Sapphire in the Well

“I know there is sapphire in the well!” Sunil has been saying for a while now. “We are going to strip that well!” He means our well behind the house, where we get our delicious drinking water from. The day finally comes, and the team sets out.

First, they strip the bottom of the well, then the heaps of mud that contain the coveted layer of land, the illam, starts to grow.

They do the wash in the water that had been pumped out of the well. Grandfather, who lives two houses away, is appearing now more and more. He gave the land to his daughter when she and Sunil got married to contribute to the growth of their lives. However, if there are gems in the land, he wants his share.

Ayanthi mediates between the two men with the mastery of a diplomat, bearing in her mind the truth of both.

The neighbors seem to come more frequently also, but they always stop at the courtyard. Coming any closer to the mine isn’t proper, no matter how curious they are.

The search then follows the first two washings. As a privileged stranger, I jitter among them, but they find nothing. Maybe my presence there doesn’t bring any luck, so I wait in the shade of my room, but not for long. Sunil enters bearing a serious face but he can’t keep it for long, and his smile stretches ear to ear. “Look at this, Gabi akka!” he says holding his palm up to my eyes. “I knew there was sapphire in the well!”

I am looking at the dirty–blue grayish crystal, which is as big as my thumb. It doesn’t even shine! But it is going to change Sunil’s life at once. The team gets almost a million Rupees for it, and the Serendipity–effect comes into action. Two more gorgeous sapphires turn up from the former well.

Soon a new house stands in place of the old small one, only my photos preserve its memory.

But good fortune isn’t enough in itself. Many of the miners have had it at least once in their lives, but not many are able to take advantage of the opportunity. Few get very far with it. Sunil knows the reason well. “They have no idea,” he says, “so they just spend it all.”

During my next visit the team finds sapphire again and again, even after a year has passed. The smiles of the neighbors are getting wider, and I am asked more and more: do I want to stay with them as well, at least for a while.