Girls enjoy swinging in a village near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh during Saawan as seen in the photograph on the left.Saawan is celebrated with swings (jhoolas) and traditional songs are sung. In the past girls married off to faraway places would return to their village in this month.
It would be reunion time in villages and meeting the childhood 'sahelis'. There are some popular songs of girls longing to meet their parents and siblings in the month of saavan like as in Bandini:
ab ke baras bhej bhaiya ko baabul
saavan ne lijo bulaay re
lauTengi jab mere bachpan ki sakhiyaan
dejo sandesha bhijay re...
Savan doesn't bring that sort of nostalgia anymore in the modern era when cell phones have reached the remotest villages and cash cards of Rs 5-10 are sold on general merchants shops and tea/pan kiosks. Still, the photo on the left celebrates the spirit of Saavan.
