
have money”.’
‘Money?’ surprised, I asked.
‘Money for water, Saib,’ he said flatly.
‘So is water sold here?’ I asked.
‘Yes, Saib. One taka per bucket, one
paisa for a small pot, one anna for a
drum…Sometimes some saibs charge even
more for the water.’
‘So this woman and this girl have no
money?’
‘Yes, Saib.’
‘So will they remain thirsty?’
‘I don’t know, Saib,’ the man said and
placed the coins on the wooden sleeper
under the tracks—one anna coins, takas
and a number of paisa coins.
‘What’s this?’
‘We have collected this money, Saib.
If it is not enough, I will ask them to
bring more.’
He had just finished speaking when
the guard stepped forward. He tried to
pick up the coins lying on the sleeper.
I held his hand. He said with some anger,
‘So you want to take all this money?’
I called that man and told him to
pick up all the coins on the sleeper and
return everyone’s money. He thought I
was angry. He was frightened. He said,
‘Did we do anything worng?’
I said, ‘I have not come here to sell
water, I have come to distribute it.’
When that man told the others what
I had said everyone was surprised. They
were also glad and felt reassured. They
were very poor people. Only God knew
from where they had managed to get those
one anna, taka, and paisa coins. They
received water and also their money. They
were very happy.
Blessing me an old woman said, ‘Will
you never take money for water?’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
‘Because, amma, the clouds, the rivers
and the wells, do they ever charge money
for giving us water?’
Filling up two buckets each, they began
to go back to their homes. They were
very happy and very satisfied. When they
had gone some distance, they paused, put
their buckets on the ground and raising
their hands saluted me.
Finally, the girl who had been standing
out of the queue also filled her two buckets.
She looked at me through the burqa and
said very softly, ‘You’re a good man…thank
you.’
All of them were going back to their
homes. I stood there watching them go.
They were strong people but poverty had
shattered them.
90 :: January-March 2012