Rakhi - The Solution to Many Woes

If we were playing Word Association then Rakhi today would get responses like Sawant or Mika or Botox (kyunki jo bhagawan nahin detha woh doctor de saktha hai). But well...I don't want to talk about the much talked about Rakhi Sawant. Today is Rakshabandhan and we all know what that is so I can skip the details. I don't have brothers. There are cousins...many of them...some I even forget exist...but well I think you know why I am not tying the rakhi to any of them! I did go through this stupid phase in high school...when I was a part of a bunch of girls who thought the boys in class were our brothers (yesss they were butt ugly). So yeah I joined the bandwagon...tied the rakhi...got some cheap nothings...and well once out of high school I lost touch with all my 'bhaiyas'. This festival is supposed to be like the 'moment' a brother and sister share every year...emotions r usually running high...promises are made...blessings and gifts are exchanged. All in all the Indian 'Brother-Sister Day'. But, I wonder has the festival to many lost meaning. I was 13 when I went through the rakhi phase in high school...and yes an honest confession I was stupider than most 13-year olds. Tying rakhi didn't really hold any sentiment or value in my head. Thank God, that changed. Sadly, many Indians still do not see what the rakhi stands for. I have seen girls using rakhi to get rid off boys in love with them, to stop rumours about them and their best 'boy' friend and even for reasons as shallow as 'his gifts are good'!! But all that was in school and college. Today I am 25 and I thought it was the end of me witnessing the rakhi being abused. But seems not. Girls...sorry women still seem to take the rakhi lightly. Today two women at work decided that a senior colleague is their 'bhaiya'. So began the whole drama of the rakhi, the snaps, the hugs...and yes the 'fake emotions'. As the whole 'performance' was put up I wondered...what does the rakhi and rakshabandhan really signify today? Is it how you shun overtures of affection or a quick-fix solution so that hanging out with the opposite sex doesn’t make so many tongues wag or a way to choose your 'bhaiyas' so that the returns are always high?