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January is celebrated in India as Makar Sankranti - heralding the
transition of the sun into the Northern hemisphere. It is also a big
kite day in most parts of India when children from 6 to 60 can be
seen with their heads turned to the sky! In cities like Jaipur and
Ahmedabad kites virtually blot out the sky. Everyone joins in this
riotous celebration and shouts of " Woh Kata Hai !" reverberate from
rooftops to the accompaniment of drums as adversaries’ kites are cut
down. And everyone’s an adversary! Any kite in the sky is fair game
! But for 5 years now we’ve held the Desert Kite Festival every year
to coincide with Makar Sankranti - safely. No one’s lost a kite,
yet!
However,
for some time, we've been seriously considering turning this into a
Festival that happens every two years instead of ever year.
Originally we were to take a break on 2001 and do the 5th Festival
in 2002. But then we got an invitation to fly at the Taj Mahal in
Jan 2001 - and that was just too good to pass up. So, there will be
no Desert Kite Festival in Jan 2002; we shall have the next one in
Jan 2003 - that gives everybody enough time to plan (and save up!)
and it also gives us a breather...
 The 6th Festival, in Jan 2003 continues to offer the
really exciting opportunity that we added on this year - a chance to
fly at the glorious Taj Mahal !We fly in Jodhpur for two days - at
the Polo Ground and the spectacular Umaid Bhawan Palace, the
residence of the Maharaja of Jodhpur; then we go on to Jaipur to
experience the incredible "Kite Frenzy" that grips this town on
Makar Sankranti - millions of kites fill the sky and everyone seems
to be caught up in the kite fever that takes over the city ! We then
move on to Agra and fly at the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful
monuments in the world. |
