With pulsating crowds screaming at every turn and the charm of the Indian mela reflected in the neon lights on display, Mahesh Verma checks the timber on the 12 meter diametric well before he enters the 'Maut ka Kaun' for his performance. Even though he's been a performer all his life, diligent equipment checks before a performance are the only non-variables he needs to eliminate to distinguish between life and accidental death.

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“If you fall, you're between the devil and the deep blue sea - wherever you land, you'll die. Of course, it's dangerous, but someone's got to do it,” says Mahesh Verma, the 'Well of Death' performer who hails from Sonepat. But this isn't exactly how he started out in the field.

“I really like to ride bikes. When I started, it felt like I was on top of the world. I actually found this hobby by watching my father ride. My father was my hero. At first, I only used to ride a bike because at the time I didn't have the money to build a big well to ride it in.”

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Mahesh had to sell his ancestral home to realize his dream of riding in a well.

“I persisted that I wanted to build a big well and so I decided to sell the house which my father had built. From that money, I built a bigger well at Ghaziabad. With the grace of God, I achieved a lot of success on the back of my skills.”

Even though it's dangerous, the 'Maut ka Kuan' life has treated him well as he met his wife while performing in one of the melas. His wife remembers that even though she admired his profession at the time, she doesn't want him to continue and leave the profession before it takes his life. And even Mahesh admits that even though his father, grandfather and uncle were in this profession before him, he is the last guy in his family to ever perform inside the death of well.

“It frightens even me to think that I have done this (well of death) for so long. I don't want my children to do that. I want my children to study and get a job. I'll solve whatever problems they face.”

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But this doesn't stop him from nurturing new performers inside the well. “Whenever there's a new guy who wants to learn the ropes of riding inside the death well, he first has to learn about the intricacies of the skill required to ride a bike on vertical planks. Most of the learning, including how to switch gears and turn, is through observation. Once they get the hang of it, we tell them to practice slowly, step by step.”

And as Mahesh Verma signs off, he reminds us that it doesn't matter whether you call it Maut ka Kuan or Well of Death, the reality is that it's the only profession he knows and it's what he has to do for a living, even if it's dangerous. It's a reality not many of us have to face but it's this trait that makes him one of the toughest men in India.