let's go fly some kites

so after my three weeks of travel i dropped in for a pitstop in mumbai (just enough time to get some clothes altered at the tailor and others cleaned from the dhobi), enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather, and decided i really do feel at home in the city.

then i left again.

kites of all colors

this time heading to gujarat for my third trip to ahmedabad. it's quickly becoming one of my favorite cities.. all kinds of architecture.. textiles, of course, and this time.. kites! uttarayan is literally just a festival of flying kites. people all over india enjoy flying kites this time of year, grateful for the winter weather (which still requires sunscreen) and windy days. uttarayan is always celebrated on the 14th, and officially commemorates the lengthening days and moving northward of the sun. and perhaps nowhere is it celebrated more than ahmedabad.

bright pink spinning.. like cotton candy

my first day in the city i visited what are becoming my 'usual places' - namely lucky tea stall (a favorite haunt of the late, great m.f. husain) and dropped some rupees at two standby textile shops. (side note: i found a cohort who's even crazier about textiles than i am! she just bought her third sewing machine, to give you an idea..). i spent the rest of my afternoon searching for kites.. easier said than done! while i had seen scads the night before on the way back from the train station their presence was less than universal. i did eventually find some, along with the sights of kite-preparation: stretching the string and adding the powdered dyes and glass bits (for cutting), spinning on the big wheels, and getting the string onto the spools (which i just found spell-bindingly gorgeous, especially with the lovely gujarati text). i saw several kids practicing in preparation for the big day. and a few of them even invited me into their home behind the kite stand. they were all smiles and giggles, of course.

spools and spools

the next day the festivities began. bright and early people got up and took to their roofs to take advantage of the early morning breezes. i made my way to a friend's friend's house on the other side of the city. there i found out that proper attire for uttarayan consists of sunscreen and hats (often cowboy hats, it seems), and tape around the fingers for the die-hard kite-fighters (remember that glass i mentioned?). we tried our luck getting the kites up and cutting some down - we were even successful a few times though, admittedly, accidentally. it was much fun - fighting the neighbors on nearby rooftops and cheering and gloating when victorious. lapet! we shout (which means 'cut'). we managed to learn the proper ways to string the kites (maybe a few errors), bend them (over your head), and keep them in the air (that part may have been more theoretical on our part). we spent the day between rooftops of various friends, intermittently flying, snacking (chikki is quite popular.. sweets with peanuts or sesame seeds, also these little balls of puffed rice), and dancing when the wind died down. as evening came on and the light began to fade people started lighting paper lanterns and letting them float up into the atmosphere - a truly lovely sight.

but since one day wasn't enough - and the next day was sunday after all - there was another day of festivities. we repeated our actions from the day before - different rooftops, same activities. with perhaps less kite-fighting and more dancing. another gorgeous day with beautiful weather and good company. what more could you ask for?

well, maybe just a little breeze.