Kites of my Imagination

by POOJA GURUNG

FROM ISSUE # 154 (October 2008) | IN THIS ISSUE
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The best kind of toys ever invented in the world has to be the ones made out of paper and sticks and not those with push-buttons and joysticks. A kite in flight is always better to look at than a soaring bird or a plane. Flying a kite is aerodynamics attached to a thread but it is not simple as it sounds or looks. I have been learning just that at the expense of a week long shoot for a short film named Changa. A group of us free-lancing, 'free-thinking' and working for free film-makers have seriously adopted an intense interest in kite flying at Ason.

Any avid kite flyer will tell you that the wind and space are two vitals for a high soar but Ason itself is a very congested area for kite flying. Since then we have been at the mercy of unpredictable skies and orthodox Newar neighbourhood, that too strung by a shoe string budget. If that isn't challenging enough try working with a child actor.

Happiness is still affordable in small change as kites don't cost more than two rupees a piece but then kids and adults have found more expensive, extravagant ways to distract themselves. I only realised recently that all kinds of kites that come to greet the Dashain skies here are manufactured and brought from India. As if fuel, sugar and political imports weren't enough we have to rely on our neighbours for the simplest form of recreation.

There was a time when the cityscape of Kathmandu used to be a wonderful sight during Dashain with all the dizzy dancing kites from every rooftop. Now, it's considered lucky to count a handful of kites dotting above the clusters of ant castle houses and buildings. This festive season we want to restore the nostalgia of our childhood by recreating a playground for our favourite play things. The kite shops at Ason stands as living proof that no matter how much technology upgrades our imagination, we'll invariably resort to old fashioned things to toy with.

At the end of the day when we wrapped up the shooting I realised that in spite of all the challenges, our idea, just like a kite needs patience to be airborne. It needs to wait for the will of the wind and the scheme of the skies. Just like a kite, this concept needs to have a skilled thread bearer to charter its upward course. I have learnt that in order to soar above our sano sansar we must first learn how to inherit the wind. 

(Pooja Gurung is an actor, a television personality and a music video director)