Five days later to Diwali, there was another fest that was quite unique to me - Bhai Dooj. How many festival does these Indians celebrate?, I thought.

I came to know so much about Bhai Dooj, just beacuse I was living with Meenakshi, my Indian friend. Meenakshi is fanatic about Indian culture and she know every tit and bit of it. Meenu as I used to call her was posted in US with me, about 3 years back, and since we were working on the same project, we became good friends. But due to some personal problems, she had to come back to India and got settled in New Delhi.

Bhai Dooj is the festival when sisters ceremonize their love by putting an auspicious tilak or a vermilion mark on the forehead of their brothers and perform an aarti of him by showing him the light of the holy flame as a mark of love and protection from evil forces.

Meenu informed me that Bhai Dooj emotes the feelings of a brother, expresses the gratitude for sharing such a wonderful relationship, reflects all the love shared and fills the heart of a sister with unmatched happiness.

On that auspicious day, Meenu called her cousin brother. She was dressed in exquisite red saree that made her look gorgeous. She then put a tilak on his forehead and prayed to God for his health. Her brother then gifted her pack that was filled with goodies.