The Changing Face of Rakhi over the Years

The Micro and Nano family concept is stealing a lot of things from us and a major one of them includes the bliss and joy of knowing the art of sharing and caring. When I see kids demanding iPods’ and iPhones from parents and threatening suicide, if denied the object, I can’t help wondering about, where are we headed to in the future?

As kids,I and my brother had a very nice love-hate relationship. No one understood the chemistry except the two of us. Rakhi usually in our times was a traditional affair. Since my daddy worked for the Army, both of us lived in a very restricted zone and could be with our extended family. Back then, we did not have Skype or Whatsapp, so we only had to rely on phone call and our imagination to understand, what the scene was actually like back at home.

My mom made sure, that we did send Rakhi gifts (https://www.giftalove.com/rakhi) to our relatives, irrespective of where they lived.  We did not send across very expensive gifts. Perhaps it was a simple rakhi along with a box of sweets or an idol of Ganesh. A thank you note would eventually arrive after a week or so confirming the receipt of the gifts. I wonder if people back then had a lot of time or did they actually have a lot of consideration for the emotions of other people.

I usually had the liberty to choose the rakhi I wished to tie on my brother’s wrist. Unfortunately he was denied the privilege of choosing rakhi gift for me. Once he was allowed to make a choice and he chose a diamond necklace from a jewellery store for me. Needless to say, the wish was denied and with teary eyes, he promised that he would actually buy me that necklace when he would grow up.

Previously in our times sisters alone enjoyed the privilege of receiving gifts. Though the practice looked very unfair, yet I don’t remember ever complaining about it. Since I started earning I have been sending rakhi gifts for my brother. He is currently studying in Hyderabad and I remember my first gift that I had sent along with the rakhi to Hyderabad was a T-shirt and a watch. I had custom ordered the T-shirt with the inscription “Time is ticking”. I wanted the quote to remind him that if he does not work hard, then time won’t wait for him.

In our school, rakhi was celebrated on a small scale. Girls generally tied rakhi on the wrists of the boys, they hated and wanted to avoid at any cost. We were often rewarded with a bar of Cadbury for our endeavor. Unfortunately, our rakhi brothers took their duties a little too seriously at times and started bullying us regarding what we wore and whom we spoke to. Being too much of an independent spirit, I didn’t repeat the process and preferred to stick to the only biological brother I had.

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