Articles

  • A FESTIVAL OF FLYING KITES
    One of the best aspects of the world of kiting is that it encompasses the world. Experiencing kites means you travel, or as we say, “go with the wind.” Over the years, we have had the pleasure of learning about kites of various countries and also meeting those special individuals who guide us through these kite encounters. Such is the case of Vijay Nathaniel, whose personal interest in the fighter kites of his country brought him to help with many of the wonderful Desert Kite Festivals orchestrated by his friend Ajay Prakash.
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  • Kite-Making as a Cottage Industry
    It may not look like much, but the shop complex displaying kites in the Jodphur bazaar (above) constitutes one of the largest hand-made kite manufacturing operations in the world. Jodphur is in India's desert state of Rajasthan. Working in a warren of dark, cramped spaces, the Baylim family and some 20 employees produce upwards of four million Indian fighter kites yearly. Using colored paper, bamboo and glue, the workers turn out the kites assembly line-style, with each doing just a designated portion of the cutting, bending, and pasting.
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  • Year 2000 Feted With 'Tangles' in the Sky: A Kite Heaven in the Desert of India
    There's something old and new in the wind! Have you glimpsed them out of the corner of your eye, on the kite festival fields, flying in the skies over parks and beaches? Darting, spinning, bee-like butterflies might be a better description of the diamond shapes sparkling in the sunlight, changing their course, flitting here and there like playful butterflies. That all sounds nice and a pretty picture, too, but it's also an exciting, pulse-pounding experience.
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  • Documenting the Earth from Kites
    If you love kites and are skilled at photography, how do you put the two together to make a vocation? Nicolas Chorier, 37, of Montpellier, France, faced this question a few years ago. His answer was: aerial kite photography.
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  • Maharaja Talks About Kites
    "When the city of Jodhpur joined hands to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Umaid Bhawan Palace in 1993, there were festivities throughout the year," he notes. "One was a kite festival, conceived by myself. The festival was very successful and it got known in the kite world."
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  • Manjha Mania in India's Jaipur City
    Japan has its kite extravaganzas such as Hammamatsu. France presents an unrivaled panoply of the sport at beautiful seaside Dieppe in Normandy. But for sure brio the Makar Sankranti fetival throughout India, and in Jaipur in particular, on January 14 each year is hard to top. On this day, as the sun ascends for the first time into the northern hemisphere, millions of Indians mark a time of rebirth by taking to the rooftop terraces in their cities and towns to fly fighter kites equipped with ground glass cutting lines. The object is to slice another kite-any kite-out of the sky.
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  • Tour Offered for Third Indian "Desert Kite Festival"
    One of the richest and most rewarding kite adventures ever experienced is that of a trip into the heart of India to be a participant in the living heritage of Indian fighter kiting. Members of The Drachen Foundation were guests of the Indian government in January of 1998 and traveled extensively through this Asian country exploring India's passion for and development of the fighter kite. Foundation staff discovered that India is not difficult, but one of the last honest and accessible kite adventures to be explored.
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  • Surprisingly Delightful Trip to India Reveals the Art of Fighter Kiting
    After four trips to China, even I was surprised at my own reluctance to travel to India. I just couldn't convince myself that the positive experiences would outweigh the negative. Horror stories of other group tours did nothing to persuade me that the kites of India were worth the trouble of travel to India.
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  • Book Review: A Kite Journey Through India
    You have to forgive me; every time I pick up a book by Tal Streeter, before reading a word, I turn first to the photographs. I followed this prescription for success with, "A Kite Journey through India" and knew that this was book to rival Streeter's, "The Art of the Japanese Kite". A glance at the book's portfolio of show kites dispelled the notion that all Indian kites were the same, and the intricate geometric paper cuts inspired the patchworker buried within me.
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  • Notes on Fighter-Kite Flying in India
    Because kites were flown extensively in the Indian subcontinent down through the centuries, references to them in literature are frequent, and often piquant. Following is a squib from a section on mid-19th century sports and pastimes in , "Two Kings of Awadh"(a region in the north), by Dr. Safi Ahmad of the Aligarh Muslim University:
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