The kite flying festival just finished in India. It’s lot of fun. It is known as “Makar-Sankranti”.
Even after 2 days, you can still see kites dominating the sky; adding their own beauty to it….
When we were kids, we used to round up all our cousins and friends in the nearby area and fly kites, this time of the year. We knew every little shop where they sold kites; which one was the best, which one was the cheapest, which one was the nearest…..
Now, if you ask me about it, I’ll say, “I don’t know…..”
I don’t remember how to string the kites, how to fly it high, how to cut other kites. It seems I have forgotten everything. I have even forgotten how the kite feels like!
It’s evening and I’m looking outside through the window while typing this out. I can see the bluish-orange sky lined by dozens of kites. Kites of all sizes, some small, some big, some very huge. And some, so far, that they look very tiny and you cannot even make out their color.
Kites of so many colors….. Orange, red, green, yellow, pink, blue,….some dazzling multi-colored ones too.
Some with long tails that are wrestling with the wind…….Some made of paper and some latest ones made of thin plastic.
Kids are running helter-skelter. Some of them, flying kites from their terraces, some from the ground itself. Some boasting, how many kites they have cut. Others running all over the road to catch the falling kites.
Some kids are lucky enough to grab falling kites. Others are dejected as few kites get stuck on the high branches of trees.
AND, there are so many trees like that. Beautifully laden with “kites”. They will remain so, until the wind blows the kites away or the sun fades their bright color or a bird rips them off to pieces…..
Has one forgotten to be a kid while growing up?
Forgotten….
The pride of flying the kite higher than the others.
The feeling of triumph when you cut someone else’s kite.
The satisfaction of spending a rupee on something you really love to do.
Society, rules and regulations, limitations of our age has turned us into nothing but “kites”. Just brightly colored, put on a display in front of the world. Flying high and getting cut just when we think we are on the epitome of success.
It’s high time we turned ourselves from inanimate KITES to lively KITE FLIERS…….
Sonalism- It's different 