Kolkata,

Excessive chocolate consumption has given a severe toothache to Swapna Barman, but she’s in for a treat when she returns, with her mother ready to cook her a variety of saags.  Swapna’s favourite food comprise a variety of the “shaks” (saags) which are sold cheap and sometimes even available free of cost in the countryside of West Bengal.

When Swapna returns home, her mother Basana would cook for her youngest child her favourite food — “kochu shak, kalmi shak and dheki shak”, in which a variety of leaves/ferns are used.  “I knew that she needed good food and milk,” Basana told this reporter over the phone from Jalpaiguri. “But we could not afford all those. So whatever ordinary food we were having, I will make her eat to her fill.”

Basana used to be a tea-leaves picker in north Bengal and her husband, a rickshaw vans puller, used to ferry school-going children but later switched to transporting goods. He has been bedridden since 2013 after suffering a stroke. The family is now run by Swapna’s two brothers, who are daily-wagers.Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for Swapna.

Swapna belongs to the Rajbangshi community. The aristocracy of this community boasts of well-known personalities such as the late Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur (originally a member of the Cooch Behar royal family). “There are not many achievers among the commoners of the community, which has the status of a scheduled caste in West Bengal,” says a Jalpaiguri-based academic. Swapna is expected to fill this void.