Colourful Rakhis flood City markets

This story I got during my daily stroll to the new market area in the evenings in Bhopal. I was passing through the hordes of shops which were selling the variety of rakhi's that had hit the market in the month of August 2002. I had a look at some of them and asked them how mush these cost and then went back to the office to get my camera and shoot some pictures so that I could a write a small piece for the newspaper the very same night.

With the festival of Raksha Bandhan – celebrating sibling love- round the corner, the markets in the State capital are flooded with colourful rakhis catering to all tastes and age groups.
There are rakhis available for children, religious –minded, the modern and the trendy, the sober and the matured, not to mention even politically –inclined people, keeping in mind the forth-coming State Assembly elections.
The children can have a whale of time selecting the traditional bond of love as rakhis studded with Santa, Mickey, Donald ducks and the three witches props made of pencil scrapings and bead work are available. There are doll-studded rakhis, too.
The religious segment of the society can have a choice of rakhis studded with plaster idols of Lord Ganesh, Lakshmi and other gods and goddesses. These rakhis have colourful bands to give them a decent look.
To attract the youth, there are heart shaped rakhis, thin colourful threads interwoven into each other. For the elderly, the holy thread is available in simple and plain traditional forms in all colours.

The biggest attraction is the huge collection of ‘political rakhis’, which have been introduced this year keeping the Assembly elections in mind. They have made three designs, which have the photos of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and of Prime Minister AB Vajpayee and one which ha the party symbol of the BJP (Lotus) with party colours as the wristband.
A shopkeeper in the New Market area says the rakhi market has seen a transformation this year. He said unless new looks are introduced, people might not be attracted. The price of the rakhis ranges from Rs 2 to Rs 50 for the trendy ones, while the children rakhis have been priced as RS 20 to Rs 40 while the political ones have fixed price at Rs 20 irrespective of the party.