International kite festival begins in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD - The 20th international kite festival, in which 105 kitists from 34 countries will participate, began here Sunday.

The four-day festival, being organized on the Sabarmati riverfront, is called Uttarayan and coincides with Gujarat’s harvest festival.

Even as participants and other visitors started pouring in here Sunday, tiny shops and market places opened early in the day - selling kites of different hues, shapes and sizes and colourful strings used to fly kites.

According to Gujarat tourism secretary Vipul Mitra, Uttarayan is one festival in which the entire population of the state merges in a unified colour of celebration - flying kites and making merry.

The main day of the festival, Jan 14, will witness traditional kite flying in which people in every neighbourhood will fly kites from their rooftops and open fields.

Some of the main attractions of the festival are flying of colourful kites from different countries, parasailing, para-jumping, handicraft market, food court, adventure sports, and kite painting. The festival will culminate Jan 14.

Besides international participation, there will be 120 Indian participants in the festival.