Reader's Digest Australia Feb/Mar 2026

O n a misty February morning in 2025, retired police officer and part-time farmer Ramesan Nair E.K. and his wife, P.K. Padmam, made their way across their plot of land in a small town called Piravom in southern India, where they had joined relatives to harvest black pepper. Soon, Ramesan, a fit 64-year-old, was climb- ing atop a Mexican lilac tree, poised precariously close to the family well. He plucked peppers from the vines that wound around its trunk, while Pad- mam, 56, worked nearby. Then a sharp cracking sound pierced the quiet morning. The branch beneath Ramesan snapped, and he lost his bal- ance. He plunged into the 40-foot well below, striking his head and back against the wall on the way down. Padmam heard the crash, then the terrifying splash. She rushed to the well and peered down into the blackness. She called her husband’s name. His faint voice echoed back—he was all right. Scrambling, she found a plastic rope and lowered it into the well for him to climb back up. For a few seconds, she waited for a response. Then he cried out, “I can’t. I’m too weak, and my leg is hurt.” Padmamwent into rescue mode. She grabbed the thick rope attached to the well’s pulley system. As she tied one end of the rope to a nearby tree, she ordered a relative to call the fire depart- ment. After tying the other end of the rope around her waist, Padmam climbed onto the lip of the well and rappelled down. The moss-covered wall was slick, and her feet kept sliding off. Meanwhile, the rope was cutting into her hands, leav- ing her palms bloody. Midway down, Padmam lost her grip. She tumbled, landing on a ledge jutting out from the well’s interior. The impact left her breathless. As she caught her breath, she peered down into the blackness, hoping to catch sight of Ramesan. But she couldn’t see or hear anything. “I saw only water,” she says. RisksHer Life BY Adila Matra A W I F E 58 February/March 2026 reader ’ s digest Cover Story MINORU STUDIOS With no time to think, she jumped. The waist-high water was cold, teem- ing with unseen creatures that she could feel around her—fish, frogs, insects and small snakes. Padmam groped blindly until her hand brushed against her husband’s shoulder. He was unconscious and slipping down, his face just skimming the water. Neither Padmam nor Ramesan is large. But each one’s average size and build belie a farmer’s strength, which comes from working the fields. Mar- shalling her strength, Padmam lifted her husband and propped him up against the wall of the well, ensuring that his head stayed above the water. She leaned into him, hoping to hear a pulse or a breath, something to indi- cate he was alive. Then she felt it. A breath. It was faint, but it would do. “I am with you,” she told him. “I won’t let you go.” Ramesan slowly opened his eyes. Together, they waited. Forty feet up, the scene was abuzz. The fire department had arrived, and first responders were now lowering a rescue basket into the well. Padmam helped her husband into the basket, then watched as he was lifted inch by inch. With Ramesan safe, it was Pad- mam’s turn. Miraculously, the couple sustained no major injuries. And the day that had begun like any other misty February morning ended as a lasting reminder: Love that fierce will descend into dark- ness—only to rise again. A s Sho Dewan and his wife, Janet Fong, sat down with his par- ents at the dining room table in their cozy single-story home in the Los Angeles suburbs last May, the elder Repays aDebt A S O N Sho Dewan, with his parents and wife readersdigest.com.au 59