Today is the Indian festival of Rakhi. I didn't celebrate it growing up - I didn't have a sister. My friends would show up on rakhi day at HPS wearing garish rakhis as big as today's fashionable wrist watches. The bigger the better.
Reshma is my adopted little sis - specifically not my rakhi "sister" - which is always worth a chuckle. For at least the last two decades Reshma mails me a rakhi every year around this time and I happily wear it.
For the last few years she's upped her game and sends one for Evan too.
This morning as we sat down to a breakfast of omelettes I tore open the envelope that had been patiently sitting on the kitchen counter for the last four weeks and pulled out two rakhis. I gave one to Vivian and told her to tie it on Evan's wrist. I showed her how. Then I tied my own on. When Vivian had finished, I said
"Evan, do you know the significance of that rakhi?"
"Nope"
"Well - that means that when you are sitting down for a good steak dinner with you friends years from now and your phone rings and Vivian says she needs your help, you drop everything and take off to help her. OK?
"What?" And he struggles with the rakhi for a second and manages to slip it off his wrist and out of his hand.
Vidhvat (Arjun's nephew) who is sitting across the dinning table is slightly taken aback and says "Evan - a rakhi means that you will protect your sister for ever".
Vivian picks it up and says "Can I wear it?"
Reshma is my adopted little sis - specifically not my rakhi "sister" - which is always worth a chuckle. For at least the last two decades Reshma mails me a rakhi every year around this time and I happily wear it.
For the last few years she's upped her game and sends one for Evan too.
This morning as we sat down to a breakfast of omelettes I tore open the envelope that had been patiently sitting on the kitchen counter for the last four weeks and pulled out two rakhis. I gave one to Vivian and told her to tie it on Evan's wrist. I showed her how. Then I tied my own on. When Vivian had finished, I said
"Evan, do you know the significance of that rakhi?"
"Nope"
"Well - that means that when you are sitting down for a good steak dinner with you friends years from now and your phone rings and Vivian says she needs your help, you drop everything and take off to help her. OK?
"What?" And he struggles with the rakhi for a second and manages to slip it off his wrist and out of his hand.
Vidhvat (Arjun's nephew) who is sitting across the dinning table is slightly taken aback and says "Evan - a rakhi means that you will protect your sister for ever".
Vivian picks it up and says "Can I wear it?"
I thought for a moment and said "Sure. You don't need any one to protect you. You will take care of yourself. And when you get a call from Evan when you are sitting down for a nice steak dinner with your friends, remember, unless the situation is really dire, don't bail him out."
Such is the life of a sister in the 21st century.
Thank you Reshma. Happy Raksha Bandan. Here's a fuzzy selfie of my rakhi. Taken a moment ago in a Starbuck's off I-10 in Katy, Texas.
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