The Kite Festival!
Last weekend was the Kite Festival in Gujarat! There isn't much to explain. You basically get together, eat food and fly kites. Everyone buys like 150 tissue paper kites and go on their rooftops to fly them. Apparently, it's a huge industry in Gujarat. Becca and I bought some kites and tried to fly them on our own. We were "rubbish" at it. It's really hard! It's not like we have a huge field to run through to catch the wind. You just stand on the rooftops and toss the kite in the air, and you just have to know when to tug on the string to make it go up. I think you have to be an Indian boy to be good at it. The hardest part is getting it up into the air, after that it's really easy. I'm like extra bad at it. I was flying a kite that was already in the air and the moment I took the string, it nose dived into an old lady sitting on the roof of the apartment next door. That was embarrassing, especially since everyone was already staring at the inept kite flying foreigners.
It's actually a very dangerous festival because you can also make the kites fight. So they put powdered glass on the string so you can cut the string of other kites. It's really fun when you cut other kites and you hoot and holler when you do. But it's sad when someone else cuts yours. Then you have to get another kite and try and get it in the air again. It's very bad for the birds flying around. There are literally thousands, if not millions of kites flying in the air all with glass covered strings. It's also really dangerous for humans too. People on motor bikes can get cut and if the string gets stuck in another moving vehicle the string can slice throats. We did not drive our little sunnies for the two day festival. We heard too many horror stories.
But it really is a fun festival. It's cool to see everyone out on their rooftops and all the different kites fluttering around in the air. People have music blasting and every once in awhile you hear people cheering when they cut a kite. Everyone eats Chikki, which is sort of like peanut brittle and made out of sesamee seeds. Like all Indian treats, it is extremely sweet. Down below there are kids walking around with long sticks so they can catch kits that have been cut. At the end of the day, the telephone wires look like laundry lines full of kites and the trees look like they've all started growing kite shaped fruits.
It was a busy and fun day. At night we went to the old city to watch the fireworks. They also set off these huge paper laterns. They look like small hot air balloons floating through the air. Eventhough it's completely dark and there are fireworks going off from the rooftop next door and floating lanterns, people are still flying their kites. We saw one latern crash into a rooftop near by. The people were all dancing around it, and then it caught on fire and burst into flames, so one of guys took the flaming lantern and just threw it over the side. The burning lantern started floating down toward the traffic filled street, but then caught on a wire and the flames started creeping back up towards the rooftop. Eventually it burned itself out. It was such an India moment.
It's actually a very dangerous festival because you can also make the kites fight. So they put powdered glass on the string so you can cut the string of other kites. It's really fun when you cut other kites and you hoot and holler when you do. But it's sad when someone else cuts yours. Then you have to get another kite and try and get it in the air again. It's very bad for the birds flying around. There are literally thousands, if not millions of kites flying in the air all with glass covered strings. It's also really dangerous for humans too. People on motor bikes can get cut and if the string gets stuck in another moving vehicle the string can slice throats. We did not drive our little sunnies for the two day festival. We heard too many horror stories.
But it really is a fun festival. It's cool to see everyone out on their rooftops and all the different kites fluttering around in the air. People have music blasting and every once in awhile you hear people cheering when they cut a kite. Everyone eats Chikki, which is sort of like peanut brittle and made out of sesamee seeds. Like all Indian treats, it is extremely sweet. Down below there are kids walking around with long sticks so they can catch kits that have been cut. At the end of the day, the telephone wires look like laundry lines full of kites and the trees look like they've all started growing kite shaped fruits.
It was a busy and fun day. At night we went to the old city to watch the fireworks. They also set off these huge paper laterns. They look like small hot air balloons floating through the air. Eventhough it's completely dark and there are fireworks going off from the rooftop next door and floating lanterns, people are still flying their kites. We saw one latern crash into a rooftop near by. The people were all dancing around it, and then it caught on fire and burst into flames, so one of guys took the flaming lantern and just threw it over the side. The burning lantern started floating down toward the traffic filled street, but then caught on a wire and the flames started creeping back up towards the rooftop. Eventually it burned itself out. It was such an India moment.
posted by Jenna Furley | 3:14 AM
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