The Better India · 18 hours ago

How Caron Rawnsley Helps Restore Jodhpur’s Historic Stepwells & Baoris

What begins as a son tracing his mother's childhood memories becomes something neither he nor anyone watching could have predicted. When Caron Rawnsley found centuries-old stepwells choked with plastic and silt, and appeals to others changed nothing, he picked up a stick and started cleaning them himself - earning the nickname "Paagal Saab," or the mad gentleman, from neighbors who couldn't understand why an Irishman would labor under Rajasthan's scorching sun. Now 80, walking with a wooden stick after fracturing his leg, he still climbs into old baoris alongside volunteers, believing that "the strongest way to encourage people is to lead by example." Ten historic water structures revived, a city's heritage quietly restored - all from a retired man following a thread of love for a mother's stories into something larger than himself. He came looking for the past and found, instead, a life.