Hyderabad is a city where women are almost equal to men – even in flying kites, a traditional sport. Not many women are experts, but they enjoy flying kites during the seasonal kite festival – ‘Sankranthi’. The festival gathers people of all age groups on rooftops to engage in kite flying.
In rural areas, most women participate in preparing traditional dishes (Pongal, Ariselu, Sakinalu and many more) and put colorful rangoli in front of their house doors. In Hyderabad, the same things are done by women, but they also participate in flying kites with great enthusiasm like men.
The kite flying experts in the family (brothers, husband, father, male friends) won’t give their kites to especially their family members like sisters and mother. They ask you either to hold the reel (charak) or to bring the delicious food items that are prepared for this festival, but will not give their kite to you: nothing wrong with them as they are completely involved in kite fights.
What you should do?
- Choose a kite that is light in weight. Don’t take a kite that is big in size and heavy to lift.
- Choose a corner place on the rooftop. Stay away from kites of others who are flying kites from the same rooftop.
- Don’t use manja before you get the basic skills of flying kite. It may hurt your fingers. Use only plain thread.
- Ask the flying expert to raise your kite initially. Later, if you think it is flying well, take the thread, release it, pull it, hold it, do whatever you want to do. Have fun by flying it high.
- If your kite is not flying properly, attach a big paper tail to it.
- Flying kites is enjoyable, but you enjoy more watching kite fights that are going on in the sky.
Basic precautions
- Be prepared before you reach the rooftop. Wear light color dress, apply sunscreen lotion to prevent tanning.
- Wear sunglasses for comfort vision.
- Don’t get on to the roof tanks or top of anything that seems dangerous.
- Don’t try to catch others kites, others thread & even the kites that are cut.
- While flying kites, watch behind you – especially the railings of rooftop.
What to expect?
As kite flying is the festival of youth, all the rooftops are mostly covered by boys. They may comment or shout at you. Don’t care, just ignore them. Even if they want to get into kite fights, ignore them and stay away from their kites. You just enjoy your kite flying.
Lastly, we would like to say that, Sankranthi in Hyderabad is the time to rejoice and enjoy to the fullest extent. Many people in Hyderabad consider kite flying as a stress buster. Women either working/home-maker find it a good tension reliever. So, all the ladies and girls of Hyderabad, have fun in flying kites during this festival.
You may also like to read:
- Choosing a Good Hyderabadi Kite and Related Accessories – For Beginners
- Getting Your Kite Ready to Fly – The Art of Tying the Thread to Kite Simplified
- Places to Buy Good Kites and Manjas in Hyderabad
- Understand the Kite Flying Jargon Used in Hyderabad