Metro to run over 200 extra trips on Rakhi Sibling love crosses seven seas Free travel facility for women by Haryana roadways on Rakhi Pics Rakhi Song

Sibling love crosses seven seas

When the sister's affection for her brother needs to cross seven seas, how does the 'rakhi' reach out to brothers in foreign lands? Ami Pandya checks out the 'express delivery' options...

There are only two options, seriously speaking: either you log on to an online gift portal - or find a logistics company that will deliver. That's the easy part of the answer, the real challenge is: how do you ensure the rakhi reaches your brother- and that too in time? This year, leading logistics companies have come up with options that will ensure your personalised rakhi reaches your brother well in time. Chandrashekar Pitre, Senior Director Marketing, South Asia DHL Express India talks about the 'Go beyond boundaries to celebrate Raksha Bandhan this year' option, with DHL's 'Express Easy Rakhi'.

"Express Easy Rakhi enables customers to go beyond boundaries to celebrate Raksha Bandhan. This will ensure that rakhis sent from India to more than 220 countries across the world will be delivered in time," he says.

The USP of this service is not just that it enables sisters to send their own personalised rakhis, they will also get a free special rakhi envelope and a compliments card from DHL. "Personalised gifts can also go along with the rakhi shipments with the necessary documentation. DHL Express ensures the activity of sending rakhis and gifts is hassle-free - this offer is available at any of the over 170 service points across the country and comes with a free weather proof pack and 24 x 7 toll free customer service support," explained Chandrashekar Pitre. "This service will help sisters celebrate the special bond with their brothers though they might be across worldwide boundaries."

Raksha Bandhan is among the best Indian festivals, it strengthens the love between brothers and sisters, says Manoj Asrani, Brand & Marketing Manager -Soham World. "This fantastic occasion is celebrated on the day of 'Shravan Poornima'. On this day, a sister ties a rakhi on the right wrist of her brother, which signifies an unconditional love and bond of protection. On the other hand, brother promise to protect her from all the troubles and worries that may come across to her during her entire life," he says. "Many online portals contributes to the spirit of togetherness by enabling Indians based globally to send a rakhi to a brother in any part of the globe and rakhi Gifts to Foreign lands on this occasion. This option enables one to send not just rakhis, but also a puja thali as also personalized messages," he adds.

Sarika Grover, Marketing - head of a gifting portal says online gifting options are perfect to shop when your brother or sister is far away. "You can buy gifts for your loved ones and get them delivered at their doorstep. It works fine either ways: brothers and sisters from overseas who send gifts to their family and friends in India and vice versa. The new option which some portals are offering this year is the e-gift card: we've seen it is a 'hit' when someone sends their loved one e-gift cards and invite them to shop for themselves. Some portals offer discounts on these gift cards for special occasions like rakhi," she adds.

The last word on this comes from Jai Kishin Daryani, MD, Cosmo Fine Foods Pvt. Ltd, who takes the topic to a very simple connotation: after all the brouhaha over gifts being sent express delivery through a logistics company and through e-portals, in the ultimate analysis, even a simple rakhi sent in an envelope by air-mail says it all. The rakhi is a symbol of love and faith a sister has in her brother, and the thread or band carries sweet memories of childhood, spent with each other. That's what makes it very special - not the price tag, not the fancy packaging: just the sentiment."

Metro to run over 200 extra trips on Rakhi

NEW DELHI: Delhi Metro will run over 200 extra trips on August 13 on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. A Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson said, "We will also deploy additional personnel to cater to the extra rush of commuters expected on the day."

