In my eyes, Raksha Bandhan is like sisters and brothers festival. It falls on 24 August. Yesterday I met my daughter's friend, Sania's grandpa,another Mr. Singh, a very kind and learned gentleman. He said,traditionally it is a Hindu festival. Only sisters tie Rakhis to their brothers and wish them healthy and good luck. During the Muslim rule in India, women also tied Rakhis to the Muslim kings. I think at those good days,different religions were harmonious.
At first, I mentioned Raq Sha Bang Dan to Mr. Singh, he had no idea what I was talking about. Seeing I circling my wrist wih another hand, Mr. Singh immediately pronouced"Raq Cha Bang Ten", which relieved me a lot. Yes,it's a Hindi term. The"ten" sound is like the eruption of a vocano and I think the Hindi speaking Indians must have healthier lungs. This also made me thinking of another encounter. The other day I met an American women who came to India to work as a financial consultant 5 weeks ago. After chatting for a while she suddendly asked me with curiosity "can you understand their (Indian) English". Hearing this I was surprised because she is from an English speaking country. I had to encourage her to learn the abc of Hindi in order to better understand Indian English. I also told her if she goes to West Bengal or Kerala, she can understand their English better because those people speak Bengali and Malayalam. Their English is not shadowed by Hindi.
