With India’s 64th Independence Day, nation is also getting prepared to celebrate Raksha Bandhan which falls on 13th August, 2011. People are making long plans for the extended weekend as Independence Day falls on 15th August and it is a Monday.
Raksha bandhan is the symbol of the love of the sister towards her brother and the brother in turn also vows to protect his sister for the entire life. In north India, it is celebrated as Raksha Bandhan and in South, it is celebrated as Avittam or Upakarma and it is celebrated among the Brahmins. The sister will tie a decorative thread on the hand of her brother and will get money, sweets in return.
A look into the offices of various travel agents shows that they are flooded with queries and most of the hotels in the outskirts of the city are booked to capacity. Online travel agencies are also getting hundreds of queries for the past 15 days. People are planning a short weekend trip on account of this Raksha bandhan weekend. The destinations which seemed to be quite popular include Shimla, Amritsar, Manali and Dharamshala. Airline fares for the raksha bandhan weekend have also gone up by 30-40%.
Delhi Metro has announced that they will run about 200 extra trains on account of Raksha Bandhan. Last year, about 12 lakhs passengers travelled by Metro and this year, the number may go up to 16 lakhs. So, Metro authorities are deploying extra people at various stations to manage the huge flow of people on the day of Raksha Bandhan.
