STING OF THE STRING (CHINESE DOR)

 STING OF THE STRING

The festivals of Lohri and Vasant Panchami are synonymous with kite flying in the northern states of India. Lohri is celebrated for numerous reasons one among them is that it falls on the eve of winter solstice, that is the longest night of the winters and as the beginning of a financial new year for the Punjabi farmer. Over time, people have associated Lohri to the tale of Dulla Bhatti. The central character of most Lohri songs, who lived in Punjab during the reign of Emperor Akbar. He was regarded as a hero in Punjab for he rescued Hindu girls being forcibly sold in the slave market of the Middle East. He arranged their marriages to Hindu boys with rituals and provided them with dowries. So every other Lohri song has words to express gratitude to Dulla Bhatti. For Punjabis, this is more than just a festival, it is also an example of a way of life. Lohri celebrates fertility and the spark of life.

Vasant Panchami too is a famous festival that marks the end of the winter season and ushers in the springtime. Goddess Saraswati is the one who gives the essence (sara) of our own self (swa). She is considered the personification of knowledge. Vasant Panchami has a specific meaning, Vasant means Spring, whereas Panchami means the fifth day of the spring. It falls on Panchami - on the Waxing Moon. The color yellow celebrates the brilliance and the vibrancy of life.

The vibrance of these two festivals is witnessed in the sky filled with innumerable shapes and colors of KITES.  The history of kite flying is equally engrossing as is the recreation itself. Kites were used approximately 2,800 years ago in China, where materials ideal for kite building were readily available: silk fabric for sail material; fine, high-tensile-strength silk for flying line; and resilient bamboo for a strong, lightweight framework. The kite was said to be the invention of the famous 5th century BC Chinese philosophers Mozi and Lu Ban. Ancient and medieval Chinese sources list other uses of kites for measuring distances, testing the wind, lifting men, signaling, and communication for military operations. The earliest known Chinese kites were flat (not bowed) and often rectangular.

After its introduction into India, the kite further evolved into the Fighter kite known as the PATANG in India. In India annual kite running competitions are held every year in the month of January. Lohri & Vasant Panchami are the times when the skies are filled with hues of different colors and forms of kites.

The science behind these graceful flybys presented us with a volte face (the darker side) in the form of the glass laced, polyethylene fiber blended with the metal zinc thread; in common verbatim labeled as “The Chinese Dor”. The accurate constituents of the string are still not known. It was January of 2012 that the Indian people had a taste of its true potential; a kite string that would cut all Indian threads that were hand woven called “Manjha” but also have property to stretch without breaking leading to extensive cuts on people caught in its tangles; leading to partial amputations and injuries to the face and neck as populace of Amritsar found out the hard way; Electrocution, an unheard entity, but the metal content would transmit current in the vicinity of high voltage wires or when wet leading to fatalities in the states of Punjab and Jammu in the year 2011.

The newsprints were full of incidences of fatalities resulting from the string that had created ripples in the kite flying ways. The infamous Chinese Dor was then banned in Punjab, Gujrat & Maharashtra; but it still finds favor with the ill-informed and the un-repenting. Even with its fatal outcomes, traders are stock piling it as the demand fuels its sales.

Human nature is to strive for material things that are forbidden and the tragedy is that we find what we are looking for and are left to fend ourselves while facing the consequences of our selfish actions.

The Chinese Dor is not to be blamed in its entirety as it was intended to be used to fly large kites for Kite flying Competitions not the usual “duels” that we witness in our skies during Lohri and Vasant Panchami. The polyethylene fiber used in making the string has a large breaking load and stretches before breaking giving it a unique nature to resist all attempts of the Indian made Dor to break it. The lacing of glass adds the teeth to the Dor.

Accidents happen when we are not careful. A learned decision as to which string (dor) you will buy might make a difference of life and death for you, your family member and/ or for an unknown passerby who was just admiring the view. As a doctor, I would say, “If you have a bleeding wound, give pressure over the part from where it is bleeding and rush to the nearest hospital.” But as a concerned citizen, I would say, “Prevention is better than cure. Make a wise decision and keep the playing field even.”

Have a Happy Lohri and a joyous Vasant Panchami.