Abner Barretto/ Goemkarponn
CANACONA: Every morning is usually beautiful and serene at Madditolop, time has taken a break here and nothing in the village has changed except for the age for Balkrishna Ganesh Aiya, a resident of this parched plateau who has earned a reputation as water king of the place.
Balkrishna Aiya popularly known as Bhatmam commences his day at dawn and engages himself in his daily chores which he has been practising since he left his service as an art teacher in an High School in the taluka.
His frame may look frail but has lot of zeal, enthusiasm and energy defying his age, as he hunts all the time for new ideas which has mostly to benefit the society than himself.
In the past he has witnessed his co-villagers struggle for their water needs. And as the harsh summer season approaches there is restricted water supply as the water bodies run dry on Madditolop, the residents of the rural villages were compelled to travel long distances in search of water for utilisation in domestic purposes, and that’s when Aiya assumes more significance.
As the name suggests the entire landscape of this plateau largely constitute of laterite hard stone. And digging a well is not a piece of cake for the many poor residents here, and maximum portion underground is composes of hard stone thereby making it a more difficult and a hefty job.
Getting water for household implementation was a huge task for the residents of this small area before Aiya came to their rescue. Feeling sympathetic towards the villagers, he decided to take a small step that has helped and changed many lives around his locality.
He decided to give water to his parched neighbours. Aiya has a well in front of his house which is uniquely designed and has costed him a fortune he says.
“I spent almost all of my money and worked really hard to make my dream come true he says proudly. It wasn’t an easy task to build the well here and there were many challenges faced by me and the workers he adds with satisfaction writ on his wrinkled face. While digging the well, the workers complained of lack of oxygen”, said Aiya but determined not to give up he devised an idea and made a channel way right up to the bottom of the well for the air to enter.
After relentlessly digging he succeeded and the well hit with water springs to his and his workers joy. The water was more than what he required and as planned, generously shared it with his unfortunate neighbours who had to travel long distances to fetch potable water.
Aiya even laid PVC pipe lines by digging deep into his own pocket and since then he has been supplying water to his neighbours earning the nick name Water King. Aiya charges a nominal price so that the infrastructure in which he invested can be recovered over a period of time, he says.
He started as an art teacher in a local school, not happy with his job he gave up and concentrated on developing his land on the same plateau. He lives a happy and contented life and has been gathering lot of attention and fame for his good works.
In fact, he believes that what he has accomplished is no outstanding feat and just wants to give what belongs to others in the first place.
When asked he quipped that “If the well runs dry, I will also take a pot and search for water just like how my neighbour’s used to do earlier”, said Aiya.
“In the past I used to part away more than 10 thousand litres of water to my neighbours but today some of them have built their own wells and the quantity has come to half” Aiya said during a chat with Goenkarponn.
Looking at the water needs of the residents of this village the local MLA Isidore Fernandes has initiated construction of an overhead tank at one end of the village and once commissioned the villagers will be content with enough water said a villager. He added, it is people like Aiya who remind the rest of the world that charity begins at home, and that humanity is bound by no race, caste nor religion and while doing this yeoman service our Bhatmam believes that the resource like water is everybody’s equal possession and there is nothing remarkable bout his contribution that’s his greatness the villager said.