today happens to be upakarma the day when you are supposed to change your sacred thread, the three strands that declare you to be a brahmachari. Some elaborate functions are held in some temples, priests’ houses, etc. where people go en masse and change their janavaaras. And then wear two sets of threads for a day and remove the old dirty one the next day after 1008 iterations of the gayatri mantra…
i’ve never been too religious so my routine over the past 4 years (before that i didn’t have a thread) has been to take bath early, wear the new thread, take bath early the next day again and then remove the old one. like i change my clothes!
however this year the issue has been simplified since i’d chucked my old thread into the thames four months ago… simply woke up (obscenely) early, took bath and wore a new thread… as simple as that!
if i’m not wrong today also happens to be rakshabandhan, the day when many a budding relationship is nipped. a piece of thread and some colored cotton that says “i’m your sister so i can’t be your girlfriend” or some such thing… i remember in school when we used to try not to go near certain girls on this day, afraid that they may do “something untoward”.
thankfully (??!??) i’ve managed to maintain a clean wrist (save my cousin who invariably ties it a few days too late š ) for the last seven years in successsion!