This perhaps is quite a familiar situation that we can visualize in millions of households across socio-economic sections of India. Perhaps among NRI’s too. Chances are that we may have even gone through these situations in our growing years, whether or not we had a sibling; the neighbours ‘bhaiyya’ or ‘didi’ happily filling in.
The pooja thali arrives. The older sister goes through the rituals of lighting the lamp, moving it clockwise around the innocent face of her brother and showering him with coloured rice. The boy places the envelope on the pooja thali, which the sister eyes expectantly. The ritual ends with the sister tying a rakhi or sacred thread of protection around her brother’s right wrist, signifying the assurance of protection the brother heaps upon his sister in commitment.
Wait a minute. It’s not over yet.
The boy innocently asks his sister “Didi, every morning when we walk to the bus-stop to go to school, it is you who holds my hand while crossing the road.”
“Yes, so?” enquires the sister with a tinge of irritation.
“It is you who takes care to ensure whether i’ve eaten my dabba or not, right?”
“Yes, baba! So what?” the girl looks at her mother with a quiz on her face.
“And it is you, who ensures that i have got everything back from school”. “And continues sheepishly “it is also you who speaks to the supervisor in my defence when i’m pulled up for mischief!”
“Yes, yes...now you better tell me what you’re getting at else I’m going. I don’t have time for such kid stuff”, the sister sounds an ultimatum.
“If all the time it is you who are protecting me, then why should i also not tie a rakhi to you?”
The household is stunned into silence. Each looks at the other with no real answers. The parents’ eyes turn moist. The sister laughs it off as some childish gibberish and chides him “Stupid, it is meant to be so. Now go.”
In walks grandma. “Wait a minute, Akka. Putta has raised a question for all of us to reflect upon.”