Kite. Flying

The Telegraph reports from the ground a little business about the skies

Moumita Chaudhuri   |   published 16.01.22, 12:01 AM

Days ahead of Makar Sankranti, the closing day of Poush on the indigenous calendar, the market off Bichali Ghat in southwest Calcutta's Metiabruz is aflutter with ghuris, or kites. There are kites of all shapes and sizes, with tail, without tail, with photographs of Aamir Khan and Salman Khan, cartoon characters Motu, Patlu, Doraemon and the like.

There are rows of kite retail outlets on both side of the street. The wood ends of the latais, or kite reels, will also be considered sticking out of the shelves. a toddler seems and asks for some manjha and the shopkeeper complies. He slowly rolls the white thread onto the latai after which a brown-colored string over it. "be cautious, your fingers will bleed if you touch that," he says.

Manjha is glass filth combined with chemical compounds and lined onto the thread. it's what offers one kite the cutting edge over many others and rather literally too.

Metiabruz kites promote in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh. they are flown on Independence Day in every single place India, on Vishwakarma Puja all over the place Bengal, and on Makar Sankranti within the northern and western parts of the country. they're additionally sent to Pakistan and Bangladesh, the united kingdom and the us. It looks in London, little ones are taught to fly kites in college.

There are so many retailers promoting kites in Metiabruz, but where are the kite makers? "everybody makes them in their homes," says Syed Mohammad Reza, a kite exporter.

in one of the lanes, Javed Akhtar and Taiyab Hussain are busy making kites. On one facet lies stacks of red tissue paper cut into diamond shapes. Taiyab is fixing bamboo sticks onto these — one horizontal and the different vertical — and passing them to Javed, who is then fixing the tail.

Thadda is the vertical stick that maintains a kite constant and kamani is the horizontal one that steers the kite in a undeniable route.

"I should be sure that the thadda and the kamani are placed correctly," says Taiyab. "each and every artisan makes 600 kites in a single day," says Javed.

no one can say how a long time in the past the kite business begun in Metiabruz but all and sundry is aware of snatches of how it evolved. Says Reza, who is in his sixties, "When my father received into the enterprise of making and selling kites in 1964, the culture already existed. If the kite business had to be taken to the subsequent level, in which kites could be exported, then it was vital to enhance the excellent of bamboo used."

The bamboo that grows in Bengal is heavy and stiff. It doesn't bend readily and most effective adds to the burden of the kites. The Assam bamboo is hollow, and the sticks are narrower and greater flexible in nature. So, Reza's father all started sourcing Assam bamboo.

The paper comes from Delhi and Mumbai. "it is of a very best first-rate and normally made in the paper mills of Mumbai," says Javed, when he at last appears up from his work. He slaps glue on the paper after which together with his thumb and forefinger repair the triangle-formed tail onto it with a big faucet adopted with the aid of many small faucets.

Pure cotton thread comes from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh. "as soon as the glue dries, the kites ought to be framed with very fine but sturdy cotton thread. Or else the kite will tear without difficulty when it goes up in the air," explains Javed.

The job of framing the kite with thread is performed via girls. He provides, "They do it at home and ship it lower back to us. it's a very excellent and delicate paintings. We rely upon the women to finish it with their nimble fingers."

but the manjha makers are missing from the scene. "you're going to no longer discover any person now. they have all long past away to Ahmedabad," says Reza. It seems, these days, kite traders discover it more cost-effective to hire artisans from Metiabruz, take them to Gujarat and make the kites there. "Assembling in Metiabruz after which transportation adds to the charge," he says.

however the manjha comes from China, no? Newspaper experiences are replete with references to the killer "chinese manjha". Kaif says, "there's nothing called chinese language manjha. The chemical polish is one and the equal it's used on cotton threads. most effective the thread is distinctive."

He brings out small reels of thread — amazing, nice and glossy — in eco-friendly, blue, black, brown... "this is nylon. It is strong and may provide a tough time to kites strung on general cotton thread. this could no longer break conveniently and in fact in no way with the chemical polish on it," he provides.

And yes, they're dangerous, which is why they have got been banned however are nonetheless available in stores for other use. reminiscent of? "it's used for sewing and repairing fishing nets, stitching the uniforms of jawans, tying bidis, making embellishes with beads and different craft work. It has always been there out there." 

Out of the market area and close to the leading road of Bichali Ghat, there is a green patch the place Assam bamboos have been put out within the sun. They look like a whole bunch of sunbathing porcupines. Reza says with pride, "The Assam bamboo has been good for our business. Our kite trade now has an annual turnover of Rs 5 to 10 crores."