When Rakhi Meant Matching Clothes and Halwa Smell.Remember waking up in Rakhi to the smell of mum’s halwa, wearing outfits that looked like they were chosen in a sibling pact, and fighting over who gets ready first? Those mornings were chaos wrapped in love. Now, with miles between you, the rituals might look different  but the feeling stays the same. Here’s how to keep that magic alive across time zones.

1. A Rakhi Reel Straight from the Family Album

Dust off those childhood photos, the crooked rakhis, the oversized frocks, the awkward haircuts. Turn them into a video set to the soundtrack of your growing-up years. Nothing hits harder than Tera Mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata.

2. The Taste of Home, in a Box

Send them their favorite mithai from the old halwai near your childhood home. One bite of that soan papdi, and they’re back in the living room, teasing you for tying the rakhi too tight.

3. Aarti by Wi-Fi

Light a diya, open Zoom, and do the aarti just like you used to only now, the background is your kitchen instead of the living room. The laddoo is still yours.

4. Scrapbook of ‘Remember Whens’

Make a digital scrapbook filled with drawings from school, faded birthday photos, and those crumpled notes you passed each other under the table. It’s a ticket to 1990s or 2000s nostalgia.

5. A Playlist That Smells Like Sunday Mornings

Curate songs from old TV serials, family road trips, and that one Bollywood movie you watched together until the DVD stopped working. Hit play together during your call.

6. Gift Swap with a Backstory

Forget generic Amazon gifts. Send each other things that tell a story, maybe a comic book you fought over or a T-shirt they once stole and never returned.

7. Online Games, Same Old Rivalries

Play Ludo King or carrom online. Keep fighting over the rules. Some sibling battles are meant to last forever.

8. A Letter That Can Be Held

Text messages are easy to forget. A handwritten letter with doodles, ugly handwriting, and inside jokes will be read and re-read until the ink fades.

9. A Throwback Social Media Post

Post your most embarrassing sibling pictures with a caption only they’d understand. Public shaming, but with love.

10. The ‘Next Rakhi Together’ Pact

Pick a date for your next in-person Rakhi. Promise to recreate an old one, same food, same songs, same silly fights.

Because the Thread Never Really Left

Rakhi was never just about protection or rituals. It was about growing up together, learning life’s lessons side by side, and knowing there’s someone out there who’ll always have your back (and also call you out when needed).

Distance may mean you can’t tie that thread in person, but the invisible one? It’s been there since the first fight over the TV remote. And it’s not going anywhere.