Why Everyone Is Talking About "Puddle Kid"

On Aug. 7, local man Rajat Suresh stumbled upon a disturbing sight in Queens: What looked like a dead body, or maybe a large doll, face up in a puddle. When he approached, he saw it for what it was: a boy, a kid rather, in a puddle. He wasn’t dead. In fact, he was laying. Suresh, incredulous, took video evidence from the scene.

Now, everyone is talking about Puddle Kid, a kid who laid down in a puddle at least once this past weekend. Who is Puddle Kid? To find out, Rajat graciously agreed to talk on the phone for eight minutes. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Gawker: Can you set the scene: Where were you when you first saw the puddle?

Rajat: When I first saw the puddle or the kid?

Gawker: Let’s start with the one you saw first.

Rajat: Mainly, what it was is: I was biking to a Mets game on Sunday. There's a park that I just looked up in preparation for this. I looked up what the park was called that I biked through. It's right next to Citi Field. It is Corona Park.

Gawker: Oh yeah.

Rajat: Have you been there before?

Gawker: Yes.

Rajat: There's a playground in Corona Park called “Playground for All Children.” It sounds made up, but it's called Playground for All Children. And so I bike through this park to get to Citi Field. And there was a kid [and get this – ] he’s just taking a little dip in a puddle.

Gawker: What is the timeframe here? Is this a midday game?

Rajat: This was at 4:30 p.m. Also, I was with my friend Will Perkins who coined the name Puddle Kid.

Gawker: Credit where credit is due to Will Perkins. Did you think he was dead [note: the kid, not Will Perkins]?

Rajat: I definitely thought it was a dead body for like two seconds.

Gawker: Were you scared?

Rajat: I was not scared.

Gawker: Were you prepared to do CPR?

Rajat: I unfortunately don’t know CPR.

Gawker: Were you worried about contracting E. coli or any water-based viruses?

Rajat: The thought of E. coli did not cross my mind and I’m glad it didn’t. Puddle Kid definitely was not thinking about this.

Gawker: What happened next?

Rajat: I initially took a picture of Puddle Kid thinking that that was going to play. I thought that was going to be funny. But he just looked like a dead body. So I had to take a video of Puddle Kid. He was moving around and just splashing. I just – I love him. He's what we all aspire to be.

Gawker: If you had to guess at the size and depth of the puddle, what would you say?

Rajat: Good question. I would maybe say the depth of the puddle is probably one foot maybe or maybe a little bit less than one foot. Is one foot crazy?

Gawker: There's some big potholes in this town, so it could be that deep. I was thinking maybe seven inches or something, but you’re the expert.

Rajat: That sounds better.

Gawker: But definitely no diving.

Rajat: No, no, definitely a no-diving situation.

Gawker: Did his parents seem concerned?

Rajat: Parents were not in sight. There was another kid kind of running around him. And I think the kid running around him saw me take a video. That's when I stopped.

Gawker: That's huge. In a way, this is about New York City. It's right next to Citi Field, in Corona Park, in the Playground for All Children. There's something happening. What do you think the public should take away from Puddle Kid?

Rajat: I think Puddle Kid is, as I said earlier, somebody we all aspire to be. He's a vibe. We all want to be Puddle Kid. He’s splashing. The way I would have had it is: When we were biking back, to see Puddle Kid got a ton of followers and he has his own little cult. He's got his own little thing that he started. That would be good.

Gawker: This is a marketing opportunity for him. He could be on Ellen. I guess Ellen got canceled, just another thing Ellen has cost us.

Rajat: Yeah.

Gawker: Okay.

Rajat: I don't know if you remember Sunday, the whole weather situation was crazy. It was raining, which is probably why there was a puddle. Because it was raining at the beginning of the day, and then it got hot. So the puddle came from the sky. Well, that's just conjecture.

Gawker: That seems like a solid bet.

Rajat: I will say one other thing about the puddle: When we biked back from the Mets game — no puddle. It evaporated.

Gawker: Wow.

Rajat: No puddle or kid. Nothing. The kid or the puddle.

Gawker: It was an apparition.

Rajat: I have no idea. There's no way to tell, you know?