By IANS,
Chandigarh : Wearing their best clothes, sisters went to meet their brothers Wednesday to tie rakhis on their wrists and in return get beautiful gifts and also a promise of lifelong care to mark the Raksha Bandhan festival.
Raksha Bandhan, celebrated in many parts of India, marks the love and affection between brothers and sisters. On this day, celebrated on the full moon of the Hindu month of Shravana, sisters pray for long life of their brothers.
Sisters tie rakhi, a thread symbolising protection with love and affection, on their brothers’ wrists. Brothers in return give their sisters gifts and an assurance of lifelong care.
The festival also marks family get togethers as sisters travel to their brothers’ homes to celebrate.
“We enthusiastically wait for this festival as this is the day when our whole family gathers at our ancestral house. We exchange gifts and spend the entire day together,” Mayank Sehgal, a bank executive based in Chandigarh, told IANS.
Bus stands were packed, with a number of woman boarding buses to Delhi and various towns in Punjab and Haryana to meet their brothers.
Markets were flooded with a variety of rakhis ranging from colourful silken threads to those made of silver, gold and decorated with diamonds. Most popular were rakhis sporting cartoon characters.
“Colourful rakhis, chocolates and famous cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters are in vogue this time. One thing is amazing that kids are themselves choosing the rakhis that they want their sisters to tie around their wrists,” Nitin Dubey, owner of a rakhi stall here, told IANS.
In Haryana, the state government has allowed all women to travel free on government-run buses Wednesday.