As a colourful kite soars, darts, dives and dips in the sky buffeting the wind with its colourful tail fluttering behind it, it has always construed symbolic images for everyone. For the person flying it, it’s an ethereal connection between sky and land, lending a sense of soaring freedom, of unbridled joy. To many, it’s the coming of spring, of rain, of festivals, a coming of age of sorts.

There are enjoyable and relaxing aspects of flying a kite at any time and not just during the festive season. Many just enjoy watching it fly in the sky, the subtle artistry of color and movement. For some kite flying feels like controlling an almost-living creature at the end of the line as it swoops, darts and jumps about!

For many, kite flying is a memory of childhood. For some, it was part of the family culture. Many made their own paper kites to fly every year at festival times, as they simply could not afford to buy one. For some, this childhood obsession has continued to be a lifelong passion. Only those who truly have flown kites all their lives understand this connection with these messengers of the wind.

Many feel kite flying is something you are born with and that you have to train at an early age to sharpen your skills. There are some for who kite flying is an obsession, and some love to fly kites occasionally.

The following kite flying video captures this free spirit and shows what a great hobby, pastime it can be.

For people in Ahmedabad, kite flying is a serious sport during the Makara Sankranti time. People here do not fly kites in open grounds but on rooftops of their homes. The kite flying enthusiasts stay on the rooftops from early morning till night. Meals and snacks are sent up in trays and are had in between flying the kites.

Young, old, all rooftop fliers have a reasonable degree of kite flying skills; they all simply gather on rooftops to enjoy the holiday spirit. Many make it a point to return home for this festival just to be a part of these celebrations. There are kite fights too, where novice kite fliers give up soon when their kites get cut. But the experienced fliers skillfully continue, till their sport till only the champion kite fliers remain. Along with kite flying, there is warmth, light- hearted banter, chatter, everyone is relaxed and enjoying the sport.

The process of flying a kite is so simple, the line or the thread is pulled to get the kite in the air, and then it is allowed to climb to a great height by getting more of the line out around 500ft from the fukri and then trying to keep it airborne by tugging the line with the fingers!

On this day the youngest children in the family are given a special shaped kite called the ‘Babla kite’. This kite has a human shape, and it has the appearance of a small child. These kites are not flown, but are for mere decoration.

Special Babla Kites

The science behind kite flying is explained simply and clearly in the diagram below.


Kite Fights:
An interesting aspect of kite flying is the ‘paitch’ or ‘patang baazi’. This is a mid air dual of two kites, in which both the kite flyers vie to cut the kite string of the other. The Indian fighter kites are of medium size, 1ft to 4ft across. Kite fight is no ordinary sport and certainly not for the fainthearted. Paitchs are a matter of skill, honor. Many times the seasoned kite flyer would stick a 10, 20 or 50 rupee note to his kite, which in a way talks about the person’s confidence in his skill!

Ahmedabad is well known for kite fights or kite matches -‘pench’ as it is called in Gujarati. Here as much as kites are flown for pleasure, people showcase their skills in cutting the opponent’s kite during these matches.

The kites are bought shrewdly tested for balance, before the kite fights. The experts engage in this kind of ‘patang baazi’ with lot of competence. The age of the contestants, the kite flying experience, the tactics that they employ, the patience, the cunning, the ingenuity in employing surprise moves, the deftness of the wrists all plays a major role in the kite combats.

Apart from the smart play that the kite flyers employ, other elements like the wind factor, the aspect of luck, the weather, all play an important role.

During the festive season of Makara Sankranthi, when all the kite fights take place, there are many points to consider. One of them is using the coloured manjha; the purpose of using bright colours in the manjha is to be able to identify one’s own kite line where a large number of kites are flying in the sky. Manjha threads are more expensive than plain cotton threads. The kite flyers can sense on the forefingers their hands, the variations in pressure of the kite line. An experienced kite flyer can tell if the kite has come in contact with another line if the contact is passive or aggressive and also identify the precise position and direction of the opponent’s kite.

Another aspect that the kite flyers take care of before a fight is to protect their fingers with layers of band-aids, or even necks of bottles. This is important as the fight involves vigorous maneuvering of the manjha coated line, and this sharp glass coating can easily cut the fingers while flying the kite.

Cuts on fingers by the glass coated ‘manjha’ flying thread despite being wrapped in Band-aid

The kite fights take place mostly on the day of Makara Sankranti, when there are a large number of kites in the sky. Since on this day it is a free for all kind of flying, one cannot know the level of the opponent!

The best matches happen when the contestants are equally matched. When the two kites are not matched incompetence, the fight is over in a matter of seconds. When the fliers are equally proficient, a closely paired match lasts about 10 minutes, sometimes up to 20 minutes. The strongest flier always looks for a challenging game.

During a kite fight the flier sees to it that the kite doesn’t stay still, like a target or a sitting duck, but makes it jump, swoop about in the vast sky, avoiding getting cut and also like a predator, searching to cut other kites. In a kite fight the flyer uses the kite in a combative and restless mode, similar to fighting a battle, to find victory, and a place of pride in the sky.

Since most of the fliers are on the rooftops, there is intense concentration on the faces of the kite fliers. Sometimes there is wordless communication, co-operation, and teamwork which brings in excellent flying experiences. One person could be holding the reel, while the other lets out the string, launching the kite skyward and expertly controlling the kite’s flight.

The following two images indicate this teamwork.


There are so many kites flying overhead, the mass of lines crisscrossing every which way, that it is impossible to trace a kite back to the owner. Many kites fly at the end of 300 to 400 feet of kite line, some fly as much as 1000 feet when there is so much density of kites in the air. The kites dance rhythmically back and forth in their customary movement, and even if there is no wind, the kites are coaxed into the sky with short, crisp jerks to the flying line.

