Independence day kite flying in walled city of Delhi 'signifies' communal concord

By Firoz Bakht Ahmed*
"Chali chali re patang meri chali re/ Ho ke badlon ke paar/ Ho ke dor pe sawar/ Chali chali re!" (My kite goes soaring, zooming in the sky, over the clouds, riding the string, higher and higher!) A kite, largely known as an aerial toy, covered with paper or fabric supported on bamboo strips and flown with a cord, has been capturing the imagination of one and all for centuries.
Why kites on 15 August? Since August 1947, the skyline along with the historic Red Fort, Nirankari Ground and Ramlila Ground, become abuzz with kites, infecting the whole city. Though a very old Purani Dilli passion, kite-flying has also been associated with the Independence Day, there is no question that the sport has been electrifying the Delhi’ites since time immemorial.
In fact, it was Khalifa Khaliq-uz-Zaman and Chacha Jumman of Pahari Bhojla from the walled city of Delhi who actually out of enthusiasm for the Independence on August 15, had announced in posters that immediately after the speech of Jawaharlal Nehru, there would be a kite flying feast at the Red Fort grounds as mentioned by the Paisa Urdu daily those days.
Kite flying in the walled city of Delhi also signifies communal concord between the two major communities living here — Hindus and Muslims. On the efficacy of the kite flying, Ahsanullah Chawla of Bara Hindu Rao states that Mirza Ghalib saw kite as a handy tool for a lover pining to meet his beloved.
In the old Shahjahanabadi days, a lover used to fly a kite and lower it on his beloved’s roof with a payam (message) on it. Incidentally, Ghalib himself made kites and flew them from his Gali Qasimjan haveli during the evenings and landed these on the roof of Chunna Jaan, the nautch girl who was his beloved.

Love couplets for sweethearts on kites

Khalid Anjum, a resident of Ahata Kaley Sahab, Blike many others, teats the season of kite-flying (April-September) in the Walled City of Delhi as lover’s season because he loves Farida who lives some streets away in Mohalla Baradari Sher-e-Afghan.
Every day at around six in the evening Khalid reaches his rooftop and takes out a charkhi (spindle) with dor (plain string) and manjha (sharpened string) spun around it and attaches a kite with a message like — Hum tum se juda ho ke mar jaayenge ro ro ke…(This distance and separation from you is bound to take my life).
For the kite lovers, Mohsin has been putting up an exhibition of even all the paraphernalia used in kite flying like saadi dor (white string), manjha (biting/ cutting string coated with powdered glass), charkhi (spindle), baaans (bamboo strips) and kite paper.
Zahid from Matia Mahal, is busy writing messages for his fiancée Zeenat in Pahari Imli — Aaja aaja, tu hei pyar mera… (My sweetheart! You are my love!). When asked about this trend of romance, boldly he says that the pinnacle of this lovers’ season of Purani Dilliwalas is the Independence Day — August 15! Most of his friends are busy doing that.
Even the young and bubbly girls are seen roaming around on their rooftops — at least safer places than some dingy corners in the inter-twining Old Delhi streets. These girls, equally buoyant and burning on the other side, do accept the message as the lover pulls down the kites with their hands.
Apart from common messages to meet at the nearby places or at metro stations, there are lines from Hindi films. Usually the girls play safe by not replying to the messages. Maybe a gesture with lovelorn eyes is made towards the place where the kite lover is!

Sometimes, the girls also accompany their friends from the mohalla (locality). The lover too is vigilant as to who the accompanying person is with his sweetheart on the rooftop. If it is her mother, father or brother, the lover better thinks to just indulge in pench (kite match) where he tries to cut the string of the other kite with his khinchai (pulling the string) or dhilai (letting the string lose). If he is successful in cutting the string of the other kite, he howls a huge “kataa!” (I have cut the string and won!)

If the times are unlucky for a lover, his kite is caught by the girl’s father or any other relative only to be ensued by reprimands or complaints to be lodged with the police. This may either put an end to a budding romance or make the impugned lover still more spirited and take the chance to the full and pay for consequences.
Kites’ are given glorious Urdu names. It’s a unique spectacle as the kites of all hues and sizes from all over India can be seen. Kite flying or patangbazi, like kabootarbazi (pigeon flying), baterbazi (goose fighting), happens to be one of the umpteen Shahjanabadi sports that somehow have survived despite hostile conditions.

