By Viju Mangalore for Daijiworld News Network – Mangalore
Exclusive pics by Dayanand Kukkaje
Mangalore, Jan 20: ‘When you gaze the sky so often, your horizons broaden.
You are after all sending to the clouds that parts of your soul,
Which has its colours intact and has not forgotten to soar…the theme song of Team Mangalore is sure to take one down memory lane to the time when our parents bought kites for us or had them prepared for us. The thrill in flying them high was once the driving force. Today as one feels the enthusiasm seems to have ceased, a mammoth and successful revival attempt is here at hand.
The blue skies above the mild waves of the Arabian Sea at Panambur beach were decorated by thousands of kites on Saturday, 19, 2008. The first day of the ONGC-MRPL International Kite Festival organized by Team Mangalore brought under one roof – the sky – more than 21 international kite flyers from 10 nations.
Along with them were hundreds of local flyers joining Team Mangalore’s mission to “spreading happiness through kites".
The ONGC-NMPT are organising the international event for the second time and Managing Director R Rajamani set the ball rolling for the two-day event by flying the ONGC kite. Chairman of New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) Tamil Vanan flew the NMPT kite, while Inspector General of Police Ashith Mohan Prasad flew the DK Police kite. DK Deputy Commissioner Maheshwar was also present on the occasion.
Siddharth Kak one of India’s best known documentary film makers, famous for his long-running TV series ‘Surabhi’ made a surprise visit to the festival and also tried his hands at kite flying. Speaking on the occasion, Kak said kite flying was a freedom of expression and he was privileged to fly one.
Team Mangalore proudly flaunted its specialty kites including the Limca record winning kite ‘Kathakkali’ and also ‘Yaksha’ and ‘Bharathanatya’.
Much appreciated was the special concern shown by the organizers who set up a Lost and Found Shelter for the benefit of children who may go missing, a waiting area for senior citizens, and designated swimming areas under watchful eyes of life guards during the event.
Stalls vending a variety of items, exclusive kite shops greeted visitors.
In preparation to this great event, a team of kite flyers conducted kite making workshops for children of Mangalore at St Agnes Special School Mangalore, Saanidhya Residential School for mentally challenged, Dakshina Kannada Zilla Panchayath Model Higher Primary School Nalyapadavu Shaktinagar Mangalore and Mata Amritanandamayee School.
Curiosity is guaranteed if one meets a handful of kiters at a kite festival like this. They are a global kite community which has the motto ‘one sky one world’
For these kiters, it’s a thrill to fly these dynamic structures and savour the positive energy that kite flying gives.
At the festival, the sky was virtually a play ground for the kiters. From thought provoking, history, culture-depicting kites to fun loving freaky kites and not to forget the swift fighter kites, Mangalore was charged up with excitement.
Managaloreans made the best of this occasion to take a look at special kites like the Chinese dragons, flying lizards, stretch long fighter kites, inflatable kites, fun kites and even power kites and stunt kites. The sky was adorned with artistic kites of various shapes and sizes. Kites shaped like birds, animals, honey bees, ships, mythological characters, aero planes, etc were flown by the delegates. If competition was evident among the participants, it was the localites, who enjoyed the festival by bringing along their own kites and flying them with great enthusiasm.
A photography contest was also a part of the festival. Ten best photographers will get cash prizes. The theme was ‘Soaring Spirits’. There is also a theme kite contest under the theme ‘global warming.’
Dom Martin from France won the first place in the theme kite contest, while the second slot was bagged by Bob Cruikshanks of UK.
Among the Indian counterparts Srinivas of Hyderabad won the first slot while Ashok Shah of Maharastra won the second slot.
The spice of DK district, Yakshagana was performed on the beach. Drummers from Kerala (Chande) also performed.
A spectacular performance of the Digaredo, a long musical instrument made from the eucalyptus tree, by Australian kiter Van Hoven brought the first day of the kite festival to an end.
All credit to Team Mangalore for putting up an exciting and well-organised event. One can recall the first international kite festival in Mangalore held on January 23, 2005 where lakhs of Mangaloreans overcoming the Tsunami scare gathered to witness the mega festival. Thirteen teams from 7 countries and 14 national level teams from 7 states of India came down to participate with their prized collection of world-class kites.
Team Mangalore is a hobby group of kite makers and flyers. Founded in 1998, Team Mangalore has carved a niche for itself at all International Kite Festivals. It has participated in kite festivals in various parts of India, UK, France and Canada. It has over the years, used the medium of kites to introduce our rich cultural heritage to the world.
The kites crafted by Team Mangalore are inspired by the traditional folklore and theatrics of the South West Coast of Karnataka and Kerala. The range includes Yakshagana, Kathakali and Bootha Kola in this series. Each kite is a hand crafted appliqué work made of rip-stop nylon and bamboo. They have been conceived, engineered, designed and crafted by B Sarvesh Rao, Prashanth Upadhyaya and Dinesh Holla of Team Mangalore under the guidance of renowned contemporary artist Ganesh Somayaji of Mangalore.
Team Mangalore has been organising Kite Festivals on the shores of Panambur Beach near Mangalore, every January, since 1998.
Hats off to this team of creative and vivacious hobby kite makers and kite flyers who have brought the world of kites closer to Mangaloreans.
International Kite Flyers in Mangalore
Van Hoven and Johan from Belgium, Dom Martin from France, Michael Wengenmayr and Simon Engelbert from Germany, Maarten Van Hienen from Holland, Bagus Ugrasena and Helmy Ginanti (Elly) from Indonesia, Edoardo Borghetti and Barbara Villa from Italy, Kang Bumku and Hyun Woo Han from Korea, Abdul Halim Samad and Siti Hasnah Ghani from Malaysia, Raymond De Graaf from Netherlands, Don Mock from USA, Bob Cruikshanks, Karl Longbottom and Sara Longbottom from the UK.
Festival coordinator Giridhar Kamath, Sarvesh Rao chief organiser from the Team Mangalore, Nitin Shetty and others were present at the event.
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