Akola and Raksha Bandhan

I spend the past week visiting my Dad’s side of the family in Akola, a small town that is about a 12 hour train journey east of Mumbai. I traveled with Maya kaki, Sujataben, and her daughter Janvi. Sujataben is also triplet with her sister Sunita and her brother Samir, two girls and one boy just like me, Sapana, and Saket. Sudaben, their older sister, often commented that I was like Sujataben, Sapana like Sunitaben, and Saket like Samirbhai. Sunitaben could not able come from Indore, but watching Sujataben, Sudaben, and Samirbhai together reminded me a lot of how me and my siblings act while we’re together.

While they were in Akola, Sujatabhen, Sudabhen, and I went out shopping at several shops in Akola, looking at saris, toys, pants and shirts. They also helped me get a few kurtis, which are in fashion right now in India, especially with college students. What is uniquely nice about small towns is that Samirbhai and Kamleshbhai are good friends with a lot of shop owners. At one shop we went to for my kurtis, the owner let us take a couple home to try out at our leisure, and if I liked them Samirbhai would settle the bill with him later. Very cool.

I was also able to celebrate Raksha Bandhan in Akola for the first time, which is a ceremony where the sisters honor their brothers and tie rachis, string bracelets, to their wrists. In return the brothers promise to protects their sisters and give them some money. Every year I’ve celebrated with the family in the US and tied a rakhi to Saket, but it’s necessarily a small ceremony since most of our family is still in India. So this time it was quite a treat for me because I got to tie rakhis to many of my cousin brothers for the first time, as well as celebrate with the rest of the family in Akola and Kamgam. There were at least 30-40 people all crowded in the house, and all the brothers lined up on the couch to receive rakhis from their sisters and cousin-sisters. For me, it was often fun just to watch the crowd of people talking and laughing, jokes and stories flying about in a mix of Gujurati and Hindi, and sometimes with a dash of English for my sake.

We ended up celebrating Raksha Bandhan twice, once at Suresh kaka’s house on the 26^th mostly for Heenabhen and her son Jeet since they had to return to Mumbai that evening. Then the family came together again on the 28^th at Maya kaki’s house to complete the celebration. Both times lunch was catered from outside with Marathi food that I found quite spicy. We also took this family gathering as an opportunity to celebrate Harshel’s, Kamleshbhai and Sonalbabi’s son, birthday day which was on the 24^th. It was especially fun to see Harshel smear cake in Sujataben’s face with Samirbhai’s encouragement.

On the 29^th, Kamleshbhai, Sonalbabi, her brother Sunilbhai, Harshel, Shantanu (Samirbhai and Vishakababi’s son) and I all drove to Shegau (sp?), a town about one hour from Akola that has a temple dedicated to a revered saint. A few years ago, a trust in the saint’s name built a beautiful park, probably one of the largest and cleanest one’s in India. I wish I had pictures, but in the rush to leave I forgot my camera. The landscaping there is wonderful, flower-lined footpaths that circle a lake, at the center of which is a meditation garden and a raised temple that offers an amazing view of the whole park. During one picturesque moment while Kamleshbhai and I were in the meditation garden, there was a sunset in the west and a rainbow to the east. It was definitely one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to in India.