IN PICTURES: 3rd Telangana International Kite festival kicks start today

While the kite festival is being organised in coordination with the Union Ministry of Tourism, the sweet festival is an initiative of the Telangana Government where the local delicacies will be on display for people to savour.

At least three lakh people are expected to attend the Telangana International Kite Festival (2018), along with the first ever International Sweet Festival which is going on currently, according to officials. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

Updated on:

13 Jan 2018, 11:10 am

2 min read

While the kite festival is being organised in coordination with the Union Ministry of Tourism, the sweet festival is an initiative of the Telangana Government where the local delicacies will be on display for people to savour. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

The three day Kite festival starts today and will be on till 15th January 2018. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

The venue of the festival is Parade grounds in Hyderabad. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

Kites are believed to have first arrived in India either through Muslim traders coming eastward through Persia or Buddhist pilgrims coming from China in search of sacred texts. Either way, they have a long history in the region. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

Every year kites of all shapes and sizes are flown, and the main competition is to battle nearby kite-flyers to cut their strings and bring down their kites. For this, people find their favoured kite-makers who prepare strong resilient kite bodies with supple bamboo frames and kite-paper stretched to exactly the right tension. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

Kite flyers from across the country and also abroad are participating in the international festival that began today. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

Lastly, the kites are attached to a spool (or firkin) of manja: a special kite-string coated with a mixture of glue and glass powder to make it as sharp as possible for cutting strings of rival kites. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)

During the nights, kite fighters send up bright white kites to be seen in the darkness, and skilled flyers send aloft their tukkals with strings of brightly lit lanterns in a long line. (EPS | R.Satish Babu)