With Makar Sankranti around the corner, SUNDAY MiD DAY went kite-scouting to find that sales may have dropped, but spirits continue to soar
With Makar Sankranti around the corner, SUNDAY MiD DAY went kite-scouting to find that sales may have dropped, but spirits continue to soar
Pics/ sayed sameer abedi and nimesh dave
Honking cars, an ugly skywalk, irregular dividers, footpaths and people spilling onto an already choked-to-capacity SV Road opposite Bandra station do not a make a sight for sore eyes. Until you spot King Kite. A cheery store next to famous Lucky restaurant, it's one of the suburb's prettiest sights, packed from wall to wall with kites of every size, shape and colour imaginable.
u00a0 
Prakash Thakur of Thakur Metal Mart in Kalbadevi (right), spools manja
for a customer. Reiterating that Chinese manja is the one that kills birds,
he and co-owner Kishore stock 'first class manja' bought from Bareilly.
(left) Manjas of different colours dot kite shops across the city.u00a0
Co-owner Maqsood, used to the media attention, doesn't bat an eyelid when we approach him for a chat. "We've been here for over 40 years," he says with obvious pride. "Sales usually begin at the end of August, after the rains, and go on up to Makar Sankranti."
At SS Bareilly kites in Dongri, kites make their way across Maharashtra and even up to Karnataka. Owner Mukimbhai beams with pride as he recounts how his father set up shop 60 years ago, when he brought a few spools of manja (thread) with him. Today, it's a flourishing business. Of course, sales are not what they used to be -- today, numbers have declined from 1,00,000 to 20,000 a year at King Kite. Maqsood blames "Sony Playstation and the lack of open spaces" for the decline in sales. 
u00a0 
Qureshi shows off foldable kites at King Kite in Bandra. They start at
Rs 300 and have been in vogue for three years (left). Mukimbhai at his
Dongri shop with this year's newest offerings, including a Batman kite
and kites with soaring vegetable prices (right).
Still, he says he will keep the King Kite legacy flying high. His optimism is fuelled by film and ad makers who often approach the shop for kites to be used in shoots. Just last week, film producer Vashu Bhagnani had a kite designed in the colours of the Indian flag for an upcoming movie, he tells us.
Mukimbhai too rues the drop in sales. "There are fewer open spaces. Kids have other distractions like TV. And cable wires are increasingly becoming an interference," he says.
What about protests from animal rights activists regarding birds being injured by the manja? "The thread that injures the birds is Chinese manja, made using a lot of glass. We only supply soft cotton manja that uses very little glass," he explains, showing us what looks like a WWF certification on the spool. He continues, "This costs less than the Chinese manja, but people still prefer that over this because that lasts longer. What can we do?"
Mukimbhai doesn't understand the fuss. "Kite flying is like driving," he draws an unlikely analogy. "You can either drive rashly and kill people or do it well. It's the same with kite flying -- do it well and it'll be fine. It's not a centuries-old tradition for nothing. Kite flying keeps you physically fit and your vision healthy. And it's safer and better for the environment than other traditions like bursting fire crackers," he declares.
The irony of being the Muslim mainstay of a business that caters specifically to a Hindu festival is not lost on Maqsood. "Everyone, from the manja threadmakers to the kitemakers are Muslim. It is very nice, and it's all done in the spirit of bhaichara," he laughs, with a spirit that could teach those in the echelons of power a lesson about communal harmony.
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