“There is a superstition connected with the well. It is well-known all over this part of the town that the well is said to be a sacred well and much sanctity is attached to it. Out of deference to this superstition, I had in designing Alice Building to so design it as to leave the well alone. To me personally the well is of no use, but those who believe in the superstition come and pray near the well and present offerings of flowers and cocoanuts to it.” Not only owners of wells but also building contractors are averse to disturbing water-spirits. When the Parsi contractor who built the Alice Buildings had done work worth about Rs. 35,000, he was informed that it had been proposed that the well had better be filled up. He said he was prepared to give up the work and forego all his claims rather than lay irreverent hands on that sacred well. Once you instal a natural object in the position of a deity, the idea that the deified power demands offerings and can be easily cajoled invariably follows, probably based on the conviction that every man has his price! Offerings to well-spirits are, therefore, believed to insure good luck and to avert calamities. One day a Parsi lady went to Dr. Shroff in great excitement and begged of him not to insist on the well of her house in Charni Road being closed. The well, she urged, was held in great reverence by people of all communities. Only the day previous, while she was driving in a carriage to the house to offer a cocoanut, sugar and flowers to the well, she narrowly escaped a serious accident, thanks to the protection offered by the well-spirit. Two sisters owned a house in Dhunji Street near Pydhowni. They were served with a notice to cover the well of the house. One of the sisters went running to the Malaria Officer beseeching him to cancel the notice. She said that her invalid sister strongly believed in the efficacy of the worship of the well and never went to bed without worshipping it and offering it flowers. “My poor sister would simply go mad if she sees the well covered over,” she cried, and she would not leave Dr. Shroff’s office until that unchivalrous officer left her alone and slipped into another room.