Bond of Protection

D and I grew up celebrating many festivals in India and we want our little American to have some of those cultural experiences too. Whenever I doll her up in her Indian attire, which is usually quite special filled with jari(golden threads) or little bells, she knows something fun is going to happen. Yesterday was 'raksha bandhan' literally, bond of protection. It is a festival to celebrate the bond between brother and sister. Historically the sister ties the brother a 'rakhi' a simple thread promising her love in return for the brother's love and protection. Over the years, the threads have turned into fancy, sometimes garish bling things and the protection has become money or gifts. You tie a rakhi, put some red teeka on the forehead and then feed the brother some sweets. I have a very nice cousin, who lives in Austin, whom I tied a rakhi. Anika tied his two son's, her brothers rakhis. She was VERY excited and kept saying 'bhaiya come gen' (brother) when they left. This is how much she's gown since raksha bandhan last year.







We sent her favorite brother, Raunaq a rakhi by post and spoke to him on the phone. They love each other a lot, he is the only one she still misses from her India trip. there have been at least three occasions when Raunaq has cried on the phone when Anika has said, " Atta miss bhaiya." Raunaq is 10 years old.