The long weekend begins. As Singapore celebrates its 60th birthday, we are all set to take it easy this week end.

Family time, movies, workouts and good food. Isn’t that what weekends are made of?

And along with Singapore National Day, India celebrates the brother sister festival – Raksha Bandhan. The ritual of tying a band around the brother’s wrist asking for protection and receiving a gift. Something I grew up with. And now, living in Singapore, I hardly celebrate the day. We may have visited home maybe three or four times in the past couple of decades.

But here’s what we do in order to pass on tradition. We let both our daughters tie the band to each other as part of celebration. I indulge my family in traditional Indian food just like the one I remember from my mom’s kitchen. We dress up, visit the temple and enjoy our Indian origins with little celebrations in our own way.

On that happy note, see you tomorrow.

P.S. Singapore is an easy place to settle in. But some days we all miss our families no matter what.