Today in Ahmedabad is the kite festival. I woke up this morning, and walked with my Mom to the Main Gate at the National Institute of Design, where they were giving free kites to all of the children. A man handed me five or six kites, and a spool of string. Then my Mom and I decided to walk outside, to a small settlement right beside the school. Right when we got there, I saw that there was a boy that was about my age who had a kite that had just come down. I walked over to him, and handed him a kite. He stared at it for a second, and started using hand gestures and speaking rapid Hindi. I stood there very confused, and made some hand gestures too. This went on for about a minute, and finally he understood that he could fly it. (And that I didn’t speak Hindi!) It only took him about thirty seconds to get it up and into the air. We flew it, switching on and off for about ten minutes, until it got stuck in a tree.

Meanwhile, my Mom had been giving away kites to all the other children, and taking their pictures. We’re posting some of them here.

Uttarayan — otherwise known as the annual kite festival — began yesterday, and all over the city people are flying kites of all sizes, shapes and colors. Phone wires are punctuated with wayward kites, lending yet another level of color to the skyline. Kite sellers line the streets, selling handmade paper kites out of the narrowest spaces imaginable. No wind, but nobody seems to notice.