Emperor of Skies

Yesterday evening, I just decided to give work a break and went to the terrace to watch kids flying paper kites in the neighborhood. There was a lot of breeze and guess it was an ideal evening for this sport. There was some intense fighting in the skies and it was a joy to watch 20 kites of all different colors.

It was even more fun to watch kids on the streets running around to catch the kites that were coming down one by one. The kids did not care where they ran. Their heads were just focused on the kite and I can see that they wanted it so much that they kept running all around, scaling compound walls when required, not caring about what others may say, and jumping into houses in an effort to be the first one to lay hands on the falling kite.

It reminded me of my own childhood, when I was so crazy about flying kites. My mother used to take me to the kite shop and get me the kites that were available for 25 paise, and if she was very happy with me, she may rarely get me the bigger one for 50 paise. I very badly wanted to fly the "bana" kite that sold for Rs 2, but I never asked my parents and hence I never got one. My friends and me used to hunt for broken glass, tube lights, white thread and many other agents to prepare the deadly "manja thread" and fly the kites with it.

It was really super fun those days. With nothing much to do other than school studies, and with all the free time in the world, we could fly the kites and feel we were the Emperor of the skies for the moment. Winning in whatever small ways is always such an amazing feeling, and I guess it has been long since I experienced a big win. I'll try, I'll try very hard for the next big win.