Raksha Bandhan, as is known, is a festival that celebrates the brother-sister relationship.
But in these troubled times, for girls, Rakhi has also become an escape mechanism from guys.
This concept came into being way back in the16th Century, when Rani Karnavati of Chittor sent a rakhi to the then Mughal Emperor Humayun, when she was threatened by the Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.
History says that Humayun abandoned an ongoing military campaign just to come to her rescue. Such was the power of rakhi on adopted brothers as well.
The girls of this generation seems to be utilising this concept more and more,
for instance to ward off a nagging boy with a love request, one with a proposal for marriage and also as a diplomatic tool to blot out any hatred between a guy and a girl. At one go, all the problems are laid to rest, the girls believe.
Chaitra says, “The best way to get out of any trouble created by guys is by tying a nice rakhi around their wrist. That will solve most of the problems, though most guys don’t agree to this. There is no other go for us. Friendship bands have an impact while Rakhi has a stronger one,” she adds.
But Anil S L feels, “A friendship band is much better rather than a rakhi. I don’t feel the necessity to make everyone my sister, more over the brotherly bonding is not going to happen just because you’ve tied a rakhi.”
A friendship band can also be used as a protective cover but most girls prefer to tie a rakhi as they feel it has an even better impact than a friendship band.
Boys feel that friendship bands can give birth to feelings like love, as opposed to rakhi.
They feel once the rakhi is tied, they are bound to be the brother for ever and they cannot change that relation into anything else. Which is perhaps why guys are ready for any number of friendship bands to be tied on them but not rakhi.”
As Avinash K S says, “I am not for rakhi, I have my own sister and her rakhi is more than enough for me, I don’t want to have a new sister every now and then.”
But above all this, there are girls who believe that a rakhi has the capacity to instill peace and harmony.
Says Soumya, “Rakhi is basically a sacred thread of protection, embellished with love and affection, and it is very strong.”
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