A train of diamond kites up in the air (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Sunday evening Hubby dear and I were walking down Marine Drive and I was amazed to see a sky almost bereft of kites. At this time of year, the sky is normally full of kites that ride high on thermals, going higher and higher till they become microscopic blobs.

An enthusiastic father trying to get his reluctant kid to fly a kite

Kite flying during Sankranti has been a traditional Indian festival enjoyed by all – women and children included but for the past several years, the only kites I seem to find are those for sale in shops. I remember looking out of my window and finding little boys on open terraces, sometimes even atop a water tank, coaxing their kite to fly up high and bring down another rival kite.

A few desultory kite flyers

There were a few kite flyers on Marine Drive this Sunday and even less on Makar Sankrant the following. With no children at home to eat the sweets and the adults unable or disallowed from eating sweets, I didn’t bother with making the traditional sweets so  Sankrant has become one more festival relegated to the past, another tradition that is dying out in urban India where children would rather kill happy pigs with angry birds rather than let that kite soar high in the sky.