Expressing sibling love online

In today's world with a fast growth in internet, a range of things from e-commerce, e-shopping, e-tickets, e-transactions to e-relationships have gone online.

Festive occasions too have joined the bandwagon. Raksha Bandhan, which strengthens the relationship between a brother and sister is now getting stronger through the medium of internet. Sisters who cannot personally tie a rakhi on their brothers wrist can now send e-rakhi to their brothers who work in UK, US and other faraway places. This has also become easier for sisters settled in foreign countries.

The craze of sending e-rakhis as gone up. The days are gone when sisters had to wait for their brothers to come so that they can tie the rakhi and they used to feel sad when they could not send anything to their brothers. Now sisters do not need to scan the markets and waste days and days to get the best rakhi for their brothers. They can select from hundreds of rakhi at the click of the mouse.

Poonam Dash, a student says "It's much more convenient. It reaches in minutes. It's a safer mode of communicating your affection to your brothers who stay far away because u know that your cards or anything that you are wishing to send has reached them immediately and you also get a confirmation about it. Also with the coming up of new e-card sites, there is an amazing variety. You can give them a personalized touch." She asks, "So in this updated world of technology why not use e- rakhis and e cards instead?"

Rakhi e-cards have become one of the most popular ways of conveying love and affection. In the present world where people are trying to save money, sending via this medium has helped them save both money and time. They can also send emails and can choose any gift of thier choice. This medium has no boundaries and therefore it reaches various destinations in a convenient manner. As there is vast competition among the online shopping sites, they offer special packages at low costs to attract customers.

The new trend of E-rakhi has brought about heavy losses for the shopkeepers. People are not coming to shops to buy rakhis as they prefer to shop online or sent E-rakhis. Asutosh Pattnaik, a shopkeeper says “It has affected my business and there is now huge loss in the sales of rakhi. The market is not providing the various designs of rakhi that one gets on the net. But the concept of sending E-Rakhi should be stopped as it won’t substitute the emotion and the tradition of tying a rakhi on the wrist of a brother”.

Even though the present youth prefers to use e-rakhis the usual tradition of Raksha Bandhan has its own attraction. "Our culture is so strong that it is not possible for any Wi-Fi or savvy device to overshadow the usual tradition of Raksha Bandhan. The tradition of sisters tying a rakhi on their brother's wrist still continues, and it signifies the beauty of the relationship between a brother and sister. But Rakhi is not only the thing that signifies the relationship between a brother and a sister. It's an emotion, and this relationship moves ahead with the love of a brother," says Alkananda Panigrahi, S Fm RJ/Producer.