Kite Flying

Every year, the month of February used to bring a lot of excitement in me. The fact that my birthday falls in February was just part of the reason. Another part was a holiday we kids were so looking forward to. That of Uttarayan - The Festival of Kites. Being a South Indian, I was not a natural at flying kites. but that never stopped me from running along with the other kids with those long sticks and the Langis (a stone tied to a long piece of thread to be used like a sling) to catch kites that got cut in a fight. I was also interested as hell to be able to fly kites like the local kids. The kite flying festival is so intense. People get threads which are dyed with color and glass powder so their thread is "sharper" than the others in a fight. There are also those numerous tricks involved to cut the other kite.

I enjoyed this festival for about 8 years before i got cut off from it when I shifted out of Baroda. I did try a hand at kite flying now and then but as it turns out, Gujarat and Uttarayan is the best place and time to do so. So now that I am in Ahmedabad, I at least got the place right. I scouted the city for two days and finally found a place where they sell kites off season. Payed twice the price and got the kites and the thread. Me and my room mate went to the roof of our apartment and got the kite to fly. Well, it wasnt that smooth. It took me about a half hour of trying to finally get it up. It went up about 200 meters when the eagles started attacking it for some reason. But then, it was so much fun dodging the eagles and sometimes even chasing them with the kite. my first attempt didnt last very long as the kite tore after half hour of flying. Or maybe the thread came loose. But even then it was a real exhilirating and satisfying experience.

I went up to the roof again the next day and flew it much higher. My estimate is about 700 meters of thread. This time it was up for almost an hour until we decided to get it down due to lack of light. It was a much more complete kite flying experience this time as I achieved a perfect landing!! :)