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.
