1/12/2013

Kite Runners

Flying kite is an image which I always associated with visiting my mum's house during summer vacations. Back then, I ddn't own a kite and I never knew how to make one. So, I just enjoyed clapping and running behind the people who maneuvered the kites.
Manu knows to fly kites and we usually go for kite flying sessions. I did not deviate from my policy - "Do not attempt anything more than my old skills."
This weekend, we went to Marina Barrage with T.J. and my dad. Oh, Teena and Jai are the T.J., so named to respect Teena's extreme knowledge and love for abbreviations.
Thanks to the excellent navigation skills of our shotgun and driver, we reached the destination in just 50 minutes (usual drive time is 20 minutes)

Consequences - sky was getting ready for sunset colors, wind was dying out and the place was crowded enough. Our skillset dramatically shrinked, with a man-down situation. Manu gets easily distracted with the sunset, impending blue hour and his new camera. I know him well enough to walk away when that glazed look comes over his face and he starts talking sentences which have filters, shooting modes and cloud patterns.

Jai has enough knowledge on how to fly kites, from watching movies. Dad has seen the it live in Rajasthan. With the solid theory backing, we started. It was fun, not for us, but for our on-lookers. They circled around us and started giving suggestions on what step to take next. The kite somehow had an affinity to the ground and never wanted to defy gravity. How much ever we ran with the kite and released to the sky and envisioned it to soar high, the kite did not understand the concept. It just insisted on falling nose first to the ground.

Photos (almost always) never lie !


(ഇത് ഇപ്പോ എങ്ങിനെയാ ആകാശത്ത് എത്തിക്കുക? പണ്ടാരം  ! ഞാന്‍ പുലി ആണെന്ന് പറഞും പൊയി ) 
Being an expert, How do I make this thing fly ? 


അവന് അറിഞ്ഞൂടാ , ഞാന്‍  ദിപ്പൊ ശരി ആക്കി തരാം ! 
I will fly this kite in a minute!

Jai decided that the kite ain't good and went to buy another kite. Feel free to imagine my un-surprised face when he came back with cola & chips and a flying rubber band with lights. He named it "Shashi"! (പേര് ശശി)
Dad said that the wind has died and suddenly cultivated an immense interest in functioning of a reservoir and water purification!

Me and Teena decided to learn from scratch. In practical terms, it means to watch how others are launching the kites & duplicate it. Close inspection revealed that our experts had assembled the kite wrongly! So, we re-assembled it and started running around. The draft was stronger now and the kite started soaring high :) We got too excited and forgot to thread it. It came back at double speed! Once we had mastered the technique we were ok to fly it again.
Workers Me & Teena with Senior PM

After a while we noticed that our kite ain't flying higher even though when we were threading it quite generously. We tried to bring back the thread and realized that our kite was in a love triangle - A Donald duck kite and another rainbow beauty. How much ever I hate to interfere in an entangled relationship, this was a must do. We rescued the kites and relocated to another space in the park. When the sky was getting darker, we gave up the air space to kites with lights and retired to enjoy the beautiful skyline and the light show at the Super tree groves in Gardens by the Bay(Google for 'Garden Rhapsody' until I write about it one day and link it here).


It was a great evening peeps. We should do this more often with more kites and friends. Hereby, I officially declare Marina Barrage to enlisted be in my "Fave Five Spots in Singapore" list.

Note :
How to reach Marina Barrage, if you are taking public transport - Board the North South(Red) Line, go to Marina Bay and take Exit A. You will see MBS on the left side. Don't get distracted. Walk straight to the bus stop and board SBS 400.You will see the Barrage right after the Gardens by the Bay.

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