The experts know how to deftly move the wrists which cuts a kite mercilessly. The wounded kite slowly spirals and flops to the ground. Each time a kite is cut a cheer, ‘Kaade ,kai po che’ is yelled by the victor. (This loosely translates as ‘ a kite is cut’ in Gujrati. In North India ‘Bo kata’ is the term used). The cut kites are not just left lying on the ground, they usually get grabbed by children who follow the kite fights and keep a lookout for them, and they grab their booty as soon as they fall to the ground!

Such is the enthusiasm of kite fliers on the day of Makara Sankranthi that the kites are like wrestlers, fighting to cut the opponent’s kite thus proving the superiority of the kite flying skills. Some hardcore kite fliers, when they meet exchange notes about grips, holds, some devious techniques, to navigate their kites in the sky, all gathered from years of experience.

Like all sports kite fights too have unwritten codes of conduct when they happen on rooftops, which are followed by all fliers.

They are 1. When two kites tangle each other in a fight for supremacy, a third kite will not enter the contest, and everyone waits their turn. 2. It is not considered fair to cut the kite’s cotton flying line; the cut must be made on the opponent’s ‘manjha’ part of the line only, ‘glass on glass’.

There are 3 different ways of kite fighting.
1. Fighting on a one-to-one basis: This is usually fought between kite flying experts in professional or regulation matches. In such matches, the same configuration of kite-light, medium or high wind kites are launched at the same time from the same area, with 100 to 1000 feet of flying line released into the sky before one or the other attacks. Kites at that great distance may or may not even be visible, but the game rule is that the fight continues despite non-visibility and relies on expertise till one or the other kite is cut.

2. Team fighting: The fight is between two teams of eleven members each, mostly at designated areas free of electric wires. The duration of the fight is also decided and can vary from an hour to all day long. During this time, both the teams fly the kites simultaneously so there are 22 kites minus one or two, flying in the sky. When a kite gets cut, one is allowed to launch another one. At the end of the designated time, the number of kites that got cut is counted to determine which team won.

3. Open fighting: This type of fight happens during the height of the kite-flying season when the sky is filled with a large number of kites. The angle and position of the flying line are the main criteria for entering the contest. Since these conditions are dependent on the direction of the wind currents, people do not fight with the kites that are flying ahead or behind. The two persons signal each other for the contest to start and no third party enters this duel.

Kite flying hazards:
Also when the kite gets cut, it could be anywhere along the fling line, and the line left attached to the cut kite is lost. The cut kite along with the line could get tangled over trees, telephone lines electricity wires, or could land neatly on land, which is claimed by young boys and girls who roam around the streets, trying to capture cut kites.

A number of cut kites tangled in a tree

Kite flying with the manjha can be dangerous too. When the kite line swoops towards the ground, it could injure persons standing on the rooftops, or streets and more so cyclists and people on motorbikes. Every flying season, there are incidents about people’s throats getting cut, which is the most dangerous aspect of this sport.

Sometimes the manjha and also the nylon thread that is used to fly the kites are dangerous for birds and there are scores of incidents when birds get entangled in these threads and are injured and even killed. Hence sometimes, prohibitory orders are issued banning the use of nylon thread and manjha, during the kite-flying season, in January, by local administrators. 

Passion for kite flying:
The really serious kite flyers in India feel that the kites are an extension of themselves; they feel spiritually connected to them. Only the truly dedicated enjoy the intricate manipulation with their fingers and the coordination between the eyes and the fingers. They feel one with the entire process of flying a kite for hours together. To be glued to the sky and the supple movement of the fingers is a part of life for some of the kite fliers. Their hearts leap in delight and are thrilled no end to be just flying kites. They rely on the sensations that reach their fingers, the subtle, to the tension of a tangle. Through the fingers they experience the wind, and also the instinct to survive in the kite fights. Some feel that words cannot express these feelings and that though feel the excitement, they cannot put it into proper words.

The serious kite fliers are attuned to the fliers around. In a sky with hundreds of kites flying, only the truly involved can sense the difference between an experienced kite flier and a novice one.

Once the kite flier develops a taste for it, they spend a lot of time flying kites for 8, to 10 hours without getting bored or tired. Kite flying in fact becomes a passion and many have carried this forward for 10, or 20 years!

Night flying:
The really hardcore kite flyers have tried flying kites at night times too when nothing is visible! To aid the flying, they attach objects like a piece of fabric, or slips of paper at regular intervals on the string so that when the kite line is pulled, a distinctive buzzing sound is made.

The following two images show the paper lanterns that are sometimes used to fly at dusk on the day of Makara Sankranthi. There is a provision at the base of the paper lantern to hold a tea light candle, which when light brings a warm glow to the lantern.


Also on the festive days of Makara Sankranthi, after the whole day of flying kites and kite fights, once the night sets in the mood mellow. The kite lines now carry colourful candlelit paper lanterns, which are suspended at intervals along the flying line. The sky as it darkens is filled with these coloured flickering lights at various heights giving a very festive look. Some flyers now let the lantern bearing kites lose, and they continue to fly upward thus bringing the day of kite frenzy to a beautiful end, till the next year.

These lanterns too are of different types. The following images show how everyone gathers around to bid adieu to the lighted paper lanterns, and how they slowly rise up into the sky.


As the day turns to dusk, these lighted paper lanterns raise up and up dotting the darkening sky like stars. The sky turns into a magical space; there is silence and the people gathered on the rooftops gaze admiringly at this sparkling scenario and thus silently bade goodbye to the Makara Sankranthi festivities.

The following images present these magical moments.


Sometimes fire-crackers too are burst around this time of the evening which adds more glitter to the skies, as seen in the image below!


The kite flying passion and the festivities of this day are captured in the following video.