“Uttarayan” – a fair game or a show-off competition?

“Uttarayan also known as “Makarsankranti” is actually a depiction of the transition movement of the Sun from one horizon to other. This event is celebrated all-over India in different ways.

Gujarat celebrates the festival in a very festive mood. The Gujaratis gorge on the delicacies like Undhiyu, Khichdo, different types of chikki, etc. The terraces get overcrowded with the people and come alive with their shouts and laughter with excitement during the ‘Dav-pech’ of the kite-flying ritual. The people believe in donating on that day to the trusts who upbring the stray animals especially cows. They donate grass, money and other requirements to please God to lessen their sins.

The neighbours and relatives compete within themselves for a smooth kite-flying and they cut off other’s kite by entangling the thread and then making certain movements accordingly. This whole competition is just a celebration for the kids. But many a times, the grown-ups find this as a chance to show themselves as more superior by winning in the kite-flying process. They purchase a thicker thread or a plastic thread, which is nowadays available in the market known as ‘Chinese Manja’ which easily cuts the thinner thread of the competitor.

But they forget that it also cuts off theirs’ and their kids’ fingers which leads to infection and above all the wings of the birds which soar high in the sky. After the festival we come across incidents mentioning how many birds were injured by the threads. They are rendered helpless and disable life-long as their wings get cut off or their legs get damaged. Many of them are also not able to return back to their nests as the whole tree gets entangled in the network of threads which makes it impossible for them to reach their abode. Not only the stray animals, but even the two-wheeler riders on the roads also get entangled in the threads and get injured, rendering them to a state of pity for their whole life.

On one hand, people donate generously on that day for the welfare of the animals and on the other hand they use harmful threads and injure the same. In what way is this just? When the people will stop using Chinese Manja or the plastic thread for kite-flying?