Stories of water
The playground edition
The spaces built to hold or give us access to water are perceived differently through the different landscapes and different age groups. For some, walking down the flights is a daunting task for others, the countless flight of steps, the multi-tiered walls, multiple pavilions and jharokha’s become the perfect playground.
As children, we have a lot of energy hidden within, bereft of spaces to channelise it. Bringing in play in the daily chores and tasks is something we have learned to do over a while. Innovating their own ingenious plays or copy the older kids and adults. Adventures were always with a group while running away from the prying eyes of the elders. Decades before piped water supply, showers were by the lake or riverside, near a well or diving into a kund or a stepwell. Part of the adventure was the built fabric, and apparatus one found near the water bodies.
Access to water in a stepwell became an ancillary function. Pavilions became diving boards, mid landings became a place to warm up before the dive, steps around the baori became chairs for the spectators cheering on. The whole stepwell participated in this everyday affair. Resonating sounds of laughter and appeals grew louder during the summer months.
In places where water was drawn from wells, the trough walls became a canvas for board games engraved in stone. A water lifting mechanism called the chadas was employed; the rope attached to the bulls pulling the water out became a slide for the kids eagerly waiting for the water to be drawn out for their bath. Around the water bodies, one found a number of fruit bearing trees that added to the treats one looked for while doing a chore.
As adults, we often tend to tread carefully down the steps of a baori or get scared looking down a well. But as kids, familiar spaces are our playground; we know where to step and where not to. Even if we fall and get hurt, we know we will be back doing the same thing tomorrow. Through the series, we want to put across the different associations and narratives that we come across in the country when we talk about water and the spaces built around it.
