KARACHI: Hindu families in Pakistan celebrated the sweet bond between brothers and sisters on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan or the Rakhi Festival on Wednesday.

Stalls set up near Hindu temples or mandirs all over the city had the prettiest of rakhis or bracelets with colourful threads and stones or beads in the middle of that thread for women and girls to choose from and purchase for their brothers.

Traditionally, the sacred thread is tied around a brother’s right wrist by his sister or sisters after pooja when the full moon appears in the sky during the Hindu month of Shravana. They can also tie the rakhi the following morning.

The ritual is carried out annually to honour brothers for protecting and being there for their sisters. The thread is also said to strengthen the love between the siblings.

The big ground behind the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Karachi had many stalls selling rakhi. Those made in India were said to be the most expensive and durable, while the one’s made here in Pakistan, mostly in Mirpurkhas, were rather delicate. Understandably, the Indian rakhis were priced at Rs100 to Rs300 while the local, Pakistani ones cost less than Rs50. The least expensive of the local variety cost Rs5. “One is for five rupees and a dozen are for 50 rupees if you buy in bulk,” one stall owner told Dawn.

And there was a lot of bulk buying going around as ladies were also coming out to shop for rakhis for so many men and boys in the household. Four paternal aunts Gayatri, Diwali, Bhavna and Rajna were there with nieces Neha and Nisha to select the bracelets for their brother, the girls’ father, while the two girls were there selecting for their four brothers Pardeep, Suresh, Sumeet and Nidev.

Vijay Kumar, a young father, was looking for pretty rakhis for his daughter Smirta to tie around her brothers, Dheeraj and Chirag’s wrists.

Three-year-old Komal was also getting some help from her father and paternal aunt Poonam to buy a rakhi for her six-year-old brother Sundar while the aunt herself looked for one to tie around her brother and the children’s father Mohan Kumar’s wrist.

At another stall, one ran into 13-year-old Himani busy tying the thread around younger brother, 11-year-old Satyansh’s wrist. For her there was a special rakhi packet, with the bracelet, a tiny box of kumkum for marking a tilak mark on the forehead and also an eclair for sweetening the mouth. Normally, a sister also prepares a pooja thali with some rice, kumkum, a burning clay lamp, some sweetmeat along with the rakhi for arti and prayers before Lord Ganesha before marking their brothers’ foreheads with the tilak followed by the tying of the thread and offering the sweetmeat. The packet with the kumkum and eclair was a new shortcut to that ritual.

Those females, who did not have brothers, said that they were buying rakhis for cousins. Meanwhile, the festival was bittersweet for Sarika, who said that she used to buy two rakhis every year until eight years ago, when one of her brothers passed away. “He was only 20 then,” she said sadly.

Some Muslim women were also found to be buying rakhis at the stalls. They said that they enjoyed brotherly relations with several Hindu men here and tied them rakhis every year on Raksha Bandhan because they were always there for them just like protective brothers.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2023