This article describes some of the aspects that growing up entails for young men in
Ranchi, Jharkhand, who feel that they are more privileged than girls in many respects.
Nevertheless, they experience extreme stress, confusion, anger or sadness as they
cannot always cope with the expectation of having to restrict themselves to masculine
scripts. At such moments, it is the brother's role that is preferred. The author argues
that this explains the popularity of rakshabandhan among young men of various
religious, class and caste backgrounds. The ethos of rakshabandhan not only em
phasises the commitment of brothers to protect their sisters (real and fictive), but
also requires sisters to serve and love them. Rakshabandhan also legitimates interaction
between the sexes, and at times love between this kind of brothers and sisters, which
is otherwise not sanctioned in a city like Ranchi.
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