Various kinds of kites are — Tiranga, Pari, Chand-Tara, Glass, Ganderial, Kal Chura, Bhedia, Saanp, Maangdar, Addha, Pauna, Patial, Shakarpara, Punchhal, Angara, Nagdara etc.

Mughal princesses also flew kites

According to Mohd Mohsin Qureshi, vice president of the Delhi Kite Flying Association (DKFA), off and on, there have been kite-flying competitions in the months, July to September. In 1998, Vijay Goel, the then MP of Chandni Chowk, conducted a historic kite-flying competition at the Parade Ground, opposite the Red Fort.
According to Goel, the sport was a pastime of the Mughal princes and princesses, especially Roshanara. Many Mughal kings, nobles, nawabs and rajahs used to patronize the sport and they all gathered at various grounds for their matches as against the rooftops that are used today owing to paucity of open spaces.
Ashraf-ul-Akhbar of 1875 writes that Princess Zeb-un-Nisa was an expert who could cut the strings of umpteen kites in kite contests! Let’s hope that the bigwigs involved in the game this year will back up the issue of allotting the status that the beleaguered game needs so badly.
---
*Commentator on the themes of walled city heritage of Old Delhi, former chancellor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad

Comments

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.

Stronger India–Russia partnership highlights a missed energy breakthrough

By N.S. Venkataraman* The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India was widely publicized across several countries and has attracted significant global attention. The warmth with which Mr. Putin was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particularly noted, prompting policy planners worldwide to examine the implications of this cordial relationship for the global economy and political climate. India–Russia relations have stood on a strong foundation for decades and have consistently withstood geopolitical shifts. This is in marked contrast to India’s ties with the United States, which have experienced fluctuations under different U.S. administrations.

From natural farming to fair prices: Young entrepreneurs show a new path

By Bharat Dogra There have been frequent debates on agro-business companies not showing adequate concern for the livelihoods of small farmers. Farmers’ unions have often protested—generally with good reason—that while they do not receive fair returns despite high risks and hard work, corporate interests that merely process the crops produced by farmers earn disproportionately high profits. Hence, there is a growing demand for alternative models of agro-business development that demonstrate genuine commitment to protecting farmer livelihoods.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The cost of being Indian: How inequality and market logic redefine rights

By Vikas Gupta We, the people of India, are engaged in a daily tryst—read: struggle—for basic human rights. For the seemingly well-to-do, the wish list includes constant water supply, clean air, safe roads, punctual public transportation, and crime-free neighbourhoods. For those further down the ladder, the struggle is starker: food that fills the stomach, water that doesn’t sicken, medicines that don’t kill, houses that don’t flood, habitats at safe distances from polluted streams or garbage piles, and exploitation-free environments in the public institutions they are compelled to navigate.

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.

Thota Sitaramaiah: An internal pillar of an underground organisation

By Harsh Thakor* Thota Sitaramaiah was regarded within his circles as an example of the many individuals whose work in various underground movements remained largely unknown to the wider public. While some leaders become visible through organisational roles or media attention, many others contribute quietly, without public recognition. Sitaramaiah was considered one such figure. He passed away on December 8, 2025, at the age of 65.

New RTI draft rules inspired by citizen-unfriendly, overtly bureaucratic approach

By Venkatesh Nayak* The Department of Personnel and Training , Government of India has invited comments on a new set of Draft Rules (available in English only) to implement The Right to Information Act, 2005 . The RTI Rules were last amended in 2012 after a long period of consultation with various stakeholders. The Government’s move to put the draft RTI Rules out for people’s comments and suggestions for change is a welcome continuation of the tradition of public consultation. Positive aspects of the Draft RTI Rules While 60-65% of the Draft RTI Rules repeat the content of the 2012 RTI Rules, some new aspects deserve appreciation as they clarify the manner of implementation of key provisions of the RTI Act. These are: Provisions for dealing with non-compliance of the orders and directives of the Central Information Commission (CIC) by public authorities- this was missing in the 2012 RTI Rules. Non-compliance is increasingly becoming a major problem- two of my non-compliance cases are...

Search This Blog