Jodhpur – Water Hut

The friendly old man from the wedding yesterday who gave me an Indian name, invited us to the water hut where he works. He is an old man of 56 years old, owning a water hut between the forts to give free waters to thirsty folks. And the water is free. The hut was operated since 3 generations, and his father was a very famous holy man in the area.

As the omelette shops and rickshaw drivers, the water hut also have guestbooks. But this one is really different. Compared to the one liner comments in the omelette shop guestbooks with boring praise to how delicious on earth the omelette was, the collections of the water hut is much, much more interesting.

This is a free service, nobody paid for the water given. And the collection of comments were from the letters from various countries on earth, from 1960’s up till recent days. It was really amazing to read how this holy man, working with full of his dedication, just to give water to the people from the simple hut in the junction of the street.
“My Indian father, you are really the spirit of my life” says a letter. And the letters themselves were piece of history, from Indira Gandhi assassination to Pakistan bomb attacks. The letters from 1969’s backpackers were very interesting, telling the story to this svami about the situation in Afghanistan, where he was writing the letter from.

“Thank you for the refreshing water, and also thank you for the green drink!” write someone praising for the water and bhang given. Some foreigners even used to sleep on the roof top of the hut for weeks, just to meet this holy man. “Nothing was said, just looking at you brought the peace in my soul.”

Hari Oom…