Kite running
Encyclopedia
Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kite
s in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India
, Pakistan
, Afghanistan
koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent
throughout the year and during kite flying festivals. In south America in Chile and Brazil, flown "volantines" or "papagaios" with "hilo curado" in Chile or "cerol" in Brazil, and try to fight or cut the others. The manja
or the kite flying string that is used to fly these kites is coated with powdered glass. Kite flyers entangle the manja of their flying kites with each other and try to cut the string of the other by the pull or release method. The winner's kite remains flying while the loser's kite string is cut loose, drifting free with the wind until it falls to the ground. Kite running is the practice of running after these cut kites to try and capture them when they come down; typically the custom is that the person who captures a cut kite can keep it. Droves of people of all ages may run after a kite and try to capture it with the help of poles or broken off tree branches with which they try to entangle the loose string trailing with the kite. Running after and capturing these kites is often made more difficult when these drifting kites are taken long distances with the wind or fall atop trees, electric poles and houses over compound walls and fences, or in the middle of or across busy roads and railway lines. In cities and towns, the bigger and more expensive looking the kite, the more people can usually be seen running after it to try and capture it as their free prize.
Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites, being so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get the kite that landed on it.
Others gravely endanger their lives when they walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities facing up with their eyes fixed on fighting kites in the skies. The excitement to see which of the fighting kite wins and which one loses sometimes makes people dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings, causing injuries from collisions with traffic, for example.
Kite
A kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
s in the sky that have been cut loose in kite fighting. Kites are flown and fought in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
koskesh and Iran, especially in the Indian subcontinent
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent, also Indian Subcontinent, Indo-Pak Subcontinent or South Asian Subcontinent is a region of the Asian continent on the Indian tectonic plate from the Hindu Kush or Hindu Koh, Himalayas and including the Kuen Lun and Karakoram ranges, forming a land mass which extends...
throughout the year and during kite flying festivals. In south America in Chile and Brazil, flown "volantines" or "papagaios" with "hilo curado" in Chile or "cerol" in Brazil, and try to fight or cut the others. The manja
Manja (kite)
Manja , is the abrasive string used with fighter kites in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chile, India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass. In Brazil, the mix of glue and powered glass is called "cerol"....
or the kite flying string that is used to fly these kites is coated with powdered glass. Kite flyers entangle the manja of their flying kites with each other and try to cut the string of the other by the pull or release method. The winner's kite remains flying while the loser's kite string is cut loose, drifting free with the wind until it falls to the ground. Kite running is the practice of running after these cut kites to try and capture them when they come down; typically the custom is that the person who captures a cut kite can keep it. Droves of people of all ages may run after a kite and try to capture it with the help of poles or broken off tree branches with which they try to entangle the loose string trailing with the kite. Running after and capturing these kites is often made more difficult when these drifting kites are taken long distances with the wind or fall atop trees, electric poles and houses over compound walls and fences, or in the middle of or across busy roads and railway lines. In cities and towns, the bigger and more expensive looking the kite, the more people can usually be seen running after it to try and capture it as their free prize.
Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites, being so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get the kite that landed on it.
Others gravely endanger their lives when they walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities facing up with their eyes fixed on fighting kites in the skies. The excitement to see which of the fighting kite wins and which one loses sometimes makes people dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings, causing injuries from collisions with traffic, for example.
See also
- KiteKiteA kite is a tethered aircraft. The necessary lift that makes the kite wing fly is generated when air flows over and under the kite's wing, producing low pressure above the wing and high pressure below it. This deflection also generates horizontal drag along the direction of the wind...
- Kite fighting
- ManjaManja (kite)Manja , is the abrasive string used with fighter kites in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chile, India, Nepal and Pakistan. It is gummed, coloured and coated with powdered glass. In Brazil, the mix of glue and powered glass is called "cerol"....
, the glass powder coated kite flying & fighting string - Uttarayan, The kite flying festival of northern India
- The novel The Kite RunnerThe Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner is a novel by Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it is Hosseini's first novel, and was adapted into a film of the same name in 2007....
, and the movie based on itThe Kite Runner (film)The Kite Runner is a 2007 drama film directed by Marc Forster based on the novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini. It tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend Hassan, the son of his father's...