This Raksha Bandhan, How About Gifting Good Health?

When you walk out of your house to find yourself surrounded by traffic and the streets bustling with people, you know it’s that time of the year, when a festival is at your threshold. When we say the word “festival”, the first thing that comes to our mind is celebration. Being a culturally rich country, India provides us several occasions to celebrate. It is almost as if every season in our country is blessed with a different kind of celebration. In winter season, we celebrate Makar Sankranti. When the sun is right above our heads, we immerse ourselves into the vibrant colours of Holi. However, be it any occasion or festival, say Diwali, Holi, Raksha Bandhan or Durja Puja, it is sort of an unwritten rule that the preparations for any festival will begin a week before its arrival, and this can be witnessed by us both within and outside.

Every festival that we celebrate in India has its own special significance which comes from its rich history. However, the idea behind every festival is to fill our hearts with happiness all over again. India has seen a sea of changes when it comes to lifestyle patterns. With changing times and our changing lifestyles, the meaning of festivals and happiness has changed for many of us. For some, it simply means spending more time with their family members, for some it has everything to do with an extra holiday to stay at home and relax, while for others it might mean some extra time to be devoted for self-care.

However, be it a day full of rituals or just someone’s reason to spend more time with family, there’s one thing that has always been a part of it. Any guesses? (The answer is not too hard to guess)
It’s none other than everyone’s favourite tea.

It comes off as no surprise that tea is the most popular beverage in India. It is the elixir of life. A friend, a healer and a companion – Chai is synonymous with so many emotions.

As Raksha Bandhan is almost here, let’s see how our tea fits in here.

We all know that as per our history, Raksha Bandhan is celebrated to cherish the bond shared among siblings, wherein, the brother promises to safeguard his sister for life. Although, in today’s time, this festival usually means the occasion of exchanging gifts. No matter how much we hate it, we cannot escape this unalterable rule of spending our precious pocket money on our siblings at this time of the year. The most troublesome part of it is deciding what to gift to our sibling.

Whether to gift something useful or something that holds sentimental value?

Every year, our refrigerators are flooded with a variety of sweets and chocolates which have now become the most cliché form of gifts.

So, how about giving up on these old traditions this year, and start doing something unique that will stand by them forever. For example, gifting them something healthy? Something that gels well with their personality? For instance, if you have a sister who loves to exercise, and considers her health as her priority, a pack of sweets is definitely not a suitable gift for her.

How about gifting her a pack of green tea? Something to help her body stay in shape. Similarly, to spice up the lives of our not so sweet siblings, we can give them a gift box of something spicy, like Kadak ginger tea. Or how about a tea gift box containing a combination of floral teas like rose, jasmine or chamomile for those who feel a close connection to nature. Just like there are different types of people, there is also a wide range of teas to select from.

In case of distant siblings, you might notice different sides of a person’s personality. For instance, a person who is secretly bold and a bit “spicy,” yet appears calm, can be gifted masala chai. Whereas, for the soft and sweet ones, a pack of chamomile is a perfect fit.

Giving gifts to our loved ones every year on festivals is an age old tradition. However, we can always do something to bring a change and help or loved ones move towards a healthy life style.

One thing that unites us, allows us to set aside our differences and spend some quality time together is none other than tea. A cup of chai makes for interesting conversations and thus, can never be excluded when it comes to family gatherings or festivals.

It is rightly said that “life is like a cup of tea, to be filled to the brim and enjoyed with friends and family” and “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy tea. And that’s kind of the same thing”