Sujit De
Bhai Phota will be celebrated in West Bengal on Sunday, November 3. It will also be celebrated in other states by different names such as Bhai Dooj, Bhau Beej, Bhai Bij, Bhai Tika, and Bhatri Dwitiya. Legend has it that the god of death, Yama, visited his sister, Yamuna, on the second lunar day of sukla paksha. After Yamuna welcomed him with a tilak, Yama declared that any brother who received a tilak on this day would be blessed with a long life.
These are all about a legend and an occasion in which a sister wishes her brother a long life. But I know one thing. I would have died young if I did not have a sister who risked her own life to save her brother's.
Apart from one elder brother, I have one sister whom I call didi. It is because of her loving heart that I am still alive today. I vividly remember that day when she did a spider man like act to save me by throwing her deliberately into a deadly danger.
I was a small child then. Didi was also a small girl. She is only six years older than me. One day, I went out with her outside of our house. She was engaged in conversation with another small girl of her age, and I stood nearby.
Suddenly, a furious looking big bull started running after me. There were men nearby who raised an alarm, but they did not dare to come in front of the bull to save me. Didi came rushing and just snatched me out by the skin of her teeth. She could not pick me up properly but somehow managed to drag me out to safety.
While my sister saved my life in my childhood, another sister helped me to recover from the Delta variant of Covid-19. She used to make a phone call every day during the period of my illness and assured me of her daily prayers for my recovery.
Interestingly, we never met, and I could never meet her in my life, as she is no more. But her spirit will stay with her students and friends. Her whole life was dedicated to teaching. She helped many poor children to get education.
She was a Goan Christian, and I am a Bengali Hindu. We do not have any kind of so called blood relation. Therefore, our sister-brother relation crossed the hurdles of region, religion, and blood relation. But it was based on the solid foundation of DNA.
It reiterated the scientific discovery that says all living human beings are sisters and brothers as they have originated from one woman. Research has shown that fragments of the mitochondrial genome carried by all humans alive today can be traced to a single woman ancestor living an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 years ago. This woman, known as “Mitochondrial Eve”, lived in Africa.
My Goan sister and I, irrespective of our differences in religion, caste, state, and gender carry the same genome of that mother. This is a scientific truth, not man-made divisions. We must not let religious and caste hatred cast a spell on the truth of the universal brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity.
The discovery of the truth of our DNA bonds enhances the significance of Bhai Phota. It has made it a candidate for an international celebration between brothers and sisters of different communities and countries. We should now say on this day - brothers and sisters of the world, unite! Bhai Phota is a day for me to express my gratitude to my Rita didi and Thecla sister.