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| Yasin in Jammu to revive kite glory | | | Munish Gupta
Jammu, Aug 13
The diminishing Kite flying can be revived in Jammu, provided the concerned people put in some extra efforts, said Yasin Bhai, renowned kite expert of the country, who was here in connection with the 2 day Kite Festival organized by the Tourism Department in collaboration with the related Trade Unions and Associations.
This initiative of the State Tourism Department for promoting heritage tourism in the State served twin purpose of conveying to people, not only of the State, but even from different parts of the country and abroad that kite flying is a traditional sport and intangible cultural heritage of the sub-continent, but also that peace is flying back to to the State.
A team comprises of five members kite-fliers from Ahmedabad has come there and showed their talents in Kite flying. One of the members named Yasin Bhai, who has a family history of making and flying kites throughout the country, was of the opinion that the local kite manufacturers have to come forward to revive the age old tradition in this part of the country.
Talking to Early Times correspondent , Rasool said that he and his family did a lot for the pupularisation of the kite flying sport not only in his home state of Gujarat, but throughout the country by organising kite festivals and through other means.
The one way to create interest among the local populace is to fly kites during the days other than the traditional seasons like Raksha Bandan and Janamashtami. Local manufacturers, who are facing great hardships, should organise small kite events in the off seasons, so that kite flying season continues throughout the year, Papu another member of the team.
While, on the other hand, Jagdish, who has changed his 50 years old kite manufacturing business, said, “I was forced to wind-up my business to start something else to meet my both ends", adding that at present there is only 15 to 20 days season in the year. So, it was quite difficult to survive on just a fortnight long season and that too not so encouraging, he further said.
In fact, the downfall in the business started a decade back during the nineties. Thereafter, the sale-graph started downward journey even after the population of Jammu increased many fold.
However, the trend of kite flying has seen a shift over the years. Who can vouch for this better than senior citizens?
Ratan Lal, , says, “Earlier, all kids, college-going boys and even men used to get together in open grounds or rooftops of their houses and share great fun in flying kites. It used to be a great social gathering. But now, you don’t see youngsters flying kites any more. It is only children who do so, but that too in villages or in old parts of the cities. You would hardly see any such activity in the posh areas of the city”.
This change in trend, values, preferences and time has taken its toll on people engaged in making and selling kites.
Director Tourism,. S. M. Sahni said that the main aim behind organising the first-ever kite festival in Jammu was to create interest among the young generation. He said, "somehow, we have succeeded in spreading the message and also tried to convince people that kite flying is not only a means of entertainment, but also stretches the muscles and is a good exercise as well".
In the near future, the department shall organise more such festivals by inviting the renowned kite fliers of the country. As also, the emphasis is being given to change the age old trend of flying kites on some selected occasion.
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