How Delhi’s sky dazzles with colourful kites to mark the Independence Day

“As soon as the PM’s speech used to get over after a spectacular display of power and sovereignty, echoing from the Lal Quila (Red Fort), people would rush upstairs on their roofs to celebrate with their beguiling collection of kites that they had treasured for so many days ahead of 15 August,” Priyamvada Rana writes

As I finished reading Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner last winter, I found the novel riveting and liberating, more so as it metaphorically used kites to portray freedom. Both the lead characters of the novel, Amir and Hassan let their spirits free in a war ravaged Afghanistan during the 1960s–80s. Ahead of Independence Day celebrations in India, as the capital is preparing for the gala event, the novel reminds me how kites manifest freedom, aspirations and dreams.

The day for me is reminiscent of how religiously I had tried to learn how to fly a kite along with my cousins in our congested house in East Delhi. As a youngster, it was just a sport for me to learn kite flying, all tangled up in manjha (string), holding the charkhi (manjha holder) for my brothers while giving a kanni (the right flight where one holds the kite from its edges and throw it up in air to take a flight). Indeed it was a gala event with family and celebration along with the whole neighborhood coming up on their rooftops to give stiff competition to others while indulging all day in flying and collecting kites. To add a vibe of patriotic fervor, many used to play songs of independence. Dancing to the tunes of Maa Tujhe Salaam by A. R. Rahman or Rang De Basanti or maybe Chak De India were thousands of kites, covering the sky as I used to open my terrace door every year on August the 15th.

Having belonged to the rustic Old Delhi, my father can recount how this place still breeds the kite flying tradition in the most thrilling way with legitimate kite flying competitions. As soon as the PM’s speech used to get over after a spectacular display of power and sovereignty, echoing from the Lal Quila (Red Fort), people would rush upstairs on their roofs to celebrate with their beguiling collection of kites that they had treasured for so many days ahead of 15 August. Be it an event like elections, the Independence Day, or festivals, people in Old Delhi just needed an excuse to celebrate everything in an extravagant manner with a feeling of togetherness and harmony.

Though a lot has changed over the course of seven decades, since India throttled the British rule and achieved independence, kites were a common element even back then. During the independence struggle slogans like “Go Back Simon” adorned the kites in the 1920s to amplify dissent against British rule. Now, with a pandemic on head, the slogans have changed to “2 gaj doori, hai zaroori” to spread mass awareness for coronavirus.

A close look at the origins of this age-old joyful tradition suggests that it has its roots in China. As per Sahapedia, the earliest written account of kite flying can be found in 206 BC. It was the Buddhist monk, scholar and traveller Heuin Tsang who had flown a kite to intimidate the army of Liu Pang. Later, kites as a tradition came to India with the coming of Buddhist missionaries from the East who came via the Silk Route.

In the modern era, kite flying spread to diverse parts of India with varied connotations. While Delhi and Lucknow showed their fervour with prospering kite fighting clubs and competitions, Hyderabad endorsed the tradition with Nawabi passion and Gujarat echoed ‘Koi Po Che’ (I have cut the kite). This reminds us of the films that have portrayed sentiments of love, freedom and passion in Hindi cinema. From romantic ‘Hum Dil Dechuke Sanam’ to more serious flicks like ‘1947 Earth’ and ‘Kai Po Che’ to childhood nostalgia in ‘Gattu’ films and life learning lessons shown in ‘Ye Khula Aasmaan’, filmmakers have metaphorically used kites to convey transformational messages. One can see the crowded and meandering lanes of Delhi, selling kites with famous film posters featuring actors and actresses on them. Indeed, this renders an attractive look to them.

People start treasuring kites either by cutting other kites or buying new ones as soon as preparations for the Independence Day starts. After the Tricolor, kites are the trendiest of the stuff that hook buyers in North India for 15 August celebrations. A stroll to bustling local markets at such times when nationalistic fervour is on a rise, always revives my memories with this delightful tradition. As I write this on the Independence Day, snippets of old family gatherings, rooftop wars in “Patang Baazi,” me holding a charkhi for brothers and gazing up intently in the free skies of this country just makes me wistful of the times!

(Priyamvada Rana is a journalist with MEA World Wide. Views are personal)