Students of Patna Women’s College make rakhis during the competition on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Aug. 10: Raksha Bandhan celebrates the bond of love between brothers and sisters but the tradition of receiving gifts from their brothers in lieu of rakhis has turned more significant for girls in the state capital.

Gifts make the occasion more special for the girls, rather than celebrating the occasion only by tying rakhis on the wrists of their brothers.

“Forget rakhis, if you are not carrying a gift. This is what I usually tell my two brothers. After all, this is the only occasion they gift me something. Else, the whole year, not a single moment comes when they think of gifting me something. I could say that amounts to deviating from their responsibility of being a brother. So I always tell them in advance to remember gifting me something special on the occasion,” said 20-year-old Amisha Gupta, with a big smile.

An excited Amisha added: “As I have grown up, I don’t mind earning few bucks from my brother as my Rakhi gift. With money I can buy anything I desire, which my brother would have little idea about. I can go on to a restaurant and throw a party for my friends or buy jewellery. But chocolates are must on the occasion.”

“Every year, I wait for this festival to come so that I can get a my desirable gift from my brother. Even though my brother is not a service holder now, he fulfils my demand by taking money from our parents in advance,” said 19-year-old Abhilasha.

“I love my sister Monalisa so much that I cannot afford to upset her just because of a gift. She is my only sister after all,” said Vikrant Kumar, an MCA student of Manipal University. Vikrant added: “My sister is fond of Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor. So last year, I downloaded few pictures of Jab We Met and framed them together to gift her on Raksha Bandhan. Even today, she tells me that it was the most beautiful gift she ever received. This time too, I am thinking of gifting her something connected to her favourite actors.”

Gifts shops are also well stocked up with beautiful gifts and brothers are turning up to these shops. Archies Gallery has come up with attractive gifts, while Cadbury’s Celebration Pack of Bandhan is the most popular among gift items for Rakhi. “I have sold Cadbury’s Celebration Pack of Bandhan worth Rs 20,000 in the last five days. It costs between Rs 300 and Rs 600 and is available in an array of flavours. Jewellery items are selling like hot cakes too,” said Prashant Kumar, owner of Archies Gallery on Boring Canal Road. He added: “Brothers wander around in confusion over what to chose. But we help them select gifts. These days, very few people want to gift cards to their sisters on Raksha Bandhan,” he added.