Kite Day in Bombay

(January 15, 2004)

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Thousands of kites battle it out above the rooftops of the Girgaum neighborhood of Bombay.

January 15 was a holiday – in India they think of this as the first day of spring. It is called Makara Sankranti, and marks the beginning of the sun’s movement northward – well, Hank says that is astronomically incorrect, but that is what we were told and what the guidebooks even say. No matter – it is a festival, and that is what Indians are good at. The key to this festival is kites – everywhere!

Makara Sankranti is a festival, and that is what Indians are good at. The key to this festival is kites.

So, being informed in advance about some of the good places to go, we headed midafternoon toward Chowpatty Beach, which is the city beach where many festivities take place, and where all urchins seem to congregate as well. Chowpatty sits in the middle of Bombay, facing the Arabian Sea, with the Queen’s Necklace to the left and Malabar Hill, with its skyscrapers, to the right (as you are facing out to sea). There is a bit of Coney Island here, with a congregation of street food vendors, so of course we had to start there – with mango kulfi, which is a bit like ice cream only more solid, and bel puri, some wonderful sort of mixture of nuts and other crunchies, veggies and sauce.

Mango kulfi at Chowpatty Beach.

The beach was full of kids and families flying their kites. These are little fighting kites – maybe about 12-18 inches on each side, flown with no tail, on long spools of kite string. They’re sprightly and manipulatable. They fight when the strings cross. One string gets cut and the loser loses the kite. It was quickly apparent that for some, especially those who can’t afford a kite, part of the sport is to grab the kites that fall. So at any point that a kite started to come down, there would be a mad rush of boys and young men grabbing for the it. This part of the reality seemed be missed on one boy of about 7 or 8 – he had captured a kite and was flying it, but when someone else claimed dominion over his kite, he fell to the sand in tears!

Tilgur, the official sweet of the kite festival, is a hard confection made from sesame and jaggery. (Actual size.)

Our friend Pradeep had told us that a neighborhood not too far from Chowpatty Beach was a great place to watch the kites, especially if we could get to a rooftop. So, after a while on Chowpatty, we headed over the pedestrian bridge, plunging into the street scene. As we left, we were walking against a stream of people parading toward the beach with their kites – fathers and sons, mothers and laughing children. All were eager to get their kites in the air. (Of course, you must come fully supplied with an armada of kites – ready for the loss of one after another, and the possible acquisition of others’ kites.) Along the streets, the trees and wires were littered with kites, a colorful display – and people leaning out their balconies or windows, trying to launch their kites.

After a walk down the main thoroughfare, we took a detour and slipped down an interesting back street. At one point, we stopped for Hank to take a photo while I sat on a bench – long enough for a man to notice our upward gazes. "Would you like to come up to the terrace?" Ah, the invitation we were hoping for! So, we followed him up five flights of stairs to the top of an apartment building, and emerged on the rooftop to an entirely different world! It appeared that the entire city had moved to the rooftops – every rooftop was full of people, and it was one big kite-flying party! We were welcomed by the crowd of people on the top of this building as if were old friends! I stood there for a few minutes just looking, hoping my jaw hadn’t dropped too far, for the sky was full of kites – amazing!

Enjoying kite day from a rooftop.

Here is how it works. As you can imagine, with that many people on top of the buildings, and the buildings all being close together, the whole sky is a swirling blizzard of color. And there is a lot of intermingling of the kite strings. You fly the kite with the aim of crossing another string in such a way as to take down that kite. And on each roof top there is at least one person with a very long pole, which is used to reach up an capture the strings of other people’s kite. One huge kite was making the rounds from one rooftop to the next. Our exuberant hosts were eager to teach us the ropes, and we each soon had kites in our hands, with much advice – "no, no, not too tight – looser, looser." And much laughter, and handing out of tilgur, a sweet that's as closely associated with Makara Sankranti as chocolate bunnies are with Easter. We stayed until just after sunset – fireworks were being sent up from some of the rooftops. But by the time darkness arrived, the parties were moving elsewhere.


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