I wasn’t a great fan of flying kites, thanks to an adventure where i ended up flying a kit so far away, i exhausted my cousins entire spool. He was furious as it had a lot of his ‘katri maanja’ (thread with glass shards) which he had paid a royal sum of Rs. 50 to acquire – over a couple of weeks!

While i was doing the heritage walk in Old Ahmedabad with friends, we came across this maanja being made. The person on has a paste of rice, mixed with a natural saffron dye. But the main ingredient here is the presence of finely ground glass in that paste. The thread is tied taut at two ends and this guy with the ball of the coloured rice with ground glass goes to and fro, as though he is playing the sitar. I didn’t see him with any gloves and felt kind of concerned, but this fellow didn’t seem to care.

So wishing you all a Happy Makar Sankranti. Or as they say in Ahmedabad – Kai Po Che:)

Take Care,
Ciao