Bedtime stories, for most of us, were never read from glossy, illustrated books with morals; they lived in the voices of grandparents — in lazy afternoon conversations at family gatherings and in anecdotes that resurfaced every time an old photograph was found. They introduced us to our great-grandparents and distant ancestors we had never met, yet somehow knew intimately through tales of courage, migration, love, loss, and survival. While many stories faded with shrinking family circles, some strived through word-of-mouth. For Zhayynn James, a landscape architect, wildlife photographer, and now debut author, one such family legend about the area of Seven Wells in Madras grew into a 20-year search for truth, culminating in ‘The Keeper of the Wells’ (Notion Press, Rs 400), a historical ‘faction’ novel.
The novel follows John Nicholas, Zhayynn’s Irish maternal ancestor, who escapes a murder charge in Ireland only to find himself in Madras during the Anglo-Mysore War. As Hyder Ali advances towards the city, Nicholas becomes entangled in political intrigue, war and a desperate attempt to save Madras. While the story unfolds as fiction, its foundation lies in a family legacy that Zhayynn spent decades piecing together.
“These were stories that we had heard growing up. As a child, I heard about my family, the Nicholas family, that we had something to do with the Seven Wells, that my ancestor had escaped, and he was imprisoned in a fort. These kinds of stories, you hear over and over again as a child. I was really interested in this, but no one else really seemed to want to put all these stories together,” he says.
As the years passed, Zhayynn realised the oral traditions that had preserved his family’s history were themselves disappearing as the once-large families became nuclear families living in different places all over the world. He says, “These stories would only come up during large family gatherings. I decided I wanted to research my family tree and find out more about these stories.”
Talking about the research process, he explains his two-decade journey: “Initially, they were just legends. Then when I spoke to the late historian S Muthiah, he directed me to a couple of books where these stories were actually mentioned.” He also spoke with historian V Sriram to gather information. Encouraged by historical references and archival records, Zhayynn continued digging. “As I got more and more data, finding records of my family members being associated with the Seven Wells, I decided that this story needs to be told, if not for this generation, then for the future.”
The Seven Wells themselves occupy a fascinating place in the city’s past. Situated in George Town, it is the oldest piped water supply in India, dug by the East India Company in 1772 to supply water to Fort St George and parts of the neighbouring area. The Nicholas family was entrusted with its custodianship for 125 years because of the actions of John Nicholas. Yet, history records only the outcome, not the man. “While the records of my ancestor and the result of his exploits were documented, there was very little about the man himself. I have the ‘who’. I have the ‘achievement’. But who he was before it, all of that had to be fiction. That’s the fiction I wove around the factual happenings of that era.”
Researching the novel took Zhayynn from Chennai’s church archives to the British Library in London and stretched across two decades. The manuscript, however, remained unfinished until last year, when his wife wanted to publish the book for him.
Beyond its battles and colonial politics, Zhayynn says that ‘The Keeper of the Wells’ seeks to humanise history, “These are not things that we look at in history books today because history is about who won, who lost, who grabbed land, who plundered and pillaged. But they were real people. Like today, we are real people. People have complex relationships. People have friends. People have fears. People are changed by circumstances and wars. That’s exactly what this book is about.”
However, the most rewarding discovery came not from archives. During his research, Zhayynn connected with relatives in England and Australia, whom he had never met, through the Internet records, only to discover they had preserved the very same stories. “It was amazing that long before the Internet, or books, all of our family had carried these stories and fiercely remembered them and passed them on to every generation. You can always say there would be differences, but it was exactly the same story... That was one of the most satisfying parts of the discovery.”
That, perhaps, is what ‘The Keeper of the Wells’ ultimately celebrates, not merely a forgotten chapter of Madras’ past, but the power of stories that survive because families choose to remember them.
To purchase the book, visit www.notionpress.com