Visakhapatnam: Creative skills on display as Raksha Bandhan gets distanced

Visakhapatnam: As social distancing has become an integral part of our lives, celebrating Raksha Bandhan turns out to be a 'lonely affair' for brothers and sisters who stay away from one another.Unlike the previous years, wherein sisters meet brothers to seek blessings to tie the humble thread and stuff the mouth with sweetmeats, many prefer to opt for home-delivered gifts and rakhis and ensure safe celebrations due to travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

With the Raksha Bandhan festival just a few days away, customised gifts and homemade sweets and savouries infused with healthy stuffing appears to be in demand. Keeping the current requirements in view, entrepreneurs in the city offer a plethora of options to pick up from as they turn artistic. From multi-purpose rakhis to edible humble threads, floral motifs to sustainable rakhis and miniature magnets that has mini idlis, dosas, frankies, a scoop of noodles, burgers, doklas and pav-bhaji which can adorn the refrigerator doors later, designers come up with artistic ideas to suit the festival needs.

Going beyond regular rakhi choices, Chocolate Craft Club has come up with a package that includes a personalised message, a rakhi, millet-based cookies, snacks and sweets along with flavoured nuts and chocolates. "The fillings for edible products can be customised. More importantly, all items are prepared following Covid protocols, maintaining social distance and ensuring contactless packing and delivering practices," elaborates N B Devi, proprietor of the club.

Giving an artistic touch to the celebrations, Varam Art and Craft offers three sets of 'thalis' (plates) for the festival. Each thali comes with a brother and a sister doll set and a rakhi, depicting the essence of Raksha Bandhan. Satiating the sweet tooth, Divinebakes Patisserie provides assorted homemade eggless options. Specialised in customised cakes, here the list of choices includes cakes, cakesicles, granola bars, cupcakes, donuts, chocolates, brownies and cookies. "Rakhi forms a part of the cake's topping that usually comes with auspicious swastika, tika and miniature laddoos, all made of fondant. They are quite popular during the season," explains Sruthi Bansal, who operates the home-based venture.

While the designers tap their artistic skills, e-commerce firms too are flooded with a plenty of options for Raksha Bandhan which include rakhis embedded with semi-precious stones, kundans and seeds apart from the quirky patterns.