The Excitement
In early 70’s there were 2 days in the year which were most awaited for boys my age. They were the festivals of ‘Holi’ and the mega event of ‘Jhamgat.’ I remember I could not sleep on the eve of both these festivals, just waiting for the morning to come so one could get started. While most people know what Holi is all about, not many outside Uttar Pradesh know what an important day Jhamgat was for people of Lucknow. It was a day when we forgot to eat breakfast or Lunch. It was a day for which we prepared for weeks. It was a day no one worked in Lucknow. All shops, establishments, schools, colleges and businesses remained shut. Celebrated a day after Diwali, Jhamgat was a festival of taashbaazi, murgeybaazi and above all………….the patangbaazi.
The Patangbaaz
To be called a patangbaaz, you had to work for it. It was said that if you could cut 9 consecutive kites with your kite in the course of one flight, you could hang it in your house for posterity to be called the patangbaaz. The more such kites you had , the bigger patangbaaz you were. Most afternoons after school were spent on rooftop. A charkhi in left hand and the kite string in another, looking up at our kankaiya, we were all ambidextrous when it came to kite flying. At the time of petcha the hand movements would become animated and depending on dheel or kheech petcha the charki would fly from one hand to another to between the legs.My opportunity of becoming a patangbaaz came when one fine afternoon my red coloured ‘kankaiya’ demolished 8 kites which dared to oppose her. The 9th ‘petcha’ was in progress and I was on top with a steady ‘dheel.’ Just as the opponent tried to break free he made the cardinal mistake of converting the ‘dheel’ petcha into the ‘kheech’ petcha. His kite went free flying and a cheer went up from neighbouring rooftops. One of my neighbours Pinkoo , however could not digest it and using a stick, he captured my precious patang. Though I had become a patangbaaz, I had to retrieve my kite to hang it in the house . Pinkoo did not accede to my requests of releasing the kite so I went to his house, had an altercation and the fight became physical. Before I realised, he had fallen off a few flights of stairs and was bleeding from his head. I panicked and ran. All hell broke loose. I thought Pinkoo would die and I had visions of Police, and spending my days behind bars. There was a lot of commotion in the colony with his parents vowing revenge. There were a lot of rumours floating around. Luckily, Pinkoo survived with a few stitches. The door of the terrace of my house was locked and I was banned from flying the kites.
My only consolation was that as I had fled the crime scene, I had taken care to take my victorious patang with me. It remained with me for many years.
The Kite sellers
In Lucknow, landmark for all places used to be a cinema hall. Most of the kites and manjha and saddi was bought by us from a lane near Liberty cinema (now Shubam). A old man (miyanji) used to sell us the kites and as he was pleasant and told us jokes and asked us riddles, we constantly gave him business. He would often give us credit when we felt short of money. Another kite seller in the same lane called ‘ustaadji’, would constantly ask us for business but we ignored him. One day, to our dismay, miyanjis shop was shut so went to the other shop. We thought ustadji would welcome us with open arms. We were wrong. He threw us out of his shop and refused to sell anything to us!
There were 2 legendry patang sellers in Lucknow. Haji Miyan at Hussaingunj (on the way to railway station)and Babban Miyan at Golagunj (near Gulab cinema). We would go there only when taken by the parents. My dad would take me very often to Haji miyan who was a very friendly soul. There was a vast difference if you compared the quality of kites of these legends with the normal kite sellers. It seemed so easy to fly them . They would even tie kanni for you correctly. I got to know that kanni was such an important part of kite flying from Haji miyan, who educated me how to tie different lengths of kanni depending on weather condition such as wind factor. Haji miyan had a small factory behind his shop which he displayed very proudly. He was also very proud of the quality of his manjha and explained the ratio of glass, glue and other materials mixed to rub on the string to make it into a potent weapon for the kite flying badeybaaz.
