Rakhi - Auspicious time / Muhurat on 24 August 2010

The festival of Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated across India on 24th August 2010. But before I get into the auspicious timing details, let me take a trip down the memory lane.

Nah, I'm not going into the significance of Raksha Bandhan, customs and all. That you'd already know / find all over the internet and you'd close this window right away. I'm gonna just scribble my memories.

As long as me and my younger brother Anup were in school, the rakhi plate would have already been set by mom by the time we'd get ready on the day of Raksha Bandhan. When I grew up, of course, I did the needful. There would be 2 plates. One would be the aarti thali and other would traditionally include our favourite sweets, Gits gulab jamun, cream biscuits (bourbon to be specific), Frooti at times, chocolates and wafers.

Now me and my brother have a different kind of understanding. Since the sweets would have been brought the previous day itself, we would convince mom to allow us to have some already, "Kya formality hai, whether we eat tomorrow / today, how does it matter?"

Similarly, Rakhi would never be a surprise. I would buy it well in advance after browsing all the shops possible and pestering the shopkeepers to show me more options and zeroing down on "the perfect one" for my brother. Yes, all these years, I've been proudly biased while selecting rakhis for my brother and other cousins. Anup's rakhi had to be the best (and the most expensive of all). Also, I would try to hide it until the day, but then would always end up showing it to him to ensure if he really likes it or should I get another one.

As long as he was studying, he'd present me with money taken from our parents. He would smartly take it from mom as I would look away just before the rakhi ceremony. Whenever mom gave him the same amount as previous year, he'd cutely ask for more saying, "Yeh kya hai, last year bhi itna hi diya tha!"

How proud and overjoyed I felt when he used his salary for the first time! He gave just too much and I told him there's no need to give so much hard-earned money and how he'd never listen! Those were the days when even I'd started earning and I would buy him a little gift as well.


I'm so glad this festival exists. It undoubtedly is one festival very close to my heart. Isn't it one-of-a-kind celebrating the brother-sister bond? 

By the way, the auspicious timing / Muhurat for raksha bandhan on 24th August 2010 is:
1:48 - 4.24 pm (IST) is the best duration
9.23 am onwards is also good

HAPPY RAKSHA BANDHAN!