Life in Waterbodies: A Teen’s Mysterious Battle Finds a New Lifeline

For 16-year-old Iqbal of Beldanga in Murshidabad, water was not merely a source of relief. For umpteen years, it had virtually become his home.

While other boys his age went to school, played with friends or spent their evenings with family, Iqbal would slip into a village pond and remain there for hours.

Sometimes, he stayed in the water from morning until late into the night. At other times, when one pond no longer seemed to offer him comfort, he would move to another nearby waterbody.

His strange routine was born, his family says, out of an unbearable burning sensation that gripped his skin whenever he came out of the water.

For the impoverished family, it was a nightmare they could neither understand nor afford to fight.

Now, however, the mysterious case of the Murshidabad teenager has travelled far beyond his village—and brought him an unexpected lifeline.

After a video of Iqbal went viral on social media, Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Amabani, is reported to have stepped in to arrange his treatment.

The teenager has since been flown from West Bengal to Mumbai and is presently under the care of specialist doctors at Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital.

A Bolt from the Blue

For Iqbal’s parents, who had watched helplessly as their son increasingly turned to ponds and marshes for relief, the intervention must have seemed almost like a bolt from the blue.

The viral video that drew widespread attention to his plight showed an extraordinary sight: Iqbal sitting inside a pond and eating his food while remaining in the water.

But this was no stunt or spectacle. According to his family, the boy simply found the intense burning in his body difficult to bear once he stepped onto dry land.

So severe was his discomfort that water gradually became his refuge.

Local residents had long been disturbed by his unusual existence. They would regularly see the teenager submerged in a pond for long stretches, sometimes from early morning until deep into the night.

On occasions, he reportedly moved from one waterbody to another, apparently searching for the relief that only immersion seemed to bring.

Iqbal himself had reportedly offered an even more disturbing explanation at one stage, saying that some “unnatural power” appeared to be controlling him and drawing him towards the water.

Whether this was merely the teenager’s own attempt to explain an illness he could not comprehend, or a reflection of the psychological distress caused by his prolonged suffering, remains a matter that only proper medical evaluation can clarify.

His parents say they had earlier taken him to hospitals in the hope of finding a cure. But his condition did not improve. With prolonged medical treatment potentially involving repeated consultations, tests and specialised care, the family simply did not have the financial means to continue an expensive search for answers.

Their appeal for help, eventually amplified by social media, appears to have changed Iqbal’s fortunes.

A Poignant Tale

Iqbal is now under the observation of specialist doctors in Mumbai, who are examining his physical condition and trying to determine what exactly has forced him into such an extraordinary dependence on water, though the precise nature of his ailment is yet to be established publicly.

Doctors have also pointed out the dangers inherent in spending prolonged periods submerged in water.

A dermatologist associated with Kolkata’s SSKM Hospital has noted that continuous exposure to water can leave the skin pale and soft, making it vulnerable to irritation, cracking and infection.

Another skin specialist has warned that keeping the skin wet for long periods can significantly increase the risk of fungal and bacterial infections.

Thus, even as water gave Iqbal temporary relief, it may also have exposed him to a different set of medical dangers.

That is what makes his story so poignant.

A teenager who should have been spending his days in the ordinary world of classrooms, games and adolescent dreams was instead forced to seek sanctuary beneath the surface of village ponds—caught between a burning body and the only relief he knew.

Today, Iqbal has exchanged those muddy waters of Murshidabad for a hospital bed in Mumbai. His battle is far from over, and the mystery of his illness still awaits an answer.

But for the first time in a long while, the boy who lived in water has been given a chance to return to life on dry land.