By Papri Das

For years Raksha Bandhan has been a symbol of how India upholds the bond between brothers and sisters. This ancient tradition allows sisters to tie decorated threads around their brothers wrists in return for a promise to protect them. It was later relaunched by scholar and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore with a renewed gusto to propagate brotherhood amongst men and women from different religions, and then later the festival got a whole new makeover as we got more and more consumeristic.

But in essence, Raksha Bandhan remains the same as anticipatory fervours of the festival are felt weeks in advance as shops pop up decking the Indian streets with colourful Rakhis and sweet shops rev up their preparation for the day. It is the perfect time for immediate and extended families to get together and have fun with cousins.

But luck doesn?t favour all in this regard, especially our busy media executives who are so caught up in their schedules that their chance of a full fledged Raksha Bandhan holiday looks bleak. Take the popular brother sister pair Sajid Khan and Farah Khan from the film industry for example. Farah Khan, who has been religiously tying a Rakhi to her brother as well as Sajid Nadiadwala for years, had to leave the country to shoot a song sequence for Dilwale in Iceland for her upcoming movie this year. And so she celebrated the festival a week in advance before leaving for the shoot. ?It?s unfortunate that Farah won?t be with me this Rakhi but she has already tied Rakhi on my hand a few days back before going for the shoot,? Sajid Khan tells Exec Lifestyle.

When asked about how he typically celebrates the day, Khan shares, ?Apart from my immediate sisters, I have many Rakhi sisters. While it's true I might not be able to meet them regularly, I do keep in touch with them on a daily basis. I make sure I catch up with them on Rakhi and go out for lunch or something. ?When it comes to Rakhi gifts, Sajid prefers to keep it simple and go with the classics. This year Sajid has gifted Farah a couple of perfumes from her favourite brands.

Buying a gift remains a complicated process for adman and co-founder of Sideways, Abhijit Avasthi, who has twenty two sisters from either sides of his family, including his Ashima Avasthi - senior creative director at BBC Worldwide. But that doesn?t stop Abhijit from going out of his way to handpick gifts for each of them in accordance with their taste, style and preference.

?Raksha Bandhan has always been a special festival for me, since I am the oldest amongst all my sisters. The day usually plays out like a family feature film with all brothers and sisters gathering under one roof and enjoying to our hearts content!? shared Abhijit, jokingly thanking Exec Life for the reminder as he now has to start buying gifts.

As a child, television producer from Playtime Creations Hemal Thakkar too spent hours deciding on what to gift his sister, Vaishali, who is a popular actress in television industry. Now that she is all grown up, Hemal does it the smart way and instead gifts her in cash. ?Finding a gift that suits their taste is a hard nut to crack and it gets more and more difficult each year. My sisters have all grown up and become independent. I know they appreciate it more when I leave it to them to choose what they want. "When asked what he likes as a return gift, Thakkar shares, ?I have a sweet tooth so my sisters bring me all sorts of sweet dishes and that totally makes my day.?

Other brother - sister duos in the industry who are known to share a close bond include advertising honcho Piyush Pandey and actress - singer Ila Arun, BAG Films managing director Anurradha Prasad and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad, actor Tushar and Balaji Telefilms? Ekta Kapoor and Rose Audio Visuals? Shrishti Arya and filmmaker Goldie Behl amongst others. We wish them all a very happy Raksha Bandhan from the team of Indiantelevision.com.