How to take dry coconuts out of a well?

Problem statement -
There are 15 dry coconuts (with the covering) in a big well. You have to bring them out. For your information - Dry coconuts directly fell from the tree into the well. And they float in water.

 

Boundary conditions -
The depth of water in the well is unknown.
The diameter of the circular well is around 5 meters.
There are snakes in the well.
You can't get into the water...you do not know swimming.

This was the situation me and my wife faced in my native place. I am blogging about it - means the problem was solved.

I took a long bamboo stick (called as kokke - ಕೊಕ್ಕೆ ). Tied a plastic bucket to one end of the stick. Holding the other end in my hand, I put the bucket into water. Got underneath one of the coconuts and lifted it. Water and coconut in the bucket. Lift the stick. The coconut came up with the bucket. I thought this was it. So simple.

Problem 1 -
Then came the first problem. Next attempt in the same way. Water and coconut in the bucket was lot of weight. The thread i had used to tie the bucket and stick gave way. Bucket fell into the well.
Then my project guide pitched in - My Grandma.

Solution 1 -
She suggested a different technique. She gave a big basket with holes in it (we call it hedge - ಹೆಡ್ಗೆ). She suggested that we tie two long ropes to the opposite ends of the round basket. We threw the basket into the water holding the ropes in our hand. Got underneath one of the coconuts and lifted it. Only coconut in the basket. Water went out of the holes and hence less weight to pull up. Pull up the rope (and so the basket). The coconut came up with the basket. I thought this was it.

Problem 2 -
The coconuts started moving towards the center of the well from the sides.  And the basket can't be thrown to the center, targeting any coconut.

Solution 2 -
was the long bamboo stick. Using the stick we pushed the nuts from the center to the sides, towards the wall of the well.

Problem 3 -
The stick slipped off my hands and went into the well. Luckily bamboo floats.

Solution 3 -
Got another long bamboo stick. Tied a smaller stick to one end of this, making an "X".  We put the "X" end into the water and used top half of "X" as the holder for the floating stick. After multiple tries, the floating stick was lifted by this technique. (Kind of sea-saw, fulcrum technique)

Finally after 30-40 mins of manual labor in the hot weather, the 15 coconuts were on the ground. Mission accomplished.

Project - Post office

My 10 yrs old niece is in my home for summer vacations. She is generally playing most of the time with the kids in the neighborhood. (Who wouldn't?) I was checking with her as to what her other friends are up-to during the holidays. She said most go to summer camps learning painting, singing, art workshops etc. Some of her friends are on foreign tours as-well. And here my niece was playing indoor and outdoor games.  

So on Friday night I asked her - What happens in a post office? And the answer was very guessable - People buy stamps, cards, letters and post it in the post box. I did not comment on the answer, but gave her an assignment.

Goto the post-office near my home. Spend 30 mins inside the post-office. See, observe, talk to visitors and prepare a report on why people come to post-office and what they do there.

She readily accepted the offer. So we went to the post-office on Saturday. Me and her. Equipped with pen, pencil, eraser and a notepad, she looked like a journalist. I left her inside the post-office and left the place. After 30 mins, her preliminary version of the project was ready. 

Her modus operandi was very simple (like instructed earlier) - Observe what people do and approach people and ask them why have they come to the PO. She also introduced herself and told the individuals that she was doing a project in her vacations. Predictably the reactions from the people was pretty open and warm.

What amazed her is the number of people who come to post-office for the "original purpose of post office" is very less. More people visit the PO for the traditional banking purposes like collecting old age pension, collecting money from savings schemes like monthly income scheme(MIS). Indian postal service is spreading its wings into various domains.

She is now ready for a bank project.

Personally, I felt that such exercises to the children would give them confidence to interact with people. Of-course the knowledge they gain is also immense.

I hope she makes the preliminary version of the project into a report to show it to her classmates after the vacation. Proudly.