Today is 11 May 2022 ; Mesha 28 days , Dashami Tithi
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A Nymph in the Well
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There is a village Padmapur under Sanokhemundi block in Ganjam Dist. , Odisha. The village Padmapur is scenically n strategically located on the foot hills of Sulia 🏔️ mountain ranges. The village is surrounded by tall coconut trees , mango 🥭 grooves , palm 🌴 , tamarind, wood apple , kadam trees etc. The population of the village is around 2700 with 75 house holds with four streets . In the middle center of the village Padmapur sits the Kaleemata temple, the presiding deity and to the far east Shree Shree Neelakantheswar temple is located.
Yes, there is a big circular well on the back side of the main street . People fondly call the well ,as " Kadam Kuan " - surrounded by round shaped flowery Kadam trees. The water of this well remains clear , clean ,cool n cold . The entire village depends on this only well for their drinking water needs n other house hold chores.
In course of time , the water of the well became murky, filthy , muddy - unsafe for drinking,even for cooking or bathing . Added to that, at times , the village kids dropped twigs, broken pot pieces ,sticks out of fun. The water got polluted .
But to the good fortune of the village , there lived an educated young boy of 18 years , pursing +3 Science in a near by college. He is Bimal . Bimal is a courteous chap , never sitting idle - doing something or other. Bimal has a good sense of humour and mingles with villagers easily .And that's why , people of Padmapur village liked Bimal - the most .
Bimal noticed the plight of the " Kadam Kuan" . He planned to clean the water of the well , but couldn't do it alone. He approached some people - said that it's high time to clean the polluted water of the well . But the said people avoided Bimal - saying that they are pre- occupied and have other works of their own.
But Bimal was determined . He thought of a nice idea to clean n drain out the polluted water by the support of Padmapur villagers only. So, the next day morning , Bimal went near the well & looked in to the well interestingly . Some passer by villagers ,at first, took notice of Bimal's amusement peeping in to the well and asked what he was looking for ? Soon , other villagers assembled and crowded near the well . People from the crowd enquired Bimal repeatedly - what he was observing inside the well for pretty long time .
Then , Bimal told to the people -" Oh ! Good God ! Lo ! I saw a Nymph playing cheerfully in the deep water of the well ." But we are not able to see the Nymph - a chorus voice came from the crowd .
Bimal, not losing a moment, said instantly - " Believe me , I saw in my own eyes , the Nymph playing underneath the water. The Nymph might have stuck to the ground water, noticing our presence . "
Bimal then requested people - " Let us all drain the water , so that we can all have a live vision of the Nymph ." The crowd agreed enthusiastically and some villagers , including ladies readily brought buckets, mugs , ropes and started draining the polluted water , filthy muddy sediments out of the well. After couple of hours , the well was cleaned up . The impatient villagers asked Bimal - " Where is the Nymph now ? "...
A refreshed Bimal , beaming with smiles told the crowd - " Please wait for a little moment , for half an hour more, the Nymph would emerge from the ground water."
After passing half an hour , the crowd complained and asked Bimal to show the Nymph. Then, a beaming Bimal said -" Lo ! here is the Nymph, I was talking about - pointing towards the fresh water ." - that was emerging from the ground level of the well.
Then the crowded villagers realised what Bimal meant saying the Nymph in the Well - all fresh water...
The villagers appreciated n praised the cleverness working style of Bimal to make the well clean and safe for drinking water.
A beaming Bimal too thanked the villagres for their united noble works.
**********************************************Text : Shri Surendra Nath Pradhan , Retired Manager, Extension, OPOLFED ,Laxmisagar , Bhubaneswar ,Odisha ,India .
