PATANG

The stalls lining the main roads are stacked with kites of every colour for the patang festival - the frame is made of bamboo and the thin paper is then stretched tightly over this shape.  I watched the kite string being prepared - it's dipped in a mixture of glue and powdered glass and then spun and rolled into large balls of either pink or yellow.

The Society organised an evening party to celebrate the two day Uttarayan kite festival - the children will be up early on the 14th January to prepare their kites and everyone will crowd onto all available terraces to compete with each other and try and cut the string of their opponent.  Patang sweets have been available for days - square blocks of peanut and sesame seed brittle, which is a treat eaten only at this time of year !  The Old City on the night of the 14th, is spectacular with the evening sky filled with kites and also lit, chinese paper lanterns, which float gradually upwards on the air currents.

Of course the patang festival of Uttarayan celebrates the return of the sun to the northern hemisphere and the end of winter.  Since the winter only lasts about 4 weeks in Gujarat, celebrating the return of the scorching days of summer, is a questionable pleasure.  The little gap of cool weather, makes this state of India bearable, even if it is far too short !  But the atmosphere of carnival and colour is beguiling and carts selling brightly coloured party stuff, add to the celebratory atmosphere.

Interestingly, many festivals cut across the cultural divide, corresponding with similarly timed festivals in other countries, like the Carnival in Italy, which begins on 2nd February,  preceding Lent on the 13th.

A TORNADO OF MONKEYS

This seems an appropriate collective noun for the troop of monkeys which tore through the quiet suburban gated complex.

A winter afternoon in Gujarat - the unaccustomed freshness of air was welcome after 11 months of searing heat.   Although the temperatures hover around 25 C, the local people are usually kitted out in sweaters, balaclavas and even ear muffs, while those of us from Europe, find the temperature pleasant enough for a T-shirt and switch off the fans for the first time in the year.

The afternoon is a quiet time for enjoying the warm sunshine, but this troop of monkeys saw otherwise - like a gang of destructive teenagers, they exploded onto the scene, racing up the thin stemmed garden shrubs and trees and using the swaying branches to pole-vault and trampoline onto the rooftops of parked cars, making as much noise as possible, fearful of nobody and game for anything.  Tearing branches off trees, scattering leaves every where in rampant destruction and making a mockery of the morning spent sweeping and cleaning the porches and forecourt.  Their energy and flexibility was a spectacle of sheer audacity. Leaping from iron gates to upper floor terraces and then thundering down onto the concrete below, in a show of acrobatics and athletic antics.

With a final burst of speed, they wrapped up the 20 minute show and shot off.

                                       
                                         "Mum's the word, but where did I get my ears from?"