25 August 1984,
Raksha Bandhan is a two week period in the 5th month of the Hindu calendar. Sisters visit their brothers and tie a yellow thread (rakhi) around their wrists, feed them some sweetmeats and give them a small present. This symbolizes their sisterly love for him and a request for his protection. The brother accepts by eating the sweetmeats and giving her a small gift in return.
I talked with Shweta, a pretty Hindu girl secondary school girl, to-day about Raksha Bandhan. A boy in her class had decided that she was his girlfriend. He demanded that she not speak to any of the other boys. He expected her to bring some food from her home for his lunch. He was pressing her to go with him to a film in town on Saturdays.
Her parents had warned Shweta to study hard and to avoid the boys. She didn’t fancy this guy either but he insisted that she was his girlfriend. What to do? An inspiration hit her.
Yesterday at lunch time she tied a yellow thread around his wrist before he realized what she was doing. Then she stuck a gulab jaamun in his mouth and meekly presented him with a new handkerchief. “Thank you for being my brother,” she said. “I know that you will always help me in my difficulties.”
With other friends looking on, he had to accept what had happened. He realized that he could no more call her his girlfriend!
by Fr. Frank Hoare
