The spirit of freedom scaled colourful heights in the
skies of the capital throughout Wednesday when thousands of professional
and amateur kite fliers took to the rooftops and streets to celebrate
the Independence Day ritual of kite-flying.
"Kite flying as a
tradition is much older than the Olympics. In the capital, kite flying
as a public sport goes back much before Independence Day, almost 80
years before the country freed itself from the British rule. Now, it is a
dying tradition because the present generation does not know how to fly
kites," Sudhir Sobti of Delhi Tourism and Transport Development
Corporation told IANS.
Delhi Tourism organised a day's kite
flying festival at the Garden of Five Senses at Mehrauli in the capital,
where kite fliers from old Delhi, the birth place of the tradition,
came to show off their skills of flying multiple kites on a single
thread.
"The high point of the festival was flying 100 kites on one thread by Bhai Miyan and his sons," Sobti said.
The
Delhi Tourism official said: "The idea of the government was to revive
the old tradition, keep new fliers updated about the tradition and
initiate novices."
Delhi Tourism, which has been hosting the
Independence Day kite festival for the last two years, will organise a
kite festival at India Gate in November, Sobti said.
Kite flying
as a tradition grew out of Old Delhi where artisans still make a variety
of kites. The oldest and biggest kite market is at Lal Kuan in the old
city, where "patangbaazi" began as a sport.
Some historians say
the tradition dates back to the days of the Mahabharata. Kites were not
only used for receiving messages but also for measuring distances during
war.
Kite fighting is the most exciting feature of flying kites.
The Indian fighter kites are crafted from thin paper that can take on
the wind to scale heights. The thread which hoists the fighter kite is
strengthened with crushed glass, egg, pigeon droppings and wax so that
it cannot be snapped cut by rival kites.
Kites to most new fliers
in the capital have deeper symbolism. "The kite is a symbol of our
freedom and the height at which it soars is a message to the world of
what we can achieve," Diksha Gulati, a college student, told IANS.
Gulati
is part of a young people's non-profit platform, Rhythms of Life, which
organised a children's kite flying festival at the Lodhi Garden
restaurant Wednesday.
The non-profit group, which works for the
right to education for poor children, tried to link kite flying to
education with a skit and an exhibition of 100 kites made by 100
children from the fringes of the capital in the last 15 days.
Kite
flying was promoted as an alternatives festival in Fly to Fight
carnival at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri Wednesday by an event management
group, ByeDefault. The theme of the festival was corruption.
Smaller festivals were hosted at Dilli Haat and at India Gate.
Market places were packed with people, including foreign tourists, who bought kites by the dozens.
