After a woman was denied a drink from a well during a drought due to her country’s caste system, her husband was inspired to dig a well for her.
Bapurao Tajne worked six hours a day for 40 days in the village of Kalambeshwar, India to dig a new 15-foot well all by himself, a task that usually requires four to five men. When he dug deep enough to reach a water source, reportedly his two sons helped to dig the well even deeper.
Other local villagers ridiculed him for his plans, but he was undeterred. Now his village has a brand new well available for not only Tajne’s wife, but for all the working class villagers, who are considered to be part of a lower caste called “Dalit.”
“I don’t want to name the well owner for I don’t want bad blood in the village,” Tajne said in an interview with Times Of India. “However, I feel that he insulted us because we are poor and Dalits. I came home that day in March and almost cried. I resolved never to beg for water from anybody. I went to Malegaon (the closest town) and bought tools and within an hour I started digging.”
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