The day I landed, my best friend S from college/hostel days was leaving for UK, and I had not met her since 2000. I was not even sure where we would be staying after we land....but we had planned to meet somewhere in Ahmedabad. The day was so busy, confusing, frustrating, tiring. She was supposed to come over at night and spend a few hours with me before heading to the airport for an early morning flight. Just an hour before she came, we decided that my parents' house would be the best, at least for that first night, and we reached there. The house was clean but except for milk, we had nothing. She brought food for all of us. I had a good time chatting with her for few hours, finally getting to see her kids and introducing mine to hers. She is one of those with whom I can connect effortlessly, regardless of time and distance. I'm glad I got to meet her!
A couple of days later was Uttarayan. I always plan my India trip during January, primarily so that I can celebrate this favorite festival of mine with family. It also helps with ticket prices as you avoid the holiday rush. While growing up, our family was not big into firecrackers at Diwali, or playing with colors during Holi. But everyone loved flying kites. My dad is an expert..can manage to get one up in the air with little to no wind. There's always a family gathering during this time.....and the atmosphere on the terrace is electrifying.
The days leading upto the festival are spent in making delicacies like chikki, laddoos, undhiyu and Paunk - baby bajra kernels harvested and cooked over fire along with the husk/cover. Once cooked, you take the roasted kernels, mix it with spicy sev, lemon juice, coriander leaves, and gobble it all up.
Evenings are spent procuring kites - we buy loads of used ones which are not damaged; the primary reason being they are ready to fly and have been tested for the strength of their bamboo frame and tension already. We also go to Patang Bazaar and get new ones....picking up the latest styles for the season. You go through more than a thousand a day, so lots of buying needs to happen. The bazaar is open all night for everyone to be able to stock up. The picture below was clicked in 2009 - and this is the Patang Bazaar in Baroda where our family had gathered for the festival.
Another important part of the preparation is finding the right string, also called "dori" or "manja" to fly the kites. Each one has their own preference on how they want theirs, so what you do is go to the roadside vendors who set up shop all over town, and test it out. The special kite string is white in color, and is coated with a glue of color and glass. You place an order of what you like, and depending on the quantity, they will complete your order within the next few days. These vendors work all day and through the night during December-January. One of my moms maids this year wanted to earn some extra cash, so she quit doing her day job for a month (she told everyone she was sick) and worked at one of the vendors coloring the strings. She got paid lots of overtime so it worked out good for her. We did not know at that time but found out after the fact.
On the D-day, a couple of over-enthusiastic cousins will start the setup as early as 5am. They will haul all the kites, firkis (reels of kite strings), a boombox and speakers to the terrace. Food usually is brought up by the ladies of the house who climb up on the terraces a bit later. All day long, you can hear chants of "kai po che" and "lapet" whenever someone cuts another person's kite. The weather during this time of the year is just perfect....not too cold, not too warm, and with music playing in the background or friends/cousins to have gappa-shappa with, you are destined to have the time of your life.
This year was the first time for the daughter, and I was not sure how much she would enjoy. But within a few minutes of going to the terrace in the morning, she was hooked. She was holding the firki and chanting "lapet" "lapet" as loud as she could. When she could not shout, she would blow the trumpet given to her by her best friend, Abhi. Her laughter was infectious.
She was still pretty jetlagged, so I brought her down for her nap, reluctantly, and promised to take her back up in the evening. One of my favorite brother-in-law A, who lives in Delhi, was visiting Gujarat, and he had planned to spend the evening with us. We usually celebrate Sankranti together, and always plan our gatherings months in advance. This year was no different. As soon as he came home, we went back up. Sunset is my most favorite time of the day.....the terraces were full of people and the sky was filled with kites all over. We have a 360 degree panoramic view of the city from our terrace, and the view was terrific.
And at night, people start flying "tukkals". These are special heavy duty kites that you fly on heavier strings, and once the kite is up, you start tying small tukkals (lanterns) at regular intervals on the string. The weather is usually calm by this time, so the tukkals fly high up in the air, steady and strong.
Photo Courtesy: Google.
And the latest trend these days is to fly 'gubbaras' or hot air balloons, which are mostly imported from China and are so cheap that people buy them in bulk. One of our neighbors bought ~100, and was lighting them one after the other for more than an hour. It takes very little effort to light the flame, and then you just release it in the air. The kids get a kick out of lighting fire and watching it fly away high up in the sky.
And last but not the least, there are fireworks. Tons of them. All over the town. It is much more festive than Diwali, or when India wins some cricket match. The scene is unforgettable. I found this one picture from the web, that gives you an idea of how it looks like!
The whole day this year was unforgettable. The daughter enjoyed every minute of her time on the terrace. She liked it so much, that whenever she would be fussy for breakfast, I would take her up on the terrace, and I would feed her while she observed stuff around - her favorite was our house help's quarters on the terrace of one of the bungalows 2 blocks down from our house. She would watch the birds, planes passing by, watch the vendors passing on the street, the school rickshaws/taxis, etc. I'm so happy she got to celebrate my favorite festival in my favorite city in the world!!!!
5 comments:
Aah! Special Uttarayan food ... that loud music.. "kai po che" .. "lapet" and hot air balloons..The pictures and your description.. Feeling Nostalgic! Uttarayan in A'bad/baroda is always fun... missing uttarayan celebrations here in US. Even if there is kite flying competition - nothing can match up the Ahmedabadi uttarayan .. what say? ;)
@Bhavika - yep, nothing comparable anywhere else in the world :).
I remember Uttarayan from the long ago couple of years I lived in Ahmedabad. As with the Garba, we were more enamored by the lovely Gujju lassies than the festival itself, in those heady days :)
@Ramesh - yep can relate to the garba attraction. I LOVE garba....did not go out much when I was in India but I have more than made up for it in the 14 yrs out here. I will dig up an old video of a performance at Intel and post here.
manja!! you made me home sick.
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