INTERNATIONAL KITE FESTIVAL

 Let's Colour The Skies

When it comes to kite flying, the illuminated Gujarat sky, dotted with kites of different colours, shapes and sizes says it all.

A passionate pastime for nearly three millenniums, kite flying  - even though essentially associated with festivals and celebrations - has become a popular sporting event. Many countries hold kite festivals at a grand scale, giving a chance to kite enthusiasts to show off their skills. Bringing the magic home each year on the day of Makar Sankranti, the vibrant state of Gujrat holds the International Kite Festival, felicitating master kite makers and flyers from all corners of the world and wowing crowds.

HISTORY
Flying kites was not always a leisurely activity. Rather, back in the days when the country was a predominantly agrarian society without the technological advances of the day, people  used to fly kites to scare off birds from their farms, and learnt about the direction of the winds and weather changes.

Hosted each year on January 14th by the Gujrat Tourism Department, the date of the Kite Festival has been purposely set to coincide with Makar Sankranti, as this is the day when the sun enters the tropics making the end of winter and heralding the warmer months ahead. The Kite Festival is also known as the Uttarayan Festival as in the phase during which it is held, the sun moves in the direction of the Northern Hemisphere, embarking on a sojourn to the north or Uttarayan as it is termed in Gujrati.

The Kite Festival - At A Glance

Drawing expert kite makers, flyers and enthusiasts, the Kite Festival started out as a regional affair that drew throngs of people on to terraces and spaces atop buildings, eager to race each other. It was only in 1989, that the status of the festival was elevated to an international event. The festival today boasts of some of the most creatively designed range of kites in all shapes and sizes from countries like Japan, Australia, Malaysia, USA, Brazil, Italy and Canada, among many others.

A battleground where foreign kite labels fight it out with local champions, each kite is an investment that takes about three months to be made and costs anywhere between Rs. 5000 to 5,00,000, depending on the nature of the material being used. But regardless of the expenditure, each kite is made with a lot of dedication and ingenuity, giving it the required skill to swerve and flutter away with ease.

The indigenous kites that are flown during the festival are internationally known as Indian Fighters- a name they are more than worthy of. Typically made out of bamboo and tissue paper, the fighter kite is perfectly proportioned in such a way that it will balance on a single string attached to the manja or the thread. Special mixtures of glue and ground glass are used to make the thread sharp and abrasive, giving it that cutting edge during kite fights. Dried and rolled onto phirkees or reels, these super strong threads are made days in advance.

As kite flying day dawns in Gujrat, one can see waves of vibrant hues and colours taking over the deep blue January sky. An extraordinary day that motivates people of all ages and gender to participate. Uttarayan is marked by soaring kites that dance with each other in an exhilarating chase. The kites flutter, swerve, fall steeply and gain height in an instant, in a devoted effort to outshine the others. The colour of the sky changes as all the kites seem to form an awe-inspiring rainbow in the aftermath of rain on a sunny day.

Fascinating attraction of the day, that also adds to the wow factor of the festival, are the kite duels that take place up in the sky. These fights are attempts by flyers to bring each other's kites down and seize the day by emerging as a victor. These exciting duels add that extra zing to the festival, as the challenges  and the outcome can be quite thrilling.

The uniqueness of the festival is its irresistible appeal. It's not just the gravity defying kites and the aerial spectacles that make Uttarayan special. Rather, the role it plays in bringing people of different nationalities, age & gender together is its crowning glory.