The fountain

It was a hot day, even in the huge parks that surrounded India Gate. But on occasion, a cool wind would blow. He followed the wind and reached a huge fountain, spraying soft water hither tither. He looked at the fountain, massive, a lake extended around its fountainhead. Really, people were boating in the fountain!

As he glanced at the fountainhead in the centre, envious of the water drenched air around it, he saw two guys, standing barefoot at its base. Now the only visible way of getting there were a few blocks of stone, placed from the circumference to the centre of the lake and these were really too far apart to serve any purpose apart from questionable decoration. He started to look around for another path when he saw that the two guys were now standing amongst these 'uncrossable' stone steps. He looked at the steps again. This time he realised that they weren't all that far apart. It was just that the first stone that would launch you on your journey to the fountainhead was too far away from the edge of the circumference. And a jump to the slippery, flat, small first stone would result in an instant dip. Yet there they were, their pants rolled up to their calves. And they were as pleased as punch. They were now exploring the fountainhead, looking for a way to climb it.

As he sat there and watched, he realised how the fountainhead had been breached. Somewhere in the murky depths of the lake, lay a few more stones, bridging the gap between the edge and the first stone. But the realisation had come from an altogether very common medium, watching...

A young man was pulling two women towards the stone steps. The first, in a blue dress, was laughing and was looking at female companion with an expression that asked, "Are we crazy?" Still, she was walking along in the persuaded direction quite readily. She pushed her foot in cautiously, finding the sunken stones. But then she had watched the guy, who was now persuading her, do it easily enough. And even though she had watched him out of the corner of her eye, and she had been laughing and talking with her friend while she was 'watching' him, she pushed down fearlessly. The stone was deeper, deeper than both she and the guy watching them had assumed and he watched her slide in, clinging to her friend's arm as she fell and landed with an unpleasant bump, her dress wet to the waist.

He smiled. He looked away. Then after a few minutes, he looked back. She had decided to stay this side of the water. She was sitting at the edge of the edge of the lake with her friend, content, soaking her already wet legs, as they chatted.

They were having a competition. They had come quickly and loudly as teenagers usually do and were standing at the edge. He sat and watched as the first one sprang through the air, shoes and everything, landed awkwardly on the first step, pushed himself forward and continued running till he had crossed all the stones and rested safely and proudly at the centre. He waved. The next one jumped, tried to stop himself immediately after he landed and had to hug the narrow stone floor to stay on it. The next one to follow was confident after his friend's successes, jumped well short of the first stone and landed in the lake, trousers and all. No one followed.

He got up and pushed in his earphones firmly. He stood amongst the teenagers, bent down and tightened his shoelace. The guys at the centre all came on to the steps to watch. The crowd around the lake closed in. They cheered and clapped as they waited anxiously for him to fall. He had worked hard to convince himself that he would be falling in deliciously cold water if he missed, as it seemed he might, and the laughter of the crowd and the kid who had only recently sat next to him and who he had mercilessly lectured would roll off his back. He ignored the salivating crowd, the cameras aimed at him in order to capture the moment for later humourous family conversations, the voice which had only recently been solidly against the idea that now told him to at least think about it for a second before fell like an idiot. He took a few light steps, and jumped