KITES

Happy Sankranti - always falls on the 14th January - one of the few festivals which is always on the same day.  It marks the sun's ascendency into the Northern Hemisphere and is highly auspicious for Hindus.

She smiled as she described what they would be doing on Friday 14th:  '

"We'll get up late, seeing it's a holiday...eat breakfast...then we'll prepare our kites and go up on the terrace to fly them - all those lovely colours.  I'll wear gloves because the powdered glass in the strings cuts your hands - there'll be music, we'll dance, there'll be firecrackers and we'll eat special sweets made from groundnuts and jaggery - we only ever eat these sweets at this time of year".  With that she produced a jagged piece of candy from her bag for me to taste....she exuded pleasure and the joy of anticipation.

OP Road was lined with people selling kites of every colour, so delicate and gay....the balls of string were sold separately.

I watched as the kites flew overhead - effortlessly floating in the air currents, yellow, white, brilliant purple - they flew so high, attached as they were to an enormous ball of brilliant pink string - a child was desperately trying to get his kite up in the air, his forefinger already bound with plaster from grasping the lethal string too tightly....his parents had  elevated theirs and were gently tugging on the strings, the kites so high up, they appeared as little fragile wisps of coloured paper against the fading blue of the late afternoon sky - everyone gazing upwards craning to watch their progress......