Kite runners
Yesterday was a kite festival in Mumbai to celebrate Makar Sankranti, the transition of the sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn according to Hindu astrology. As I drove across town for an appointment to source clothes for a shoot I could see hundreds of kids in parks, on the streets and on the rooftops tugging on brightly coloured strings as if nothing in the world mattered. Oh, to have done a fashion shoot on a kite-strewn roof – Tim Walker heaven, surely?! The entire skyline for miles around was dotted with kites. It was so lovely and romantic and the sight of ragged-edged kites stranded in trees and on telephone wires was utterly charming, it all reminded me of flying kites with my dad on Box Hill way back when. Why don’t more people fly kites?
16 January, 2008 @ 4:57 pm
How I wish I could have seen that…. I constantly get mesmerised by Tim Walker editorials…
16 January, 2008 @ 5:14 pm
Because these are complicated times, DRG, they are complicated times.
And children, as we know, no longer play outdoors. At least the ones I know do not. They also no longer watch TV.
I’d have loved to see that kite panorama!
16 January, 2008 @ 5:53 pm
Oh, what a romantic image! Did you take any photos?
17 January, 2008 @ 2:21 pm
I’ve been in Bombay at this time of year only once, as a kid, and it was lovely- I even asked to fly a kite but it wasn’t allowed since the strings are sharp enough to cut skin sometimes.
17 January, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
Ooooh, your post made me remember the book…almost started crying all over again! But I agree that people should fly more kites, although I have never done it myself (too dangerous with all the electicity cables in the sao paulo of my growing up!)