According to www.raksha-bandhan.com/ - “Raksha Bandhan’ or the ‘Rakhi’ festival is a sacred thread embellished with sister's love and affection for her brother. On the day of ‘Raksha Bandhan’ sisters tie a ‘Rakhi’ on their brother's wrist and express their love for him. By accepting a ‘Rakhi’ from a sister a brother gladly takes on the responsibility of protecting her sister. In Indian tradition the frail thread of Rakhi is considered stronger than iron chains as it binds brothers and sisters in an inseparable bond of love and trust. Rakhi holds immense significance in Indian cultural ethos. The custom of celebrating Rakhi started in Vedic times and even today brothers and sisters consider it must to celebrate the occasion in traditional manner. When brothers are away sisters send Rakhi to them and express their love. Accepting the Rakhi with grace brothers send Return gifts to their sister. This loving gesture goes a long way in strengthening brother sister relationship and building stronger family ties. The importance of Raksha Bandhan is same as Diwali festival in India.”
Those are the facts about ‘Rakhi’ but if you speak to regular people, each one will have a special anecdote, a special feeling and a special brother to talk about. India is a largely family oriented country and brothers are valued as much for their participation in family as they are for the sex they belong to. An Indian family is not considered complete without a son who is a brother for the daughter and an heir for the family name. Sadly this results in many socially and ethically untoward practices but this is not a forum to discuss those issues. This is a forum to talk about a lovely festival called ‘Rakhi’. For me it is especially exciting because I have a wonderful brother and 16 male first cousins. Rakhi as a day has been the same all my life, each and every ritual is carefully planned and executed, even now, when my aunts are way into their 70’s.
The festival celebrations are held in one of the home of the four sons my paternal grandfather had. We all gather there at noon and some of us meet only on these occasions. We would love to meet more often but life’s constraints don’t always make it easy. My father’s sisters abstain from eating till they have tied a ‘Rakhi’ on their brother’s wrists. The kids (us) on the other hand aren’t all that conscious, there are way too many sweets and snacks going around to keep this kind of familial discipline. Our 86 year old family cook (fondly called ‘Maharaj’) is still engaged to cook for this day. The fare is vegetarian but the variety is exceptional. Maharaj claims a cup of ‘ghee’ (clarified butter) gives him the strength to cook for over 40 people. In fact we have a dessert served every year called ‘Moong Dal Halva’. It's made of soaked and ground ‘Mung’ lentils, roasted in clarified butter and finally finished with sugar syrup. This needs to be constantly stirred for almost an hour and Maharaj can sit on his haunches and do this with 2-3 kilos of ground lentils. Thats one reason I spend a lot of time in the kitchen during such occasions; it’s the best place to learn nuances not available in cook books.
The ceremony lasts a while because we are so many of us. Beautiful, colorful threads are tied on our brother’s arms, the younger ones look adorable with their wrists full of garish sequin and paisley designs. The ‘Rakhi’ is tied, a vermillion ‘tika’ is applied to the forward with a touch of rice grains for auspicious reasons and a wide array of sweets are offered, all in return for a promise of TLC from our brothers and of course, a gift. When we were kids the gifts would range from books to shoes and gorgeous Indian salwar kameez’s picked by my aunts. Now that we are older, it’s even better, it’s cash! Fortunately for me, my brothers are successful, generous souls and the novelty in gift money is always there. Over the years I have stopped planning for this loot; it’s for me to waste. So this year I am off to malls right after lunch, I need to splurge and I believe Guess and Body Shop are on sale. Yippee!!
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