uttarayan – kite flying in india – gujarat
Kite flying is popular in india – especially 14th and 15th january in Gujarat is really electric!!… you will find everyone standing at their terraces flying kites. There is no age bar – you will find children, youths and elders flying with equal enthusiasm.
14th january is popularly known as uttarayan or utarayan. Its popularly known as Makar Sankranti (all over india) – but kite flying is very much popular in gujarat ( also in some parts of rajasthan ) Its celebrated during day as well as night. In the day people fly colourful kites and the kite wars / battles (challenge – War / Battle is too heavy to use .. its popularly called patang bajji) is the major attraction. Kite war popularly known as “peench” – locally. Its an act where people try to cut other kites (There is actually theory of physics involved in order to do so – depending on quality of thread (manjaa i.e. strings), advantage of height / location from where you are flying, direction of wind / sun, flying skills, type of kite (whether the kite is heavy/light, how the kite is tied (popularly known as keniyaa) etc.) Once a person is successful in winning the war – its followed by “lapeeth lapeeth…Kaapyo Chhey…. and various noises using thalli (strange noises made out of stainless steel utensils and extra large spoons [I don't remember the exact name])… - its actually embarassment for the one who lost the war — its actually a provocation to the looser to come for another challenge!!..
The situation is really electric – you will find music decks playing all around the terraces, sky full of kites, numerous kite wars – often 3-4 concurrent kite war / battle at the same time.
This festival is also a symbol of togetherness (social gathering) – relatives, friends etc visit each others places ( i.e. terraces actually and fly from there) Often they have food - specially purri, chickis, jalebi, udhiyuu (udhiyaa or undhiyu …) [udhiyu is a special gujarati dish - specially prepared during the time of festivals - its also available in shops]
The festival isn’t over even during nights kite flying is very popular where mostly white kites are flown (for better visibility) – the thread (strings ) are tied with lamps one by one (popularly known as tukkal ) Imagine how the sky will look when you will see hundreds of such tukkals flown from terraces all over the city. Recently people have started bursting crackers during nights. Also chinese wishing lamp (floats in air) have become popular.
Also people especially children (even sometimes elders) enjoy catching kites (its actually those kites which have cut loose during the kite war ).. you will often find small children running after kites – but sometimes this can get fatal – often they end up with accidents. There are some incidents where child fall off from terrace or met an accident with vehicle while catching kites. Also the manjaa (string or thread) used is dangerous as it is dipped under tiny (micro) crushed pieces of mirror (kanch) mixed with atta (coloured wheat paste). This results in wounded fingers and is a nightmare for those who drive schooter / bikes as it can come on their way with throat cuts. Few deaths are reported every year. Even its a nightmare for birds. Recently chinese threads are banned in gujarat as it is very much dangerous (its made up of plastic like material) and wouldn’t break easily and for humans and birds its very much risky (as they don’t break easily)
Also for foreigners – who are interested to experience the festival – are specially invited to join international kite flying festival (mostly during this time you may witness variety of kites from all around the world)
