Date:	Tue, 22 Feb 1994 21:12:10 -1000
From:	tiwarin@nvtcp1.esm.vt.edu (Nachiketa Tiwari)
Message-Id: <2kevka$biq@solaris.cc.vt.edu>
Organization: Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia
Subject: KITES IN INDIA

Flying kites in India is a passion. People fly these things in literally  
millions. On the day of Makar Samkranti (14th Jan), there are very kite  
festivals in sevearl big Indian cities. Some of these are: Jaipur,  
Hyderabad, Ahemdabad, Delhi, Lucknow. On this day, every individual buys  
50-60 kites, and flies them.

One difference between Indian kites and the American kites concerns  
maneauverability (spelling???). While the latter are large and more fancy,  
the former are small but more controllable. So you can control the  
movements of an Indian kite much more easily. Further, you can fly it in  
almost zero wind conditions. I know this from personal experience.

The other difference concerns the objective of flying kites. In India,  
people fly kites and compete against each other. The cord attached to the  
kite is in two parts: Saddhaa and Manjaa. The latter part has a sharp  
cutting edge, since it is covered with a very thin coating of glass  
powder. However, Manjaa is weak in tensile strength. The Saddhaa is  
attached to the kite behind the Manjaa. Sadhhaa has no cutting edge, but  
it is very strong. 

So, when the kites of two (or more) guys come near, both the guys entangle  
their kite-cords and try to cut each others cords. This is called "Doing  
Pench". Over the course of time, people have developed certain strategies  
to achieve this end. So, a kite flier in India will be considered "expert"  
if he/she can cut a very large no. of other kite's cord with just one  
single kite. I can cut 5 kites in a row (on an average) with one kite. So  
I am not an expert. had this no. been close to 10, then I would have been  
considered an expert.

There is another very interesting thing. It is known as "Dangal". It is a  
term for flying kites, when your kite is very far away from your hand. If  
the kite is approx 200-400 meters away from the hand, and the guy is  
trying to do "Pench", then we call it as Dangals. It is equivalent of  
1000m dash. This requires a lot of skill.

Another interesting thing is flying kites in the night. I have seen this  
only in Jaipur. The kite is tied to a dangling candle in such a way that  
the candle does not burn up the kite. Also, the candle is protected so  
that the breeze does not blow it off. Now, with great care, the kite is  
launched into air. When the kite is far from your hand, you can control  
the movement of kites by seeing the burning candle light. If the shining  
speck in the dark night goes down, you try to raise the mean level of  
kite, and vice versa. The sight of hundreds of floating candles in a dark    
night is just awesome. The more daring (not a whole lot) try to do "Pench"  
even in the night. It is great fun.

I hope this would have been happy reading for you.

Nachiketa


 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =