Shiraz Bashir
Basant – the kite flying festival of spring – was supposed to be celebrated last weekend in Lahore but, at least officially, it was postponed because of the tragic Lahore bombings. But Basant season is obviously here. For good and for bad.
Basant is a festival celebrating arrival of a spring season. People dress up in colorful clothes and fly Patang or gudday (Kites) of various shapes and sizes using a thoughtfully selected and prepared dor(Kite String). Some people fly kites just for fun. Others fly in serious competitions among various families, mohalas and emotions can run high.
Basant always brings childhood memories from Rawalpindi.
We use to prepare for festival by “dor sotna†(preparation of kite flying string). It starts from selecting the string first. Strings come in many varieties like number 5, 2, 12 Reech (bear), Camel brand, Air blade, 5 panda etc.
Art of “dor sotna†involves many secret ingredients like special glue, string, glass, “sareshâ€, color and many other secret stuff. Then “dor†is put on a “charakrheeâ€. After that we use to go and purchase kites of various types like gudday, Patang, Lakhnow Kut, Pari in various sizes and colors. gudday come in sizes like 2.5 Tawa, 3 Tawa, 6 Tawa whereas Patang sizes are known as Har Githhi, Panch Gitthi, 6 Githhi, 8 Githhi etc. Then dor is attached to kite using a process known as “Kanee Dalnaâ€. It is an art itself.
On Basant day, we wear colorful clothes and climb to roofs and have Patang Bazee. Shouts of “Bo Kataâ€, “Aur Dheel Dayâ€, “Nazar a Raha Hay Gudaâ€, “Oyay Chor Maree Door koâ€, “Khich Mar Na Yarâ€, “Neechay Say Neechay Say Paycha Laga†were norm. Due to very sharp “dorâ€, index and other fingers get very deep cuts. But those cuts were badges of honors and were proudly shown to people next day.
Basant is a fun filled festival. But every year many deaths occur due to kite string cutting somebody throat, electrocuting someone due to vicinity to overhead electric wires or falling from roof tops. So a great caution must be exercised so as not to lose human lives.
Credits:
1. Salman, who is a dear friend of mine from Pakistan, enlightened me on types of Guday, Patang and Dor.
2. Photos by Rehan Fazal at flickr.com
ATP’s Post on Basant from 2007:
Celebrating Basant – Idiot Stlye
Whether we agree or disagree to such celebrations, people don’t have much choice when it comes to have fun. Nothing is wrong with basant festival as long as we are sensibly organizing it and taking precautionary measures to avoid any mishaps. Taking it to extremes is a personal choice, not the fault of basant. If I drive recklessly or hit someone, the car/road is not whispering into my ears to do that, it’s totally my fault.
It’s a colorful and vibrant festival that speaks of life and energy. Culturally speaking, it exudes Lahori spirit which we should be proud of. I am!
Interesting…did not realize that some of us were actually against flying kites!
I’ve heard the “religious” argument before; however, not for basant but for things like Valentine’s day. Saying that you find it stupid, a waste of time, or a marketing gimmick, is okay, but saying that it is somehow a celebration of kufr, is just bizarre. I wonder if the same wahabis who commemorate the supreme tragedy of karbala by celebrating were the ones to come up with this….hypocritical, but that wouldn’t be a surprise now, would it?
For those who want to bring religion needless into everything, all I can say is “GO FLY A KITE!”
For me, Basant is about flying a kite. It does not matter to me if 1000 years ago a non-muslim also flew a kite in spring.
Dear JK; I refer to Mustafa’s comments and rest my case as far as the celebrations should be done or not against his comments. He has given details and proper references to support the claim that this event is a non-muslim event and it is especially initiated to mark the death of someone who has bad mouthed about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
I would like to comment about the punishment given by my father which you think was unreasonably harsh and unnecessary. The punishment was not harsh in any way as I was not beaten or anything I was made to go back and return the goods to make me realize that I should spend money with proper authority and if I am answerable for the money in my pocession then I should spend it with the permission to do that particular expense.
I have realized at the age of 38 now that many punishments given by parents initially seems to be “unreasonably harsh and unnecessary”, but they are alwasy meant to teach us a lesson.
I am sure my father did not know at that time the start of basant which Mustafa has explained but his actions or hate about basant as I understand was due to its expensive nature and his inability to support that unreasonable expense as he was already his maximum efforts to provide the best possible education for me and 2 or my brothers. One can argue that he would have sat with me and discussed in detail that this expense is not bearable or this habit is not good but seriously a child does not understand such things, child only wants to get his demands met immediately.