No Rakhi’s for you

Yesterday was Raksha bandhan,

It reminded me of my senior Dr.Jegadeeshan, he must be in some corner of Malaysia every rakhi brings back memories of him. He would be desolate on  the day to quote him”I hate this festival-la, all girls turn up uh to tie rakhi, there are so many that I can’t lift my hand-la they don’t see-yah that it massacres my reputation as Casanova-la.”

Another classmate was thoroughly upset when he heard us saying that he was very brotherly.

The greatest bhaiyyaland   festival, marketed by bollywood after Karwah chauth. This event has well supported by Archie’s, and any other commercial venture piggy riding on the great Indian culture, of  bhaiyyaland.

My granddad told me no self respecting south Indian girl should tie a rakhi, considering that the south is a matriarchal and sometimes matrilineal society. Women are as educated as the men.

Another friend had another way of putting it, all the KMC and MIT crowd out there this was from Anupa Chaco she reckoned that  the festival of Rakhi was there because our culture could not accept the platonic relationship between a man and woman. It had to be either the ever glorified holy brother-sister or the sexual kind.

Declaring XYZ is my Rakhi brother seem to make it all respectable. 

Yet I can’t imagine tying a Rakhi to Manoj, he is my friend, probably with Anupa being far away my best one,  trying to label this bonding into the bracket of bhaiyya-behen would be the ultimate insult of the platonic relationship. Why is it so difficult to accept that  someone is a friend, he or she is such a good friend, the person ceases to exist in physical form.

Why is it necessary to label bonding? Is it a way of re-enforcing boundaries that society binds us with?(after all the respectable society does not know of incest)

 why can’t we just accept a good friend and thank god for the beautiful  gift?