Clergy and religious celebrated a festival on August 13 with their Hindu brethren that celebrates the brother-sister bond The festival is marked by the sister tying a sacred thread on the brother’s wrist. The brother in turn showers her with money and gifts and pledges to protect her all her life. Though the festival is more popular in the northern regions, some Hindu religious women called Brahma Kumaris renewed brotherhood with the clergy in the southern state of Karnataka, where violence against Christians is rife. Brahma Kumaris of Iswariya Vishwa Vidyalaya tied the sacred thread on the wrist of Bishop Aloysius Paul D’Souza of Mangalore, the port city of Karnataka. “This is a very fine gesture of brotherhood and sisterhood in the present context of communal confusion,” said the prelate.