PUDUCHERRY:The three-day International Kite Festival, organised by the Department of Tourism and Kitelife Foundation of India, got off to a flying start on Friday at the New Port premises. Tourism Minister P Rajavelu inaugurated the festival.
The minister said the festival is intended to draw around one lakh tourist to Puducherry.
The sky wore a spectacular look, with kites in various sizes, shapes and colours occupying the horizon. Stunt kites with various shapes with and without tails like Anaconda, flown by a team from Singapore attracted the visitors. These kites are manoeuvred by two strings tied to the kites. Inflatable kites in the form of crocodile, Manta Ray fish and serpent aroused interest among the tourists.
The crocodile kite is around 60 to 70 feet-long. Another interesting one being the circular bol kite in different sizes and several colours flown by a Singaporean. Besides, there were train kites with a number of small kites tied together in a single string and flown as well as innovative kites in the shape of eagle, octopus, bat, butterfly and boomerang.
Interestingly, these kites were not made in the traditional way with paper and manja, but with thin parachute materials and nylon cotton string (dacron, septra), said Rajesh Nair of Kitelife foundation.
Currently, 14 professional kite flyer teams from Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala; and four international teams from France, Singapore and Malaysia are participating. Apart from boosting tourism, the festival is providing an opportunity for the homegrown kite enthusiasts to participate in kite flying. Several locals have also joined.
“It is going to be an exciting festival and we are expecting a lot of visitors on Saturday and Sunday. It will have a favourable impact on local economy and this means a lot in terms of tourism promotion,” said secretary, tourism, Mihir Vardhan.
The sky lantern, which is like a balloon, will be the main attraction of the festival on Saturday. Besides other major activities of the festival are kite making workshop for kids above nine years, kite making and flying competition, kite exhibition, rangoli contest and poems on kite.