Nashik: From fighting to loving, siblings have the most complex relationship in any family. Elder ones won’t share a bar of chocolate with the younger ones but will stand tall as a pillar to protect them from the storm. Brothers will tease their sisters till they start crying but will break the face of anyone who tries to harm their sister.
They will expose each other in front of parents but stand together to fight society. Be it gossip, failure, life problems, or any topic to discuss, siblings have had each other’s shoulders since childhood. Our brothers/sisters are the first friends we ever make in life. The festival of Raksha Bandhan is to celebrate the joy, love siblings share.
While some sisters visit their brothers every year to celebrate the festival, others send rakhis via post or courier along with their good wishes. Many women even send rakhis to our army soldiers and thank them for protecting them and the whole country.
History
Raksha Bandhan is celebrated every year on full moon day (Purnima) in the Hindu Calendar month of Shravan. The story of this festival dates back to the Hindu epic Mahabharata. Lord Krishna once accidentally cut his finger by his Sudarshan chakra, and it started bleeding. To prevent the overflowing of blood, Draupadi tore a piece of cloth from her saree and tied it around his finger. Lord Krishna was moved by her gesture and promised to protect her from all the evils. The piece wrapped around his finger came to be known as a sacred thread.
When the Kauravas tried to belittle Draupadi and disrobe her, after pulling her by her hair and dragging her to the court, Lord Krishna saved her from getting embarrassed by increasing her saree’s length to an immeasurable length.
The Draupadi’s act of tying a piece of cloth on Lord Krishna’s wounder finger became synonyms with Raksha Bandhan. Since then, the significance of Raksha Bandhan grew, and people started celebrating this festival.
“I used to celebrate this festival every year with my brother. However, due to the pandemic, he didn’t get permission to visit home. He got selected in NDA and is currently being trained for the post of officer in Pune. They have strict rules, and for the past year, we are celebrating this festival on a video call. Even this year, I will celebrate Rakhi through video calls. He never forgets to send me gifts on my birthdays. Now, he’s sending me gifts on Rakhi as well. I miss our getting ready together on festivals and fighting for sweets and dosa.”
– Tarini Tamarakar
“I miss my brother every day, and today, I will miss him more because’s it’s a sibling’s festival and my brother is no more. We lost him to Covid-19’s second wave. He was a fighter and tried really hard to survive. However, no one can change the destiny. Every year, we used to go out on Raksha Bandhan for shopping. I would pick all the dresses I liked, and he used to pay the bills. Neither did he complain nor did he question. I hope he’s in a better place now.”
– Nikita Sehnani