Badeybaaz
Badeybaaz means one who bets . Here it means the one who bets with kites. A few lanes (almost a km away) stayed someone called Imtiaz. Imtiaz was the finest kite flyer you could ever meet. He was a magician with the kite. We were always in dread when flying our kite as from nowhere, at a great speed Imtiaz’s ‘kankouva’ would swoop down and take away our poor kankaiya. Such was his dexterity that we would not even realise it till it was right upon us. Imtiaz was a well respected badeybaaz of Lucknow. Normally, they had badeys in 'chowk' or 'Begum Hazrat mahal park', sometimes he had badeys from his own rooftop. There was a buzz which preceded the days the badey would take place. It would happen 2-3 times a year. Each badeybaaz had an army of kite runners. Not actually kite runners but these guys would spread out around the nearby colonies and ensured that no one would disturb the great competition. They were equipped with hockey sticks and cycle chains and were prepared for a street fight anytime. No one dared to bring down the flying kite or catch the string once the kite had been cut. You could only see two kites so high above rest of the kites. I think they had a rule regarding distance when the petcha would take place. It was like two honourable warriors in a battle. They did not attack each other without warning. It was said that Imtiaaz trusted no one with his maanjha and made it himself. My friend once cut Imtiaz's kite by mistake and celebrated for months after.I had never seen Imtiaz from close but he was our hero. It was many years later that I actually saw Imtiaaz. He was thin and gaunt, had a stubble, was not more than five feet tall and appeared to have a constant paan in his mouth. I did not meet him in connection with kite flying but when he repaired my dad’s car. He was a car mechanic by profession.
The Kite Runner
Till I read Khaled Hosseni's ‘The Kite Runner’ I didn’t know that what we did in our childhood was called kite running. The adrenalin pumped up seeing a cut kite floating in the skies. We jumped roofs, crossed roads, went through one narrow lane to another, climbed trees and put our lives at stake for a 50 paisa patang. Many a times we hurt ourselves badly and often one kite would lead to gang fights. It is difficult to explain why we did this and what drove us into this madness. However, I can safely say that Patangbaazi taught us what passion for something means !
Glossary
1) Jhamgat : The day after Diwali celebrated in UP. The skies are full of colourful kites and atmosphere is festive. Those who don’t fly kites, play cards.
2) Tashbaazi : Playing cards
3) Murgeybaazi : Cock fights. A very common sport in Old Lucknow. Legacy of nawabi days.
4) Kankayia : A normal kite
5) Kankouva : A big kite. Difficult to fly and control.
6) Kanni : The necktie of a kite which facilitates the kite to fly. One end of a string is tied towards the top of kite and other end towards the tail.
7) Manjha : A special thin string having sharpness to cut the other string. Normally tied from Kanni for around 40-50 yards. Its important that in a petcha , manjha is used.
8) Saddi : Thick string, tied after manjha so that the hand does not get cut while flying kite. It can be cut by manjha easily.
9) Petcha : when 2 kites are in a process of entangling with each other with the intention of cutting the other.
10) Dheel Petcha : A petcha where one tries to go on top of the other kite and string is slowly released so that the sharpness of manjha cuts the other kites string.
11) Khetch Petcha : A petcha where the string is pulled at a speed so the kite goes from below the other kite at a great speed with the intent of cutting it .
12) Badey : The kite betting. The petchas were normally of 50 kites and it used to take the full day. I am told that all they used to bet for was a few kilos of sweets which would be distributed in the colony of the victor.
13) Badeybaaz : One who bets based on his kite flying prow ness.
14) Charkhi : What you see in the photo above. An appliance on which the string was wrapped. On top is manjha and below it the saddi.
15) Chowk : Part of Old Lucknow near the famous Imambara. Famous for Chikan work, thandai, kites. Predominantly muslim population.
16) Begum Hazrat Mahal park : A huge park in central Lucknow opposite Clarks Avadh Hotel. Famous for several Dusherras, Lucknow Mahotsavs, Mushairaas and big fairs organised there. It was earlier called Victoria Park but was re-named after Begum Hazrat Mahal in 1962. Begum Hazrat mahal was a Begum of Nawab of Oudh and took an active and important part in the uprising of 1857.
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