Unpaid

The news of a boy falling in an empty borewell spread like a wildfire. All officers including the district collector reached the spot. A lot of media vans were telecasting the event live. Some were showing the kid’s father and mother while some were interviewing the kid’s uncle and aunt. Some were even interviewing the kid’s neighbors. Someone hung a camera inside the borewell and saw that the boy was stuck at 54 feet and alive.

The deputy collector shouted towards the crowd that they need help to dig another hole parallel to the borewell. Everyone just looked at each other. One of them said “The diggers’ sons can do this kind of a job. Please call them.” A gypsy was sent and four boys – Arjun, Jayaram, Ratan, and Mahesh were brought over. The four of them were well-built but their clothes and skin were of the same color as the soil. As soon as they came, they asked: “Who will pay us for this work?” “Please do not worry about that. Start digging the hole.” The four of them started digging the hole. In 6 hours, they reached a depth of 30 feet. The boys were getting tired and were fainting due to the lack of oxygen at that depth. Also, since the hole was getting narrower, only one of them could dig at a time. Even though an oxygen pipe was sent into the borewell and the hole, the boys would faint in ten minutes. They would be pulled out, give an oxygen mask and a glucose drip and sent back into the hole. The four of them started losing their courage but the crowd kept egging them on. After ten hours, the boys reached the same level as the kid. They then dug a cross bore carefully so that the boy is not hurt. In a few minutes, Arjun got the kid up the hole and immediately fainted. Everyone immediately carried the kid. The collector was happy and was giving interviews to the media. The three boys waited till Arjun came out of his unconsciousness. Arjun immediately asked, “Who will pay us now?” The four of them ran towards the officials. The cars with the read beacons had vanished away.