The celebration started by performing traditional aarti by Smriti Shah to her brother Sumit Shah. These siblings hail from Nepal. ''Raksha Bandhan is the perfect time to show love and affection towards siblings and strengthen the bond. In Nepal, we celebrate it on a very grand and traditional manner by performing puja. Brothers give money as a token of love," she added.
For students from Africa and Bhutan, the festival presented a unique experience. Many students enjoyed their first such experience, said Evelyne Mlemba, an African student. She said: "I am happy, this is the first time I am celebrating the Rakhi festival." Evelyne tied a raki to Rigzin Dokli of Bhutan and said this is a good culture and tradition, which develops a strong bonding between brothers and sisters. ''I will convey the significance of rakhi to my brother and celebrate it next year by tying a rakhi to him,'' she said joyfully.
Sending lovely and inspiring rakhi SMSs is also a wonderful and popular way to celebrate. "I have sent rakhi to my cousin through courier and I wished him through SMS," said Prapthi H P, student of St Aloysius College and hailing from Sakleshpur.
Differently abled children from Saanidhya School for the Mentally Challenged in the city too soaked in the spirit of the rakhi festival by tying specially designed and simple yet artistically creative rakhis made of wool to journalists at the Press Club. "We normally make around 1,000 such rakhis every year. This year we could make only 800 odd rakhis as we are busy with the inauguration of our new building," said Smitha, a special educator working there. Volunteers of Hindu Janajagruthi Samiti, Brahmakumaris too visited various business establishments dotting the city and tied rakhis on employees working there.
(With inputs from Jaideep)
Source: http://tinyurl.com/kdsa6ut
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