On August 15, we celebrate Rakhi Bandhan, a festival of siblings that has come down from time immemorial. Before that on August 4, we celebrate Friendship Day, a fad that has captured the imagination of students over the last five years of so.

While most students spoken to said they celebrate both the occasions, they were clearly more excited about the latter.

The craze around Friendship Day seems to be at its peak in middle school but even those who have left it behind look at it with nostalgia.

One brother, 50 friends

With the advent of nuclear families and smaller families, many students are now the only child at home. Cousin brothers live far away or out of town.

“I only have one neighbour on whose hand I tie the rakhi. No other cousins live close by,” says Kakon Ghosh, a teenager of BF Block. “But of course I have many friends to celebrate Friendship Day with.”

Bidisha Mukherjee of CF Block loves buying rakhis but seldom gets a chance to do so as all her cousin brothers stay away. “But friends are always around and so we exchange friendship bands,” says the B.Com student.

Shruti Das has a brother and five cousins who she gladly presents with rakhis. “But I have 56 classmates and it’s more fun to celebrate Friendship Day simply because of the number,” says the Class IX student of CJ Block’s Begum Rokeya Smriti Balika Vidyalaya.

Hands full

Any teenager will tell you that the single most important ritual in celebrating Friendship Day is gifting one another friendship bands. These come in various designs — some are thick, colourful rubber bands to be slipped into the wrist, others are made of strings with motifs of hearts or stars on them. They cost between Rs 5 and 20 and are available across markets and outside schools in the prelude to the big day.

Shruti buys 56 bands for her 56 classmates. “I pester my father and he buys them for me,” she giggles. “And since I buy them in bulk the shopkeeper often gives one or two for free.” Since 56 students gifting bands to 55 friends can be chaotic, Friendship Day “continues for a month in our class”.

Sagnik Singha Roy’s hands get so full of bands that he usually has to remove half and keep them in his bag. “I gift bands to 20 to 30 friends and even if our parents say it’s expensive we cannot help it. How can we gift bands to one and not the others?” asks the Class IX student of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

Children’s Day at La Martiniere For Boys means food on the house, free classes and cricket matches between teachers and students. “But I would still rate it the second best day on our school calendar,” says Shourya Nundy of Class VII. No prizes for guessing the No. 1 day.

“Teachers tell us off if we sport too many rakhis but they don’t mind us wearing friendship bands,” says Shourya. “We also gift one another chocolates.”

Besides exchanging 20 to 30 bands, Doyel Ganguly celebrates in class with chocolates and chips during lunch break. “And after school we use a guardian’s phone to click photos. And no one studies seriously that day,” says the Class IX student of FE Block’s Bidhannagar Municipal School.

Aripra Pandey says no one can make them study on Friendship Day. “When the teachers come we ask them about their friends and school life and that eats up all the time. Everyone is in holiday mood that day,” says the Class XII student of Saltlake Point School.

The craze is more among the students of classes VI, VII and VIII than in the higher classes, says Madhurima Sen, who teaches English at Bidhannagar Government High School in BD Block. “The younger students tie these bands even on our wrists if we have classes with them that day though we still get more rakhis from them.”

“As with rakhis, we keep the bands on till we return to the staff room so as not to hurt their feelings. And no, we do not treat the number of bands or rakhis we get as a mark of popularity,” she laughs.

A major part of the day’s celebration is online. “We click pictures of our hands full of bands and post them on Facebook, put up special WhatsApp statuses… We count the number of bands we get and treasure them. And we poke fun at friends who don’t give us bands,” laughs Sumona Roy of Baisakhi. “Even my younger brother asks me for a band that day!”

Friendship bands flooding block markets Pictures by Debasmita Bhattacharjee

All in the family

Sumona however never misses tying a rakhi on her brother’s hand. “I value tradition and so I observe fast that morning, wear salwar kameez and after the ceremony eat luchi,” she smiles.

Nidhi Jain too has a big get-together with relatives for rakhi every year. “As I’m the youngest sister I get lovely gifts from my brothers. Some gift money. I too buy them the best of rakhis,” says the resident of BK Block.

Rakhi also means more expensive gifts since families are involved and there are fewer siblings than classmates to gift. “Friendship Day gifts I buy from my pocket money but for Rakhi my mother and I buy the gifts together as they are more expensive,” says Nandini Ghosh of AD Block. Incidentally Friendship Day and her birthday are both on August 4 this year but she will be celebrating them separately.

Sisters like Pooja Aggarwal of HB Block make their own rakhis (this year Pooja’s will be made of paper quills) and brothers like Nishat Pandit of HB Block, are saving up to buy gifts for sisters.

Shubho Chatterjee is usually handed a wish list by his sister, “fulfilling which eats up most of my savings,” he laughs. “But then even she gifts me beautiful floral rakhis,” says the 18-year-old from South Point School.

Aripra sends rakhis to her outstation cousins by post. “It’s something my mother has taught me — to write each one a letter and mail the rakhis,” smiles the young lady of DA Block. “Though no one sends gifts by mails, I don’t mind. It’s a nice tradition.”

Doyel gifts 20 to 30 friendship bands a year but she does not — or rather cannot — count the number of rakhis she buys. “It is not humanly possible to count them,” explains the 14-year-old of Baisakhi Abasan. “I buy them in instalments over several days and lose count.”

She gifts rakhis to her cousins, friends, neighbours, father, grandfather. “They all wait for my rakhis and gift me chocolates, books, watches and sunglasses,” she smiles. Who would believe she doesn’t have a brother of her own?

Illustrations: Onkarnath Bhattacharya

Thought that counts

Rishika Saha, a Class XII student of GD Block, says she would love gifting bands when she was younger but has outgrown it now. “My brother too moved out for his college so I can’t tie him rakhis any more. But I now realise that true emotions are above material bands. Trust and faith in friends and siblings matter more,” she says.

Aripra, also in Class XII, feels the days are important as relationships need to be celebrated. “We no longer exchange bands on Friendship Day now but I make it a point to call up and chat with my old friends that day,” she says.

Sagnik stores the bands he gets every year in separate labelled boxes as memories. “Sometimes friends come over and ask to see the collection,” he smiles.

Without Friendship Day, Doyel feels they would be missing something precious as not just friends, but also enemies wait for the day in her class. “It’s a day when all is forgiven and forgotten,” she says. “If we have had a fight with someone, we patiently wait for Friendship Day so we can tie bands on each other’s wrist and bury the hatchet. We make a fresh beginning with a band in hand.”

• With inputs from Shatadipa Bhattacharya