Flying Kite and Lessons for Life

Those who have been in Bengaluru for 20+ years would remember the sight of sky full of kites in summer till July, august. While in rest of India, kite festivals are during Sankranti, for us, it use to be months together.

The huge trees near marthas hospital, mysore bank circle used to be dotted with hundreds of kites, most of them were those which were cut by rival kite flyers in far places like chickpet, akkipet, majestic areas and it had flown in wind to get stuck in trees, hanging..!!

I remember the days when blood oozed out from nose, thanks to standing under scotching sun for hours together, nevertheless, it was only a pause till going back to terrace next day.

Every building use to have residents flying and some were champions in cutting others kites through their glass powder embedded threads. In every street we had children looking at sky if any kites will drop nearby which are been cut by others.

This might look like a story and soon become a history, in this digital era. However when we look back this entire set of events, it had lot of lessons for us in life.

Yes, flying kite thought us some important lessons, without attending any classes. Some of them are relevant in our life, even today.

Here is a list of comparison it has:

Budget and Planning: those days, 2 rupees use to be luxury and if given, we sat and budgeted it – how many 50 ps. & 25 ps. kites we should buy. Should we buy 6 or 8 and how long we can use it?  We also use to budget for Manjaa (layering Glass powdered threads) and when we should have it. Who all will join, on whose terrace, how much time etc.

This is important even now. If we don’t budget properly on various investments, expenditures, we will not be able to meet the funds during exigency. If we do wrong planning, we will misuse resources and might lead to failure of projects.

Challenging the Opponents:  the most challenging part of flying, was to take on the opposite team’s kites and ensure it is cut but if any miscalculation, it will backfire. Sometimes, even if you don’t want, unanticipated and surprising attack use to happen by others and will take away yours.

It taught to be careful on whom you will take heads on. Before challenging them, know their strengths. If you think it’s not worth to fight a losing battle, just withdraw from the game or fly far away. To be careful of unknown, unanticipated enemies, be vigilant all the time. We don’t know who is planning against us!!

Be ready for Surprises:  life is full of surprises. We don’t know when we miss what or gain something. Similar to the unknown attack, wind, rain will spoil the game. Be ready for it and don’t lose heart

It can also be a pleasant surprise when unexpectedly you win the game against strong opponent which you thought will lose for sure or come across a kite which was cut far away and it fell near by… its Bonus!! I still remember that pleasant feeling when a kite is approaching, floating in wind, not sure if it will land in our hand and keep close look at thread to catch hold of it.

Team Work: nothing can be more joy than being with friends and celebrating. The game was never a one man army. It was always a bundle of people, joined together. Starting from preparing threads, buying kites and to fly and fight. If it was individual flying, it would be solo show, staring at sky.

 Nothing has changed now. If we need to work in a project, it’s always a team work. Most the projects done by individuals will have less success % vs. winning ratio of team work.

Direction:  you need to know which direction wind is and then plan to fly according to it.  Otherwise no matter how much efforts we put, it will not take off, rather might get torn. Nothing different in knowing our direction in life now.

Enhance Skills and Continuous Improvement:  when we first start flying, we didn’t know anything. Elders at home use to purchase, tie required sutras (threads) in particular order and allow use to enjoy it. As we start learning the game, we realised, we can’t depend on them every time. So start practicing the art of tying sutras, attacking opponent teams, checking weather condition, measuring the distance to fly etc.

In professional life, if we don’t enhance our skills, we might become redundant, younger generation will take over. We can’t depend on the earlier technology or skills. Its always continuous improvement - Kaizen.

Our ancestors had designed such ideal games, which made the next generations equipped with various skills required for life. Kite Flying is just an example. You can relate to any of the traditional games, this lessons will be found.