Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Raksha-Bandhan in 21st Century

My 5 year old daughter performed everything which was told to her for the Rakhsha-Bandhan day. She put "Haldi", "Kumkum" and "Chawal" on her 2 year old brother's forehead and then put sweet on his mouth before tying the Rakhi on his right hand. Then she demanded that he should do the same for her and tie the Rakhi on her hand as well. She don't understand why only brother is supposed to protect/support her. Being elder she thinks the opposite and she understands that she is stronger then him and actually she is the one who is protecting/supporting him many times. What a wonderful idea!!! So her brother did the same and tie the Rakhi on her hand. Rakhi in its old form doesn't make any sense in today's world where brother and sister both can be capable of supporting each other. The main idea is a strong bond between them. Since in old times, it was the sister who needed protection and support more often, it did make sense to tie the Rakhi on brother's hand and in exchange brother promised to protect and support the sister whenever she needed it in her life. Now in 21st century, when woman is more empowered and can do the same for her brother if needed, tying Rakhi in sister's hand makes this wonderful festival of brother and sister bonding more relevant and beautiful. And we did skipped exchanging money part as I think it is not relevant to the spirit of Raksha Bandhan.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What a great idea!! We had Asha tie a raki on Gaurav and she felt the same way, so we had Gaurav tie a rakhi on Asha as well. How interesting that our little girls are thinking like this! It is empowering for them! May the skies be their limits!