Let there be kites

We negotiated a few narrow, crowded alleyways, dodged tempos and two-wheelers, cows and cars simultaneously with the expertise of video game junkies, while asking people, "Gaalipata?" After a while, we located some of the old shops in the city dedicated to kites, and more kites. Once we had found them, we knew it was well worth the effort.
Makar Sankranthi without the sky being dotted with at least some kites is unthinkable. "A cosmopolitan city like Bangalore has two sides. A traditional event like Makar Sankranthi often gets sidelined. But then, you have people from different parts of the country for whom flying kites on the day is a must," said Pradeep, who is from Gujarat and was buying kites to fly with his son and nephew.
Mohammad Ibrahim, who has been selling kites from his shop in Kumbarpet for the last 30 years, had laid out a colourful fare of various sizes for Pradeep to pick from. "I have designs on kite paper, glitter paper and plastic material. Most of them come from Gujarat, Mumbai and Kolkata."
Mohammad has kept his prices low. "People have to buy them, you see," he said. The shiny, around 2-ft long kites with many patterns and frills are around Rs 15. "Demand has stayed almost same all these years. It picks up a little during Sankranthi," added the shopowner.
As we stood admiring the imports from other cities, two middle-aged men arrived with a pile of the flying wonders. Arif and Wajid, kitemakers from Bangalore, had brought kites that they make from recycled wrappers -- some were made with Marie biscuit packets, others from CCD cookie packs, all sold at just 30 paise a piece. Although the art that has been in their families since their grandfathers' time is dwindling, they, and some others like them who are all from Tannery Road, have stuck to their profession. Their versions may be smaller, but are surely innovative.
But this breed of men are now rare in Bangalore. Narayan, who sells kites in Mavalli, said that nowadays he gets no kites of local make. The proprietor of Altaf Kites, which has been there in Shivajinagar for 50 years, lamented, "Labour has become costlier here. So, we get colourful kites from Jaipur, sturdy ones from Bareilly, and also from Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and China. But yes, the manja is made in a Bangalore factory and sent across India."
After the colourful spread, especially at Altaf Kites (anything from Batman to butterflies, 30 cm to 3 ft), we sure hope that more people come back to this slowly dying sport and drape the sky in rainbow colours on Sankranthi.

[Published in Expresso, The New Indian Express on 13.01.2010]