/ARTS WEEKLY/PAKISTAN: Kite-Flying Heralds Spring’s Arrival, Can be Lethal

By Zofeen Ebrahim Reprint | | Print |

Zofeen Ebrahim

LAHORE, Pakistan, Feb 24 2004 (IPS) - Colourful paper kites heralding the onset of spring dot the sky above this ancient fort city and provincial capital in a traditional celebration, for which authorities temporarily lifted a ban against kite-flying.

The government has permitted kite flying – an obsession in much of the country but nowhere more so than in the centuries-old walled inner city of this sprawling metropolis on the Punjab plains – for one month that ended Feb. 20 over objections from religious figures and the local power company.

In fact, Lahore is at its glorious best in February. "While it is celebrated in the entire subcontinent and now even in a desert like Dubai, none can match Lahore’s festivities," remarked Kamran Lashari, former director general of the parks and horticulture authority, Lahore.

At issue is the one festival of the year that fun-loving Lahoris can claim as theirs. Basant, as the event is known, is marked in many parts of the South Asian subcontinent. But it is here that dazzling kite displays – from daylight duels to nighttime, floodlit aerial ballets – have come to define the festival.

The event also has been unique in that it does not distinguish between the rich and poor, as all one requires to participate is a kite, a ball of string, and one’s loved ones.

For the rest of the year, since 2003 however, kite flying has been prohibited on the grounds that it wreaks havoc with the city’s electricity supply – power lines and kite string become snarled, and the metal wire or powdered-glass encrusted twine used by many kite duelers can cause damage or trigger short-circuits or fires. Every year, about a dozen fatalities and numerous injuries are reported as the duelers’ twine, designed to slice through opponents’ kite-flying string, cuts nearby children and other unsuspecting bystanders.

"While one can’t deny that there are some crazy elements who are using these strings, but I suspect it is being blown out of proportion by the spoilsports (referring to the mullah mindset). They want to take away every shred of enjoyment that they can from the people. While there is no denying that safety issues need to be handled, we have to accept that like any other sport, accidents happen in this sport as well," remarked Lashari.

Religious figures, too, have disapproved of kite flying as an un-Islamic distraction, and of the duels in particular as an opportunity for wagering. But the sport has endured, perpetuated by an obsession that many describe as rivaling locals’ enthusiasm for the game of cricket.

Even so, some complain that big business has sapped Basant of its spontaneity and old-world charm. The festival used to be a one-day affair involving family and friends on the rooftop. But local and multinational corporations now sponsor events for days on end.

”There are printouts of schedules given of how one is to spend the two days and two nights, which haveli (inner city mansion) to visit, what musical programmes one is invited to. Earlier we would just hop from one party to another, especially if we’d finish with our stock of kites. Sometimes, if we had the energy, even gate crash and borrow something (suitable) to wear, ” said one avid young kite flier.

”But now people prepare for everything. Even good old home-made food has replaced the one ordered from caterers," he lamented.

The hotel industry and airlines have jumped on the bandwagon, offering special Basant packages.

Mian Yusuf Salahuddin, a Lahore socialite who has also helped draw international attention to the festivities, holds Basant events at his inner-city ‘haveli’ known as the Baroodkhana.

”All my friends and friends of friends are welcome as long as they can behave themselves,” he said, adding that his events are open to all classes.

Salahuddin agreed that the spring festivities have changed and says this is for the better.

”It has grown bigger but look at it this way, it has brought in its wake immense economic dividends for the poor in the inner city environs like the food vendors, the transporters, the kite and string makers,” he said.

The Lahore Electric Supply Co (LESCO) sees the affair as a loss-maker, however. It began a campaign last month to make people aware of the hazards of using metal wire and of kite flying itself.

A LESCO spokesman said the company suffered losses exceeding nine million rupees (156,000 dollars) in the first two weeks of February from power-service disruptions and grid damage attributed to kite flying.

"While we’re not against the cultural event or people having a good time, but it should not be at the expense of human lives and loss to government," he said.

To limit power failures due to kite flying with metallic wire, LESCO has covered some of its equipment with guard wires and nets. It also has organised patrols to nab fliers who use metallic wire and to hand them over to the police.

Among its many suggestions, LESCO has proposed kite-flying should be done only in parks and strict punitive measures taken on those who flout the ban.

"That’s preposterous!" exclaimed a young mother. "The parks disallow any kind of sport for the young ones. They can’t play cricket and small kids are not even allowed to ride their three wheelers. You think they would allow groups of young people to just come and fly kites?" She has her doubts.

Lashari too calls it "too artificial" a location. "This is a rooftop sport, it’s been one for centuries. You don’t have parks in the walled city, and you can’t force people to come out from their homes and go to parks."

So while the authorities and the people duel among themselves and have endless arguments on whether there should be a ban on just kite-flying Basant, whether it is an un-Islamic festival or a cultural extravaganza or pure revelry and merrymaking, one has to concede to its downside – the fatalities it brings in its wake.

These harmless paper kites cause deaths, mostly of young children – and the cause of death is the special strings carrying razor-like metal strips and abrasives (made of powdered glass) designed to slice through an opponent’s string but which can cause severe injury to unsuspecting bystanders.

So what is needed is, as the LESCO representative said, "regularisation". But how? A question everyone is grappling with.