Rakhi, what !

Bhaiyya mere Rakhi me....something something!!! Today as I was meditating on this useless beginning to a script, written by my colleague, on how is the B-Town celebrating rakhi today, I looked at my watch, saw that it was time for me to head back home...and then realized that my wrist didnt have a single rakhi tied to it.

A few days back, one of my team mates proposed that she would tie me a rakhi. And well, I was happy. Its difficult to believe that guys feel happy when they get a rakhi from their 'friends'...given the less number of males you get to see on the street nation wide on this day...yes its a fact, there wouldnt be any guys in the gym to check out hot women on this day, lest...anyways pardon me for the digression but as I was saying...so yesterday I thought the whole day what to gift her. maybe a cadbury bandhan (thanks to its massive publicity campaign). And if other girls in the office follow suit then I have to settle for something which doesnt burn a hole in my pocket. So finally I decided that it would be a chocolate kit for her, which I shall buy after she ties me a rakhi, so that it doesnt melt during the day. I was also rehearsing a catchy line to say when she would tie me the rakhi while on my way to the office this morning in a DTC chartered which did not take tickets from the ladies today (You talk about the govt.being chauvinist!)But alas! My prospective 'behna' didnt turn up. Not that it upset me a lot. But I was hoping for a real one tied to my wrist after my sister from Calcutta send me a virtual one through SMS, the last night.

My girl always says that there are very few people like me who gets happy if a girl expresses her desire to entwine me in a relationship where I am supposed not to lech at her. I will tell you an anecdote. During my school years...This is during my plus two years...when I was the only one form my friend circle to opt for commerce and ended up in a class full of people whom I have not talked to before. The tiffin break used to be my only time when I would capture that 20 minutes to go and meet my friends in the other floor. So there used to be two classes I used to visit to. One, the science dept and the other, humanities. In Humanities, I had my three of my female friends with whom I liked to hang out with (One, particularly, but nothing to contemplate about it) So, during rakhi day, I, unsuspecting, walk into the arts dept only to be welcomed by the trio with hordes of rakhis in their hands tying it to the wrist of each and every boy of the science and commerce stream (which was very lame) And needless to say, I was also made a rakhi brother, whatever that means. I was a little perplexed by the sight of the charging females tying those strings to the wrists of the guys so that they could not pronounce those three golden words to them. Anyways, after piecing myself together, I was very happy and I still remember I got some gifts for them, the next day, which they liked and which might be still gathering dust in some corner of their storeroom still today.

During college, again most of the friends in my friend circle used to be girls. So invariably I used to be tied a rakhi to my wrist by them in the first two years (I dont remember whether anyone did so in the final year) and well...it didnt used to bother me coz someone had already put it into my ears that rakhi was nothing but 'raksha bandhan'. even a mother can tie a rakhi onto a son or daughter's wrist. Boy! this was impressing. So its just a thread to protect you that's all. After all, it doest have any word in it which smacks of sibling ties ala bhai phonta and all. So I wasnt bothered. I have been blessed with amny sisters (maternal, paternal, colony-ial, collegiate, school-ial etc etc) and it feels really good to have so many sisters and being a proverbial brother who is to take care of all his sisters.

So even while returning home in a crowded bus, as I gazed on to each and every male wrist with mangled rakhis adorning them, I didnt feel bad. I looked at my wrist and saw the presence of the love of all my so called sisters, neatly embedded in it. And a few minutes ago, I received two very unexpected rakhi scraps from two of my juniors in college and I was really delighted. So Rakhi or no Raklhi, it feels great to be a brother...!

While returning back in a rickshaw, I was thinking about all these and munching on to some biscuits when I offered one to the rick wallah and he took it smilingly...and THAT made my day!