Raksha Bandhan — Just an Excuse

Raksha Bandhan — Just an Excuse

A sister needs only a reason
to cross the threshold of her childhood home.
That is why two days
shine brightest in her heart —
Bhai Dooj and Raksha Bandhan.

Not for her
the claim to her father’s land,
nor the glitter of gold and silver.
She longs only
to step once more
into that sunlit courtyard
where her laughter once rang,
where her mother’s gentle hands still linger,
where her father’s scoldings
were laced with love,
and her brothers’ arms
were always open.

No storm can turn her back,
no searing heat, no monsoon flood;
not winding roads
nor mountains high
can keep her from coming.
Through every bend and stone and climb,
she walks with joy
to tie the silken thread
on the wrists of brothers and their sons.

They say a woman has no home of her own —
yet she returns to hers,
the one that first cradled her,
so she may laugh a little,
weep a little,
and press her palms
to the earth that still remembers her steps.

Raksha Bandhan?
It is only an excuse.
The truth is —
a sister has come home
to touch her roots.

— Deepak Vohra