‘Water’ is a reflective-narrative poem in which the speaker recalls several instances taken from the life of the Dalits to highlight the disparity seen in the lifestyle of the Dalits and that of the upper caste people. Incidentally, the speaker also highlights how the Dalits are discriminated against while using ‘water’ from a pond or a tank. The speaker states that water is a witnss to the Panchama’* plight when he goes to the pond or tank to collect water.
Since he does not have the right to draw a of water directly from a well, he waits all day near the well until a shudra arrives there and fills his . The speaker mentions the humiliation of the Wada girl when she receives water poured from a distance. Some waterfalls on her body and she felt humiliated. The speaker articulates the righteous indignation shown by Munnangi Suvartamma when she raised her vessel to ward an *** by the Kamma youths against the Dalit boy who asked them not to pollute their drinking water. These instances illustrate how the Dalits were discriminated against while using water from a public well.
The speaker recalls how people in the Wada would thirst all day for a glass of water while the villagers had a lot of water to drink and bathe as and when they wanted. The speaker recalls how they would look forward to that day in a week when they would get an occasion to take a bath. On the other hand, the people in the village enjoyed a bath twice a day, because they had plenty of water, and the Dalits were made to forego water on the pretext of untouchability. The speaker narrates how, in her childhood, they walked miles and miles to collect water from the big canal and walked back carrying heavy pots of water on their heads, with the veins in their neck straining and bursting. Finally, the speaker recalls how several thatched huts in Malapalle were reduced to ashes for want of a of water to douse the *.
