“Raksha” “Bandhan”

This article is a Rakhi gift to one such brother who is fighting against Legal Terrorism and who inspires us to reverse the custom of Rakhi ….

Its festival time and everyone is delighted buying sweets and new clothes. Sisters are awaiting a surprize a gift which is more a token of love from their brothers… I am also an Indian girl sitting alone in a corner of my room and browsing over my photo album. I come across the picture taken by my Father on my first Rakhabandhan. I was not even an year old while my brother was just a few years elder. I see myself as a small kid knowing no language but expressing her love towards my brother through my little eyes. My little palms are holding his wrist and tying rakhi to it. I wonder!! at that time I did not know the world, its joys, its sorrows but I knew one relationship …. that of mine with my brother … and that reflected in even the first Rakhi I ever tied to him … He stood there watching me with his ever polite and miraculous smile, this is the smile worth a world for me … I was told that even after tying Rakhi I was not ready to leave his hand. I held his wrist tightly while everyone laughed .. No one realized what I meant … and I just wanted him !!!!

Today, he is not physically present near me, he no more has that smile which meant a world for me … I am not buying sweets or awaiting the festival of Rakshabandhan ….

Two years ago when I last celebrated Rakhi with him, I tied Rakhi on his wrist, now an adult sister fully conscious and responsible, I pledged to be with him always as a support …. There it was …. the same miraculous smile on his face … I felt as if I had everything in this world and needed no more. Just few months later, this happiness vanished from my life. My brother got married and fell prey to the extortion game. We are accused of a crime we have never committed and have been facing humiliation and torture since then. There has not been a single day we have spent peacefully. We have lost health, prosperity and mental peace to a woman who spoiled our lives for no fault of ours. I haven’t seen that smile on my brother’s face since then. Last Rakshabandhan, I just kept his Rakhi in front of My God and prayed to him – “O GOd, I don’t want money, or new clothes or Diamond necklace … just give that wonderful smile back on my brother’s face. Just give him his life back and just wash away those tortures from it… and I will never ask for anything else ever in my life ….. ” God did not grant me what I asked for, but instead gave me something even more precious. He gave me strength and took away my fears. He made me realize that there is a divine power within each of us. But that is effective only when we realize its presence. Now I have the courage to live my difficult life with full stength and fight for justice. This strength has changed my world. Now I don’t feel weak, as I know I cannot afford to be weak; Now, I don’t think about past, no one has ever been able to change it. But I work for the future as ultimately only that is still left and can be still changed ….
Rakhi is not just a Pledge from the brother to protect his sister, it signifies the love of a sister for her brother. It is the sister who pledges to hold her brother’s hand and support him to protect him from all troubles ever coming his way …..

On this Rakhi I pledge, that I will not give up and I will stand with my brother, for his rights, his wishes and his Miraculous smile . I pray to God not just for my brother, but for those hundreds of brothers who have lost their smiles. I request all sisters to remember those moments you have been together, sharing the same blood, the same parents and the same happiness …. I plead to them to stand up for their brothers and not wait for anybody else to come and help us. Help yourself and your brother and let the world feel the strength of Womanhood. There are hundreds of women in India who are defaming Indian woman by ruining innocent families. Let’s prove that against every such woman there are many cultured, modest, honest and courageous women supporting their families and fighting against injustice and Legal Terrorism and making the world realize the worth of Womanhood. In the end what we will achieve is uncertain, but we will definitely achieve the satisfaction that we tried. Let’s give this little gift to our brothers who are fighting against Legal Terrorism.

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