Away from crises-ridden homelands, foreign participants on cloud nine at Ahmedabad kite fest

Palestine is one of Arathe b League countries like Egypt, Iraq, Jordon, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco, which have been invited to the festival for the first time. “I have been to kite festivals in Tunisia, but it is my first time in India. I have been in Ahmedabad since the festival started,” Alseyoury told The Indian Express.

She has been sharing the space with kitists from 53 countries, including Israel. “Kite flying here has been peaceful here, in Israel or any other country. Everyone is here to celebrate and enjoy the festival and display their kites, and co-exist in harmony,” said Alseyoury who is doing a doctorate in Sociology in a university in Tunisia.

“I do social work in Palestine otherwise. In my country the kites are generally flown by kids, and are similar to the kites flown here in India. We also use kites to communicate or as a sign of protest during times of conflicts, which has been going on for decades now,” said the kitist.

Palestine has been in conflict with Israel since 1948. Alseyoury said that the basic amenities in Palestine have been affected due to the war.

Thirty-year-old Nancy Alseyoury, the Palestinian kitist from Hebron in West Bank is participating in the IKF for the first time.  (Express photo)

She has also faced visa issues for travelling to Tunisia for her education. This is despite the fact that the two countries share good relations with each other. “All we want is to live peacefully within our territories (West Bank and Gaza strip), and live our lives. Even here at the fest, with Israel as one of the participant nations, we have a non-interference approach, and we are here to celebrate. We are here in our individual capacity to enjoy the festival within our rights as humans and respect people beyond their nationality, religion, language, or colour,” said Alseyoury.

Social education teacher from Tunisia Amal Amira, 43, is participating in the festival for the fourth time. “We also came here last year. But there was no festival due to Covid-19 restrictions. So we toured the city then. We are a group of four and visited Vadnagar the day before yesterday. The wind was good there so we enjoyed flying kites. However, in Ahmedabad, because of low wind, it has been dull,” said Amira.

In Tunisia too, the kites are flown by the children. While some are made in the country, others are procured from China and Germany. Tunisia is one of the few countries from the Arab region which are frequent visitors to the festival along with Kuwait and Lebanon. “It is here that many of us discovered that kites can be flown by adults too, and that too on such a large scale,” said Amira. The Tunisian kitist has been a coordinator for many kitists from various Arab countries to participate in the event.

Philosophy teacher from Iraq Fadil Ahmed is on cloud nine as he is flying a kite for the first time. “All my friends here from different nations have been quite patient to teach me how to fly one,” said the 45-year-old who teaches philosophy at Diyala University in Iraq.

Ahmed said that people in his country have found a way to live amidst the frequent political situations, and this visit to the festival has proven a way to create new bonds and make new friends.

A couple from Sri Lanka’s Colombo who has been to the kite festival since 2010 finds it amusing every time they participate in the festival. “We have our business of clothes and toys. But life has become tough there, with people struggling to buy basic things. There are only a few like us who can afford to come to events like this,” said Ushani Dharamsena, 35.

Dharamsena’s husband, Kushan Sameer, 36, has been to kite festivals in Malaysia, South Korea, China before, “But I have not seen any kite festival celebrated with so much enthusiasm. We were there in Surat, Vadnagar, Rajkot, Statue of Unity in Kevadia and Vadodara to fly kites,” said Sameer.

In Sri Lanka traditional kites like cobra kites, fish kites, bat kites, peacock kites mainly 18 inches in size are flown in Colombo, Jaffna, and other rural areas. “They are made of oil paper and bamboo. They are good to be flown even in the slightest of breeze, but here in Ahmedabad there is no wind. We had good experiences in Surat and Vadnagar. We liked Vadnagar the most because of its Buddhist importance,” said the Sinhalese Buddhist couple.

“I have made many friends here, and enjoy flying kites with one of the kitists from Japan. It is easy to communicate with them too as I am learning Japanese,” said an excited Dharamsena.