Feast and Family go together just like bread with butter or a movie with popcorn; they make each moment so unique that it makes us feel so full of joy! For me, it is today on the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan.

Raksha Bandhan is a festival where a sister ties a thread of promise on the wrist of his brother that he may protect her from every negativity and promise to be always there for her. The birth of this festival has a few stories some historical and mythological, so let’s hear one of them today-

As per the history narrates, in 1759, the Mughal emperor Alamgir the second was betrayed and killed by his own wazir after they called the emperor to come in the Jama Masjid of the Firoz Shah Kotla. Once he reached the destination, he was stabbed and thrown on the banks of the river Yamuna. The next day a Hindu lady who went early morning to the banks of the river found the corpse of Alamgir the second lying there bloodied. She sat there and placed the head of the dead emperor on her lap till help came. Later, Shah Alam the second, Alamgir’s heir, called upon her, declared her his sister and rewarded her generously. After that day, she would come on every Salona festival i.e., Raksha Bandhan bearing sweets and tying a rakhi of pure pearls on his wrist and he would gift her clothes and gold coins. This practice continued till Bahadur Shah Zafar was exiled from the Red Fort after 1857.

The Indian Mythology suggests that the origin of Raksha Bandhan revolves around the ancient times when Indrani (wife of the god of thunder-Indra)tied a thread given to her by Lord Vishnu around her husband’s wrist to protect him from demons during the war between the gods and demons.

Another story from the Mahabharata tells us that once Lord Krishna cut his finger and was bleeding ineptly and seeing this Draupadi tore a part of her saree and tied it around his finger. This symbolized that not only a brother but a sister also needs to take care of her brother from every suffering he goes through.

And now my storytime ! My aunt instructed me yesterday to be ready by 9:45 am so that all the festive rituals can get started timely but I was late by half an hour as always. After taking a bath for 5 minutes I went into the hall where to my surprise a chocolate cake was to be cut by the brothers, so I sat down on the couch with my brothers and took the first slice of the cake which was super chocolaty. Next, I had some Indian sweets, white and milk chocolate wafer balls filled with melted chocolate, and some crispy crunchy jalebi.

It was too much of a sweet tooth so to balance it out I had a cheese sandwich. All of this felt wonderful and the sole reasons behind this are my family and food both cannot be separated. You may find good food outside your house, but eating and enjoying it with your loved ones is something one can find nowhere else with our family.