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
Basant is a hindu festival.We as Muslims should not stray from our cultural and religious values.
This is not a Pakistani culture, it has come from Sikhs. Why are we not following our culture?
Concern Pakistani
@Tina,
You have indeed ‘pinched’ my view, I had always held
this idea of permiting them in the outskirts of the city,
again this time, I heard, two children gave their
precious lives, victim of this sheer cultural
Ghundagardi of the Lahoris.
Ideal sports for Politicians, just to get rid of them.
I thought it was a great and well balanced article, but I wonder if it might not be possible to have the kite flying held outside the city limits, i.e. in the fields so as to reduce the risk to innocent bystanders. Every year brings pictures of unfortunates who have been slashed by the kite string, usually while driving motorbikes.
Thanks Shiraz for the post.
It makes me really wonder that some people can have such a uni-dimensional personality. Why is it that everything in Pakistan is looked from just one lens? Keep wallowing in your paranoia that the whole world is in a conspiracy against you and your religion, and sure enough, you won’t be able to see anything else. God save Pakistan!