Makarasankranti - The festival of Kites !
Recently my friend Neelu (from my Baroda days) and her husband Amit had been to our place and I was telling Raghav and Amit that we should go to Baroda during the Navratri. The colourfulness , people dressing up in their traditional best and the garba dance -how a city can become alive in the night and how one gets transported to a almost different and a fantasy world is something that needs to be witnessed to be believed.
And as I was talking to him about Navratri, he says - Yes. And I also want to go to Baroda during that kite flying festival .
That touched a chord ! How could I have ever forgotten about the kite flying festival of Uttrayana or Makarasanktranti in Gujarat !
Sankranthi means transmigration of Sun from one Rāshi (zodiac in Indian astrology) to the other. Hence there are 12 such Sankrantis in all. However, the Sankranthi festival usually refers to Makara Sankaranti, or the transition of the Sun from Dhanu rashi (Sagittarius) to Makara rashi (Capricorn). This festival is also called Uttrayana which means- "Uttara( meaning North ) Ayana( Going )" - the start of the "northward journey of the sun ".
There is another significance of this day - after this day the days start becoming longer and warmer and thus the chill of winter declines.
Every year 14th and 15th Jan is a holiday in Gujarat. The build up for the festival begins a good 2-3 months earlier to the actual festival. The Kite makers start making their kites and beautiful , colourful kites start hanging on the rims of the small shops.
Along with the kites , a critical part of the Kite flying is the string to which the kite is tied. These strings are themselves made of different colours and very importantly are mixed with "glass powder". This is so that, it can be used as an effective weapon in cutting other people's kite. 
Though, nothing can prepare you for the josh, excitement, colourfulness, fun and gaeity of the 14th of Jan. Kite flying begins at sunrise for most of the gujratis. And Oh ! How beautiful the sky looks on that day. Check this out -
Along with the kite flying , comes a very intense competition among the kite flyers on how long does one's kite remain in the sky or who's kite is the strongest of all. Kite flyers challenge other kite flyers to get into a tussle with them . And the fight starts. Both the kite flyers manoeuvre and guide their kites to entangle the string of the other person's kite and eventually cut it. And after a small struggle, one kite starts flying off in the air aimlessly. There is jubiliation on the winning side, coz not only the kite flyers but the whole gang of people around them are having fun.
And do you think the game ends there. Hell no ! The next interesting part is to catch the orphaned kite that is now wandering aimlessly. Judging the direction of the wind , and predicting which way the kite will go and eventually fall, would be a bunch of young children - ever ready to pounce on the "fallen" kite ( pun intended ) :). And finally the caught kites would go back in to the kitty of their family or friends who would be using it for their next kite match.
Fun - colour and life is what you get to see on this festival.
If you ever get a chance to go to Baroda or Ahmedabad ( or any city of Gujarat for that matter ), dont ever miss to see the beauty of Uttarayan.
Happy Makarsankranti ! :)
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P.S. All the photoes used in this post are from the site - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Uttarayan-Festival-Kite-Flying-Day - I profoundly acknowledge and express my gratitude to those who have put up these pictures on this facebook group . These pictures brought out profound memories of the wonderful festival and these pictures were the only reason, that I could write this post.
Read about the complete article on MakaraSankranti on wikipedia over here. Read more...
