Kite Runner

In Pushkar, Rajasthan state of India, I was walking down the street. Suddenly I heard kids' voice above. I saw that they flew a kite on the roof top of the building nearby. I was back to a hotel and looked over all the town from the terrace. One, two, three ... many kites were spotting in the blue sky. I traced the lines. I saw kids drawing the line on the roof top.

'So why everybody fly a kite?' I asked kids about it. They told me there would be held the annual kite festival in mid January. They had less than a month to the festival. That's the reason why they were so serious to drawing the line.
The kite shops opened in the old town, and kids hung around there. At the shop kids would buy a kite which had been long for, then back home holding it tightly. Would go up to the roof top. Later on, it's their training time for the kite festival.
Looks like they got full support by the families. Parents tried to find a good timing to release it. A house keeper poked the kite on the brunch with a stick. Some kite were already trapped by the cable before the festival. All of those pictures related with a kite can be a winter sketch of this town.

I recall the novel which mentions a kite competition. It's titled "The Kite Runner" by Afghan author, Khaled Hosseini. A heartbreaking story of two Afghan boys who spent childhood together in Kabul 1960s' then were torn by the civil war. The key of the story was "Kite Festival" which is held in January in the town.
I had thought the "Kite Runner" meant the running kids trying to capture good wind for the kite. But it's not correct. Kids chasing a falling kite which is cut off the line in the kite battle, who is called Kite Runner. On the kite competition day, they have a battle not only in the sky but also on the ground.

The interesting point is that January is the season for a kite in Japan too. When I was kids, I bought a paper crafted kite at a candy store in new year's school break. I had to do some additional work. I pasted long newspaper strip tail on it. Then I headed to a vacant lot or absent rice paddies with it.
We also had many kite competition in January all over the country. And now I try to recall once again if we had custom chasing a kite. Maybe not.

Even thousands miles lies between Afghanistan and Japan, we have similar culture about kite. So do in India? Why not. That's why I could accept the scenery about kite in Pushkar quite naturally.
Even though we, Indian and Japanese, have difference in features. I found many common points in culture and mentality. We must have a same base as Asian.

So, is there a kite runner in India. I don't know. The answer must be in the kite festival. It's held in this very weekend.