A Parched Rajasthan Village Has Wells Divided For Brahmins, Muslims & Lower Caste Villagers

It's 6pm. The sun is still shining bright as a group of women encircle an empty well, singing folk songs to kill boredom, frustration and to de-stress themselves.

They have been queued up at the well since 4pm directly under the sun, waiting for the drops of water from an inner stream to fill a hole at the 70-metre-deep empty well.

The dribbling of water in the three wells is the only hope for the village of 600 during summer. The household chores like cooking, cleaning, spending time with family, all depend upon how fast they fetch water.

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Every time a bucket is pulled out from the well, it calls for a celebration. The daily ritual of encircling the well, which begins at 4pm, continues till the next morning. This is how women cope in a village which has fallen in the dark zone.

Shahnaz Begum, employee at block education officer in Beawar has to wait for an extra hour at the well. She reaches the well by 8pm after she returns from work and can fill her first bucket not before 9.30pm.

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¡°This struggle begins every April and lasts till September, only if the rains are good,¡± said Shahnaz, who also sings songs to entertain the women waiting for their turn.

The village has three wells, sharply divided on caste lines. The well which is neat and clean, is meant for the upper caste which include Rajputs, Jats, Brahmins and Muslims.

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While the other two belong to SC and ST communities. The struggle of SC and ST women is thus many times higher than their upper caste counterparts.

¡°Our well is comparatively smaller and is full of dirt. Here, it takes 6-8 hours to fetch water as it is far from the village pond, which contributes to the inner stream,¡± said Roothali Bai, 80, who belongs to SC community.