I was very fortunate to celebrate the popular festival of Rakhi in New Delhi on Tuesday. The celebration bears many similarities, although there are some differences, to that in Guyana. Unlike in Guyana, the Rakhi celebration in India is a semi-official holiday and is celebrated with gusto in parks, restaurants, and at home. It is a huge event. I was invited to dinner.
Unlike in Guyana, schools and businesses are closed and most people take the day off from work from government duties. Everywhere, I travelled people were seen sporting many rakhis on their wrists.
In Guyana, rakhis that adorn the wrists are quite simple but in India, they are quite fanciful and colourful. Some are even made from gold and precious stones.  In NY, Guyanese wear fanciful rakhis like their ancestors in India.
Rakhi symbolizes the bond of love between a brother and a sister and the day provided a special occasion to celebrate this emotional bonding by tying a rakhi, holy thread, around the wrist of one’s brother. This thread which comes with sisterly love is the ‘Rakhi’ meaning ‘a bond of protection’.
Rakhi is observed on the full moon day of the Hindu month of Shravan, which coincides with August 24. On the occasion, the sister ties a sacred Rakhi thread or string on the brother’ right wrist, and pray for his long life.
In my ancestral villages, aarti was performed on me two days early as I had to leave the villages for meetings elsewhere. I was given a traditional tikka and the sacred thread.
It should be noted that the tying of the rakhi transcends the confines of the family as it is celebrated among people who are not related. Even non-Hindus and non-Indians observe the festival.  I saw many Whites with rakhis around their wrist. Many people with whom I have no association or relationship tied rakhi on my wrist as is the custom in Guyana where some Indians tie rakhis on Africans. The message is for the individual who receive the rakhi to accept the female as a brother with all the love and affection and to tighten their relationship.
There is the hope that Rakhi will help to ease out tensions in society and open up channels of communication among different peoples who despise each other. Rakhi provides an opportunity to bring healing to strains in relationship.
When a Rakhi is tied on the wrists of close friends and neighbours, it underscores the need for a harmonious society, where every individual co-exist peacefully as brothers and sisters. All members of the community commit to protect one another other. The symbolism of rakhi is the strong must protect the weak. In this way, people look out for each other and offer protection from bandits and hooligans.  It is hoped that the love and understanding that once existed among different groups of people will survive the hatred that is being perpetrated by some elements of society bent on dividing the races. The
rakhi festival is an appropriate occasion for people to pledge love instead of the prejudice and hate they have for one another.