Trains will be run at peak-hour frequency from 8am to 8.30pm on Saturday. Over 15 trains, which are normally withdrawn from lines during non-peak hours (between 12.30pm and 4.30pm), will be kept in service, performing over 200 extra trips making a total of about 2,700 trips. DMRC will also deploy more customer facilitation agents to help and guide commuters on Saturday. The extra manpower will be deployed at Dilshad Garden, Shahdara , Welcome, Seelampur , Shastri Park, Pitampura, Rohini East, Rohini West, Rithala, Jahangirpuri , Adarsh Nagar, GTB Nagar, Yamuna Bank, Uttam Nagar East, Nawada , Noida City Centre , Botanical Garden, Noida Sec-18 , MG Road, HUDA City Centre , Sarita Vihar, Lajpat Nagr, Badarpur Peeragarhi, Nangloi, Mundka and several other stations.

In 2010, 12.02 lakh passengers travelled on Rakhi by the Metro. The Delhi Metro ridership has already increased to over 16 lakh passengers per day.

Free travel facility for women by Haryana roadways on Rakhi

Chandigarh, Aug 11 (PTI) Women will be provided free travel by state-run bus service in Haryana on the occasion of 'Rakshabandhan' festival on August 13. Children below 15 years of age accompanying the women will also be provided the facility by Haryana Roadways, a spokesman of the Transport Department said. About 6.50 lakh women were likely to avail the facility across the state, he said. However, the facility would not be available to women travelling on air-conditioned buses or outside state.

Mahindra Group launches multi-media movement ''Spark the Rise''

Each month, eight winning 'Sparks' will receive financial grants from Mahindra. Five will be chosen by public vote and three will be chosen by an expert jury. Over the course of six months, Mahindra will award a total of 48 grants. In the grand finale, 18 finalists - the top two winners from each month by public vote plus six entries chosen by an expert jury - will have the chance to win further funding. This ambitious campaign was developed by a global team (more than 10 nationalities were involved in the creation of the work) spearheaded by Mahindra, cultural-movement agency, StrawberryFrog and award-winning filmmakers Harmony Korine and Anthony Dod Mantle.

Bhiwandi Corporator, 11 others get life term for murder

Thane, Aug 11 (PTI) A sitting Corporator and 11 other persons were today awarded life sentence by a local court for the murder of a youth in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi here.They were also sentenced to one-year simple jail term for carrying firearms in violation of prohibitory orders by Thane Additional Sessions Judge I B Shaikh.The convicted Corporator, Salim Qureshi, who won as an independent candidate defeating Congress nominee Hanif Qureshi, is in jail since the civic polls in May 2007.Most of those convicted have a criminal background.The victim, Akil Shabbir Qureshi (20), was the brother -in-law of Hanif.According to the prosecution, Salim and his men, armed with knives and other weapons, attacked Akil on May 28, 2007 when he was on his way to the counting centre. Akil died on way to hospital.The murder was a fallout of political rivalry between Salim and Hanif. Salim, a three-time Corporator, was angered by Hanif's decision to contest against him from the civic ward no 25 of Bhiwandi municipality.

Pics - Rakhi Sawant flaunts her toned body in an item song

Rakhi Sawant

The return of the original item gal! Rakhi Sawant is back and is looking amazingly fit and toned for an item song in the upcoming film Rakthbeej. From a voluptuous babe to a svelte siren, what’s the secret behind her new avatar?

Rakhi recently said that she is into yoga, and Baba Ramdev is her inspiration. She loves his flat tummy and has even lost 8 kgs with the help of yoga, and of course, the credit goes to Baba. And this time, we do believe her because we see a shapely Rakhi carrying off designer dresses with pizzazz in her show Gajab Desh Ki Ajab Kahaniyan. What about the C-strings, Rakhi? Well, with this figure and Kim Kardashian as her idol, we are sure she can pull off that act too.

For the song which will feature in the movie Rakthbeej, Rakhi has donned clothes like Munni and is flaunting her slender midriff, which is without an extra inch of flab. The special song is sung by Munni Badnaam Hui singer Mamta Sharma, and is choreographed by Shabina Khan.

We give you Rakhi Sawant doing what she loves most, dancing to an item song. Don’t miss the stills of her jalwa: