Kites fill the sky at Malpe beach

Malpe beach, with its blue-green reflective colours, and the autumn sky, with a riot of colours from the fluttering kites, rendered a feast to the eyes of visitors.

There were different kinds of kites being flown by people of all age groups for the celebration on New Year’s Eve. There were also different shapes, sizes, composition and ranges for flying. The kites were flown at different skill levels – from beginners to intermediate and to advanced.

Different types

There were delta kites, cellular kites, box kites, dragon kites, parafoils, diamond kites, power kites, stunt kites, and kite buggies – each different from the other.

The other types of kites flown included 2-3 Big Round Spinner kites, Tiger-shaped 3D kites, Teddy bear-shaped 3D kites, 3D Transformer kites, heart-shaped kites, ladybug kites, 3D rabbit kites, 3D trilo bite kites, 3D panda-shaped kites, 3D Ashoka Chakra-shaped kites, 3D frog-shaped kites, 3D 110-foot long snake-shaped kites, 3D Santa Claus kites, 3D octopus-shaped kites and 3D fish-shaped kites.

Many children, who had not had Christmas and New Year holidays, had been granted a day off from school just to spend time flying kites on the beach.

The fest attracted kite enthusiasts from all over the district. Hundreds of kite flyers, displaying a lot of eagerness, flocked to the beach to display their talent with bright and beautiful flying machines. Many people gathered to try their hands at kite flying.

Day and night

Two types of kite flying were held – day flying and LED night flying – as many kites are flown in the day, but the evening is when the fun really begins.

Arjun Kamath from Class 8 of the local English medium school said that the kite festival is wonderful and should be held every year. He too was trying kite flying the first time.

Pragathi Shetty from the Government High School said that she was enthralled to see various types and sizes of kites. “This is the first time I saw such varieties. I also tried my hand flying a kite at the beach,” she said.

Cultural colour

The other attraction in the night was Pancha Vadya, Koraga Dhol, Huli Vesha band, Nasik band, Nagare band, AGNI Troupe-African Fusion music and Percussion Jamming (mixture of bands) and fireworks show and LED Balloon display. Kite professionals from FLY360 team gave a demo on how to prepare the kite.

Added to the fun was the food stalls with various delicacies.

Inaugurating the festival, MLA Raghupathi Bhat said that the kite festival will be organised every year to attract the visitors which will also help to boost the tourism potentials in the district.