No salt please ...

The full moon night … when the moon in all its glory and beauty … adorns the sky. When the night comes alive with the light of the moon. A festival in itself. Auspicious and important.

The full moon night … a time of fasting, a time of praying. Sacrificing. Healing. Both physical and spiritual.

Full moon nights are actually a test. A test of strength. Willpower. Resolve.

And also a test of my affinity to salt. Can I or can I not stay away from the salt whole day.

Fruits in the day, and one meal in the evening.

And, that “one meal” is prepared … without salt.

And, mostly it is that “one meal” that makes up for the abstinence observed whole day. Sometimes I get paranthaas with sooji ka halwa. At other times mother serves the adarak – paneer ki sabzi. The ginger makes up for the lack of salt. It is sweetened paranthas with curd in the hostel. And chapattis with kheer in Gurudwara Sahib.

But, since, I am not so much into fasts and sweets; I falter every now and then. Like the rakshabandhan day in August .. when the tempting rajma ... those little red kidneybeans ... won the battle. The fight had lasted half a day. That was better than the January and February performance. I skipped the fast thing altogether at that time. Ditto for March.

April, May, June, July, September, November, December … I resisted the lure of salt … successfully.

Did I miss October in that list? Yes, I did. Because, I am not sure what to make out of it. I observed the fast whole day. In the late evening, all of us were gathered. I and Harjas were having bananas. His were salted and mine were not. I finished off my share. And somewhere in between eating, talking and listening, I forgot all about fast and picked up a piece from his bowl and ate it. And the taste of salt brought me back to reality.

Some tell me that since this was done unconsciously, my fast stands as complete. Some tell me that it stands broken. All it tells me is that, hunger and salt both have a strong calling. J