Destitute women also do penance
Though it may sound strange, a woman, whose husband went missing in the Bay of Bengal seven years ago and is believed to have died, observed the Sabitri Brata on Wednesday.
The festivity is exclusively meant for the married women who hold a penance for the wellbeing, good fortune and long life of their husbands. But this woman, still believing that her husband is alive, held the puja at the coastal village of Udayana in Talachua panchayat under Rajnagar block.
Snehalata Jena, wife of Basudev Jena, dressed up like a married woman and came along with other women to observe the puja for a long life of her husband. Basudev had gone missing in the sea in 2007.
“Though Sabitri Brata is not observed in our Bengali culture, but for the wellbeing and long life of my husband, I observed it with Odia married women. It involved a penance of remaining fast the whole day and taking fruits only after the puja is over,” said Snehalata.
According to locals, as many as nine fishermen of Talachua panchayat had gone to the sea to catch fish in July 2007 in a trawler. But due to rough weather, the fishing trawler capsized. Six fishermen were rescued, while three others went missing. later, a body of the three missing persons was fished out.
Everybody said the rest two missing must have died, but Snehalata was not buying the story. She refused to live like a widow and continued to put on vermillion on her forehead and mangal sutra and bangles, waiting patiently for her husband’s return.
“Every day, I say prayers before the deity by putting vermillion and bangles for the safe return of my husband,” said Snehalata, who is a mother of two children. She is also an ASHA of the locality.
In another curious incident, four inmates, including three minor girls, of the Kendrapara-based Rural Institute for Education and Social Welfare Affairs (RIESWA), a short stay home for destitute women, too observed Sabitri Brata.
Anjana Sahu (25), a resident of Gopa village under Aul police station, is a victim of torture. The main culprit, her husband, deserted her to fend for herself for which Anjana had to stay in the short stay house. However, she forgot that she was ever tortured by her bigamist husband Madhusudan Khilar and did the puja for his betterment and welfare. She is hopeful that one day her husband would take her back home. “Over the last three years, I have been staying at the RIESWA. My bigamist spouse has never made a telephone call to me during all these days. But as a Hindu married woman, I have to observe the sacred Sabitri Brata with an aim that my husband would live long and no trouble would come way,” said Anjana.