Killer kites in Pakistan
April 4, 2006
It seems kite-flying is a traditional pasttime in Pakistan, and they take it really seriously. After seven people were killed by glass-embedded kite strings – yes, you read that correctly – a government ban was put in place. A ban on ALL kite flying: MSNBC: Hundreds defy kite-flying ban
To be fair, not all the deaths were due to embedded sharp glass (used to cut the strings of others’ kites in competition). Some people have been killed when their metallized kite strings hit power lines.
Apparently the government is really cracking down on illegal kites, searching house-to-house.
Categories: News
For some insight into the culture of kites in Pakistan (or, in this case, Afghanistan) read The Kite Runer. I imagine a ban on kite flying would be about as effective as a ban on NASCAR.
If seven deaths triggered a ban, we’d have to ban cars. Or, say, war.
Mary Ann: The last idea has extreme merit.
When I was in university, (pre-historic times) a housemate form Hong Kong told me about the kite-flying competition. I found it very, very cool.
You know George, this ban on the kites is right before the festival of basant..its the celebration of spring and everyone gets on thier roofs to celebrate the return of sunshine after a long and hard winter..
Cannot stop myself from giving you a little inside into the entire kite flying scene in India and pakistan—————-
Kite fighting, which involves trying to cut the string of each other’s kites, is the most interesting aspect of kite flying. It is called “Patang Baazi” in Hindi.
I remember one summer when me and my cousins spent hours crushing glass into fine powder, mixing it with glue and then covering around 50 feet of “DOr” with this goo to make it strong…..kite fighting was war, man’s business, for fifteen year olds at the very least. Actually taking down a kite made us feel like Luke Skywalker threading the Death Star defenses.A captured kite was ours to be flown in the next round, a surrender flag mockingly waved, a captive paraded. The Geneva convention didn’t apply to kites.If we lost a kite of our own, we paused to mourn the fallen with a Thums Up or Limca. Then my cousin would palm me a couple of rupees to run down and buy another one from the vendors down the street. Sometimes he’d accompany me and haggle with the seller, disparaging the quality of the last kite and extracting a discount. If he was feeling flush, we’d buy two, and he’d let me pick the colors.
its a wholesome entertainment in good spirits where people atleast leave TV and come out and spend some time with their family and neighbours.
A lot of kids do get injured from falling down from roofs or getting stuck in the kite threads..but then, there is no sport in which people never ever got hurt ..Besides, uhm may be chess….
It sounds like a wonderful time! I bet the stress relived by flying a kite saved at least 7 heart attacks from happening. What is it with governments banning things?
Thanks for posting that comment