The Kite Runner - not from novel but from heart..!!

Oldies rue ebbing interest in kite-flying even as rooftops get cluttered with communication devices


Ihave always considered flying a kite magical.The feeling starts when the wind first tugs and hauls the kite into the air.Sometimes its gentle and you release the string slowly,letting it slip through your fingers.At other times,its stronger and the wind sweeps the kite away like it does a bird,lofting it higher and higher.And your spirit flies with it and stays with it as it traverses spaces defined by the string.It is a communion that only a kite flier understands and appreciates.All else is of no consequence as you connive with them and sail your paper bird.As a child,Ive seen the spirit of kite-flying in numerous cities around the country.In season and during the kite festival,Kolkatas wide open spaces and roof tops come alive with warring clans of fliers hoisting their kites into the blue,Lucknow is lavish with tradition and style,Kanpur becomes like the wild west with rooftop fliers v i r t u a l l y c o m - ing to b l o w s,Mumbai is pure madness and Ahmedabad paints her skies.And Pune We had a whole tradition here, says Cyrus,a veteran kite flying champ with well grooved palms.Wed get together,a lot of us friends,and even make our own manjha.Some of us even made our own kites.Then there was a guy whod bring reels of bidhan manjha from Lucknow and Calcutta.Roy,thats what his name was.Fell off a roof while flying a kite and broke a leg.But he never gave up.None of us gave up.Wed bunk school and hit the open spaces and fly our birds.Black and white makora kites were the in thing then.Of course nowadays you say makora and no one knows what the hell you are talking about.To decorate the kites,theyd use glass marbles to make small patterns on the paper.
Theres wistfulness in his voice because he misses those days.
Thats all gone now.Not because we are busy at work and making money and rushing about the place,but because there is hardly any sky left.Try to get on to a roof to fly a kite and see what happens.Most roofs are a mess.Cables,antennas,dishes and other technological claptrap clutter the place not forgetting all these towers that stand out like watchtowers in a jungle or sentry towers in a prison camp... all because everyone nowadays wants to be connected to the world,connected to whats happening everywhere else.No one seems to have any time to spend with themselves to be connected to themselves.They dont realise that kite flying gives you that opportunity.It connects you to those spaces of freedom within yourself.