Shower

Shower ! There were no shower heads . Those were things you saw in magazine advertisements and movies . To be sighed at , and drooled upon . As distant as the moon .

Water was laboriously pulled from the well . A pulley existed, a make -shift one , with a y-fork of a large tree as the pulley , and around ten bricks for weight . And did it creak ! Heavens ! You pull up water for wash after your big job, in the depths of the night , and the whole neighbourhood knows . Creak, creak ! There was one huge metallic bucket with rope tied to its handle , which sat on the “jagat”, the round concrete circle top of the well . It made a huge splash . The glug , glug , as it filled with cool , clear water from the depths of the well . The weight of the full bucket tugged the rope , the rope tugged the pulley , and it would groan with a creak audible one mile away.

Then you put your might to it . Heave , heave . It was an aerobics like none other . One bath and you have burnt enough calories for the day.

As the bucket splashed , jostled and banged against the brick wall , on its journey up , half of the water was lost , in transit . In case of kids , three fourths.

The kids used up less water , owing to less surface area. The adults needed more , so the arrangement suited everyone fine . A small cubicle with a wooden door , functioned as the shower stall , where people took baths , scrubbed themselves, and beat their clothes threadbare. Budding singers let loose their vocal cords , in its private confines. On one occasion , my sister dressed in nothing more than a hastily wrapped towel and lot of soap-suds came screaming out of the stall . She had seen a lizard on the wall. Braver members of the family, went in with brooms and sticks , looking for the offending reptile . The lizard was not found but it created a memorable story for family dinners.