Kites began to fly in Indian sky with the rosy envious cold of January till December (whole year round)! In Gujarat, they celebrate the festival of ‘Uttarayan’ the solar ingress into Capricorn in mid-January. They exchange kites along with sweets. They arrange special kiting competitions. Its commentary is broadcasted on the All India Radio. The cut-throat competition: The participant kite-fliers come together with their flying kites. They try to cut each other kites. They are well equipped with their kiting thread called ‘Manjha’. It a very sharp thread specially prepared for cutting each other’s kites. When one kite is let loose or pulled tight on other thread it acts as knife to cut the thread, may be ‘Manjha’ of the rival kite! It gives more joy when we see the kites fighting each other and are described with flying words on the radio commentary! ‘Basant Panchami’ festival is colorfully celebrated in northern part. Rich harvests are promising in the fields, the skies are clear and deeper blue; the people are free from routine harvest work; they with utmost enthusiasm fly kites. The festival has a special significance in Punjab. Here the folks come out on their houses wearing yellow-clothes to fly kites. On the ‘Holi’ festival they fly giant kites called ‘tukkals’ (Sky Lab Kite) and shurlis’. The kite-flying sport is at its peak at the time of ‘Nirjala’-a month long kite held at Agra. The fair which starts on the ‘Ganga Dassera’ day, traces its origin to the Mughal days. The people gather in gardens with charkhis (spools) and patangs (kites) and their hearts ’seemed to be tied with the strings of the kites flying in Nazir Akbarabadi.       back