Click to play videoRajouri: For Devi - a resident of the Indo-Pak border town of Rajouri, situated close to the Line of Control in Jammu - Rakshabandhan is a day when she eagerly awaits the return of her brother Purshottam Kumar.
It's been 11 years since Kumar went missing and the security forces believe he is among the few Hindu militants who operate in the area.
But it will take more than mere speculation to convince his sister. "When he went, rumours were spread that he had joined militancy, but I know my brother cannot be a militant. He is a patriot and our family is a simple family,” she says.
So every year on the festival, Devi visits the temple with four Rakhis. While three of them are for her other three brothers, the fourth one is tied on the deity Goddess Durga, in remembrance of Kumar.
“He went away in 1996, we don't know where he has gone. We missed him too much for one year. Even my mother died in shock. I don't feel like celebrating this festival because on Rakshabandhan day, I miss my brother too much. But because of my three other brothers, I have to celebrate this festival,” she says.
Today, all Devi is left with is an 11-year-old photograph of the last Rakshabandhan she celebrated with Kumar. And while the colours of the photograph have faded, the love of a sister certainly has not.
“Even today, I feel as if he is calling me and I keep on waiting for my brother sitting at the doorstep of this temple,” she says.
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