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28 March 2012 By Saeed Qureshi
Those 15 teenagers whom the
Punjab police arrested for kite flying and were later
released on the express order of the Inspector General
Punjab Police did not commit any crime. If our
officialdom and religious zealots have become so
fastidious as to not allow a traditional sport for the
sake of fun and entertainment then we belong to the
pre-historic ages when humans were living in caves and
were wild.
Since each year a few lives
are lost either by falling from the rooftops or
guillotined by the razor sharp string used in kite
flying, the entire game that has been part of the
cultural milieu of the sub-continent for centuries has
been declared as unlawful and banned.
The joy of flying the kites
is doubled as the peasants and farmers are free after
the harvesting and storing the corn and rice in their
makeshift storage facilities. In East Punjab this
festival is celebrated with dazzling festivities when
the revelers drink to their fill, eat the choicest
foods, dance, and sing especially the folklore
mystical and love songs both vocal and with the
instruments. Open air theatres are held that are
attended by large crowds. This is the best season of
the year for the traditional marriages to be
solemnized with exceptional pageantry and glamour.
Kite flying is as old as
the human civilization and is observed with fanfare,
relish, gusto all over the world. In Pakistan the kite
flyers fly the kites made from the bamboo strings and
fine paper and usually are of normal sizes with
multiplicity of colors. However, in the Far Eastern
countries including Japan, Indonesia, and Malaysia and
China, the giant sized kites are used that carry
figures, graphics and designs of animals,
flying insects, birds, and other beasts, both real and
mythical. In the courtiers where the kite
flying is a ritual and a yearly tradition, the kite
flyers, compete, excel and vie with each by making and
flying the most novel and alluring kites.
The kites made and flown in
countries such as Vietnam, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia,
Greece, Cyprus, Chile, India, and China are famous for
their diversity in sizes, for being fanciful, with
gaudy colors and paintings. In China and Japan as
large as 100 foot long kites are made with dragons and
are lifted in the air with great dexterity.
Kite flying in Pakistan is
a popular ritual for the celebration of Jashn-e-Bahar (Spring
Festival) or Basant.
While kite fighting is
the most cherished hobby all around Pakistan, yet
Lahore is the hub of this recreation. During the
spring festival the skies are colored with kites. As
people cut-loose an opponent's kites, the shouts and
shrieks with various epithets ring through the air
from the winning party. The snapped kite that floats
in the space freely are reclaimed by the zealous and
rather bewitched crazy boys running madly along the
flying kite till it falls and is snatched by the
strongest looter.
Most of us must have read
the story of the famous experiment attributed to an 18th
century scientist, Benjamin
Franklin who
proved by the kite flying
that lightning in the
clouds carried the charge of electricity.
He felt that shock in the tether he was holding in his
hand.
There is no religious
injunction that bars or bans this recreation coming
once a year and that rejuvenates the people that go
through a suffocating and conditioned life round the
years. If the two Eid festivals are ceremonies
observed every year with devotion and unfailingly, why
not a cultural festivity that injects once in awhile
fun, pleasure and happiness in the insipid and dull
lives of the citizens should be declared as an
offense.
As far the string that is
lethal and if incidently woven round the beck can
result in an instantaneous death, rules can be framed
to bind the kite flyers that the string or the thread
used in kite-flying should not be
metal or glass-coated. At the same time people
should be warned of not walking causally while the
kite flying competitions are in progress. In this way
while the people would be able to carry out this fun
filled festivity, they would be safe from those rare
fatalities as well.
If the society is averse to
the healthy activities one of which is the games and
physical gymnastics, then we shall have to wind up a
host of other activities too that are more harmful
than this fun generating game that comes once in a
year coinciding with the harvesting of the winter
crops in the Indian sub continent. The period of
Basant or spring is the most exhilarating as the wind
is strong but mild and cool.
The kite flying is not
committing a murder, stealing or stabbing .Even
otherwise fatal road accidents occur every day but it
does not mean that traveling should be declared
unlawful and banned. If kite flying is an offense and
dangerous then we shall have to put a ban on other
similar recreational activates such bull fighting,
cock fighting, dog fighting, swimming, and climbing.
Do the authorities in Pakistan want to turn Pakistan
into land barren of all creative, delightful and
entertaining pursuits?
It was most callous to send
the young boys behind the bar for a kind of sport that
they wait for the whole year and that warms and
thrills their dull and listless lives. If the police
were to arrest the kit flying fans, then they could do
it with adults and not the adolescents who would be
prone to incur a fear and fright for the rest of their
lives and turn paranoid for something which they
perceive simply as a mirthful and fun generating
activity and nothing else. |
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