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Dressed in shakha pola

MSC archived stories - November 12, 2022

It's been 3 months since Trisha joined the CI program through Sahay agency in Kolkata. Her welcome gift follow-up arrived in just 6 weeks on September 19th. The food and educational needs of both Trisha and her brother were their priority (saved to media).

 

One of the most intriguing to notice is that being from Bengal it was mandatory for women to wear in both hands traditional jewellery like ‘shakha pola’, particularly during the festival of Durga Puja in October – made of white conch shell (shakha) and red corals (pola) found by the sea alongside a gold bangle, though I can only see it in her mother's left hand, which could possibly be due to pawning the other in exchange for a cash loan.

 

Also, private tuition is very common in India (as well as in Sri Lanka) – stamped into its inherent fabric of life over there. Without having the extra support at young you can't get ahead of the competitive world. On the other hand, it discourages the student/teacher in delivering quality education at school.

 

Anyhow they jingled and jangled their way through my first treat by not forgetting to remind me of the culinary ingredients in south and east India – coconut oil and mustard oil!

Comments

  1. chelaka29 March 2025 at 12:37

    barbmc
    I see two on each hand, a narrow red one on each wrist with the bigger white bangle loosely behind it on her arm. It helps to enlarge the pic on your profile page. The red one on her left wrist is kind of tight and a little hard to spot. See what you think.

    November 12, 2022

    ReplyDelete
  2. chelaka29 March 2025 at 12:37

    Apparently, in Bengali tradition gold bangle (or Loha) gifted by her mother-in-law and is worn only in the left hand.. well, that solves that mystery.

    November 12, 2022

    ReplyDelete

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