In the Month of Shravan

Last month was Shravan, and during one of our daily calls to our member Ms T. Saha, she spoke to us about how she spends each Monday of the month and how her relationship with the Ganga (the Hooghly) deepens during this time.

For many years, I have observed a simple practice every Monday in the month of Shravan: fasting and then taking a dip in the Ganga. Today, for the first time in several years, I went to the river for a holy dip. I don’t remember the ghat stairs ever being this slippery. Worried I might fall, I asked a gentleman to hold my hand and guide me down.
After my dip, as tradition goes, I ate fruits and sabudana (sago) served on a banana leaf. My next meal will be tomorrow. This has been my way since I was young—a dip in the Ganga, followed by a meal of fruits to break the fast.
When I began working as a teacher, I kept up the practice. The sweeper would clear a corner of the staff room for me, and I’d sit on the floor, cutting my fruits on a boti (a vegetable cutter fixed to a wooden base). My colleagues would tease me, warning of “dire consequences” if I didn’t share my fruits! Once the fast is broken, tradition requires that the keeper of the vow be asked three times if the used banana leaf and utensils have been disposed of. During my teaching days, Swarupa—a spirited girl from Katwa—took on that role. She would laugh and say, “Tripti di, what if I don’t call out thrice? What if I don’t release you?”
Now I live alone, so I call out to myself three times and answer my own call. In a way, I have been released. But during my meal today, I kept thinking of Swapna. I wonder where she is now.

(as narrated to Support Elders by our member)