We are ready to fly with our kites

BANGALORE: With Sankranthi around the corner, families have started coming together to prepare for the harvest festival. And kite flying is integral to the festival. In nostalgia, a festival was organised this weekend to kindle the spirit of kite flying.On the premises of Vidyanjali Academy of Learning, R T Nagar, over 100 students brought along their parents and grandparents to learn kite flying. With nostalgic moments taking over, several grandparents shared their knowledge of kite flying with their children. Rekha Reddy, director of the Academy, who organised the festival said: “In this busy world, parents and children have no time for each other. Due to time and space constraints, the tradition of kite flying is fading away in the city. This kite festival took parents and grand parents back to their respective eras and childhood.”Rekha had visited Ludhiana recently and found that children there were enthusiastic about flying kites. She wanted children here too to experience the same joy and excitement. She also found that the material used for making kites were different in various parts of the country. Rekha said, “Material available here is very fragile and is torn very easily. I bought over a hundred kites from Ludhiana and distributed them to children at Vidyanjali. Children also contributed their share of kites by making several kites under guidance of Ramesh Babu. ”Ramesh Babu is a scientist by profession but is a record holder in flying kites; having flown the largest kite single-handedly. He taught the children the art of building kites and shared with them the technique of kite-flying.  Bangalore hosts an annual kite flying festival in the city but this festival gave people a start to the festive spirit.