Hyderabad: It's time to reach the skies

As you visit any of the shops selling kites, you will discover the gloom that greeted one at the start of the week is replaced with a sigh of relief. After all, with the city's denizens on a kite shopping spree, traders who complained of lacklustre business till last week have finally got their smiles back. If you are wondering where to spot that Chinese-designer kite besides the humble paper ones, Hyderabad has quite a few places for kite sighting.

Top on the list is the Hyderabad Kite Festival (HKF), to be conducted near the Shamshabad Airport over the weekend. Organisers have already received online registrations from over 3000 people, most of who are corporates and businessmen looking for a day out with family and friends.

Popular kite flyer Asghar Belim, president of the Jodhpur based-Sun City Kite Club, will also be part of the celebrations with his giant Hanuman kite measuring 20x20 ft, a first of its kind in Hyderabad. Kite lovers will also have the luxury of buying kites and manja from the venue while sitting under the night sky, sipping on their favourite drink, as flashlights add to the flying experience. The event is being organised by the AP Tourism Dept and is open to all.

For those who can't make it till as far as the airport, Kaman at Syed Nagar, Banjara Hills is the place to be. Stretched over the bare Deccan plateau, the vast tracts of land turn into a kite war-zone as children and groups of youth compete, trying to fly, cut and chase kites all day long. The traditional festival has slowly but steadily been witnessing an increase in participants, with the nearby temple committee even sponsoring the kite fest.

There will also be groups at the People's Plaza near Necklace Road, all set to take advantage of the open space and skies. One among those groups is the LGBT community of the city. “From 3 to 6 in the evening, around 100 of us will come together. Its all about social bonding for us, and flying kites will provide the perfect means. We will be joined by women's rights groups and other minority support groups”, said Jayati Mathur, an organiser for the event.

In between all of this, the city's Marwadi community can't be left behind. Monica Kakani, a resident of Dilsukhnagar says that her community will meet at the community hall and perform pujas after which everyone will be busy flying kites, eating and dancing. “It will be a festive atmosphere and kite flying will add spark and laughter to the mood,” she gushed.