Kite Aces Get Ready for Annual 'Basant' BattlesPublish Date: 2010-02-25 14:00:17 Story Code: 25628 SHARJAH — Kite lovers are going to battle it out in the skies today and Friday in the annual two day kite flying festival called ‘Basant’.
Also known as the festival of colour – from the colourful kites to brightly dressed ladies and children, the event has grown to gargantuan proportions over the years. Each year, thousands of people, mostly from the Pakistani community, gather to celebrate the festival that marks the change in weather, and announces the advent of spring. With fewer towering buildings and more empty land, it was easier to fly kites then, recalls Haji Mohammed Amin who has been organising the festival for years. “We have been changing venues for years now in search of open space,” he says. The first event was held on the Dubai-Sharjah Highway and after moving over to the now Al Nahda area to Sonapur, the venue has been pushed to Maliha Road on the Sharjah-Kalba highway. “It’s different in Pakistan because it is part of the culture, he says. “There we battle it out over rooftops day and night long amidst search lights.” While colourful kites of all sizes dot the skies in the morning, white is used by the night time. Kites, also known as ‘patangs’ or ‘gudas’, are made from splices of bamboo and crisp tissue paper. The ‘dor’ or the string is made from rubbing powdered glass on a string so that it becomes sharp enough to ‘cut’ the opponent’s kite in midair. The rules of the game are simple. Let your kite soar, and the trick is to drop the ‘dor’ on the next nearest kite and then pull the string. If your technique and timing is perfect, the rival’s kite will cut. It does not end there. Keen eyes are on the sky battle and as soon as a kite is shamed and falls to the ground, a horde of snatchers on the ground wait to catch it. Lilting Punjabi numbers and loud hoots announce the catch. Haji Amin has already ordered a container full of kites and ‘dor’. Prices range from Dh30 to Dh300 per kite. They sell like hot cakes, he adds. However, opinions vary with some terming the celebrations a sheer waste of money and time. This week police in Pakistan’s Punjab in a massive crackdown arrested over 1,000 people selling and flying kites. A local law banned the deadly game in 2005 after hundreds of deaths occurred after strings ripped throats of innocents or became entangled in two wheelers. “The same incident happened to us in Sonapur when a child was injured after a ‘dor’ cut cross his foot,” Haji Amin said. “Business-wise several people have lost jobs but we don’t agree,” he adds. © Khaleej Times 2010. All rights reserved. Share this story:  Digg
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