Lahoris are always set to fly colourful kites and light up the skies with beam in Lahore on Saturday evening and Sunday to celebrate the seasonal festival of Basant. Basant festival has given Lahore a very respectable place on the world cultural map in recent years.
Basant is a festival with strong economic dimensions. Kites worth millions of rupees are sold and flown by the Lahoris not only on Saturday evening and Sunday but throughout the month. The sale of kites, ranging from miniature guddi to king size guddas, brings phenomenal gains to the kite-makers, manufacturers accessories needed for flying kites. Mochi Gate becomes a big market of kites some months before the Basant festival.
Kite flying is also like a battle between two teams, and they fight for cutting each others kite. Kite makers celebrate as well due to the high demand of kites throughout the country. Cultural drum beaters are also hired for the event.
This festival also includes activities like music night, parties by an upper middle class Lahoris, and wearing of yellow clothes. Thousands of people visit this city from different countries to celebrate this festival at private residences, with their friends and relatives and most of the guesthouses are fully booked.
Multinational companies have now started taking advantage of this beautiful culture by promoting their products into various activities and festivals associated with basant such as sponsoring musical basant nights and displaying banners.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Basant Background
Before Pakistan and India were split into two, Basant, whose Sanskrit root means spring, was celebrated across Punjab. When the India-Pakistan partition split the Punjab in two, Basant remained a Lahori traditional event, but not without detractors.
Flying kites has been a passion in this part of the world, for adults and children as well. In Pakistan, people even fly kites at night, using powerful beam and searchlights. And every year, Basant transforms the skies over Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, into a glittery spectacle of thousand of thousands of kites.
Basant is represented by the yellow colour of mustard flowers. A festival which had its beginnings as a Hindu celebration but became more secular as different religions came to India and participated in the joy of the occasion. The streets, parks and the roof tops especially are alive with cheers of "Vo Kata" or Kite down, followed by drums beats(dholwalas).
Adults and children love to indulge in kite duels, and that is where the danger lies. For duels, the kites are flown on a thin wire or on a thick string coated with glass or chemicals, to better attack opponent's kites. Stray kites can and do drag their strings unpredictably, tangling around a human neck or limb and cutting it.
A maker of kite string, said his string was so thin it could not possibly slit anyone's throat. Before him, workers coated long stretches of string with a paste of crushed glass: the sharper the glass, the more lethal against its rivals in the sky.
Flying kites has been a passion in this part of the world, for adults and children as well. In Pakistan, people even fly kites at night, using powerful beam and searchlights. And every year, Basant transforms the skies over Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province, into a glittery spectacle of thousand of thousands of kites.
Basant is represented by the yellow colour of mustard flowers. A festival which had its beginnings as a Hindu celebration but became more secular as different religions came to India and participated in the joy of the occasion. The streets, parks and the roof tops especially are alive with cheers of "Vo Kata" or Kite down, followed by drums beats(dholwalas).
Adults and children love to indulge in kite duels, and that is where the danger lies. For duels, the kites are flown on a thin wire or on a thick string coated with glass or chemicals, to better attack opponent's kites. Stray kites can and do drag their strings unpredictably, tangling around a human neck or limb and cutting it.
A maker of kite string, said his string was so thin it could not possibly slit anyone's throat. Before him, workers coated long stretches of string with a paste of crushed glass: the sharper the glass, the more lethal against its rivals in the sky.
Basant and the Ban
Basant being a very famous event from many years was transformed into the shape of a festival which was celebrated with joy and enthusiasm by the people of Lahore. It was for many years officially backed by the government and sponsored by multinational corporations. Although Basant "travels" throughout Pakistani Punjab it is Lahore which made it popular not only in Pakistan but all over the world as the largest kite festival. Unfortunately there are accidents and even deaths during the festival each year because of the public's ignorance towards the use of banned strings and also gunfire. Due to these unfortunate incidents and causalities, Basant left people thinking about that it should be celebrated or not? And due to uncontrollable causalities the answer to this question came in a no from government in the form of a ban.
If kite flying in Pakistan were not controversial enough already, religion is also entangled in the matter, with sections of the country’s Muslim majority objecting to Basant on grounds of its Hindu roots. Last year the festival was overshadowed by the tragic Lahore bombings, but with both pro- and anti-kite flying supporters ready to continue the kite fight, things look up in the air for 2009. “Each year the festival spells tragedy for many families”, the BBC's Paul Anderson in Pakistan says.
It has become a highly competitive event in which people employ extraordinary skills to bring down - better still, capture - an opponent's kite. Sometimes they use string coated in pulverized glass to cut an opponent's kite; other times metal wire - which is often coated in corrosive chemicals. The authorities have banned the use of metal- or chemical-lined strings to try to prevent accidents or electrocutions from kite-flying. Strings made of thin metal wire or coated with glass were outlawed last year but the ban was never enforced in view of their popularity with kite flying enthusiasts. Metal or glass coated strings help cut the strings of rival kites - the main objective of the sport. But they can catch unsuspecting bikers across the throat, at times with fatal consequences. Metal kites also cause short-circuits in overhead power cables, leading to heavy losses for electricity utilities.
If kite flying in Pakistan were not controversial enough already, religion is also entangled in the matter, with sections of the country’s Muslim majority objecting to Basant on grounds of its Hindu roots. Last year the festival was overshadowed by the tragic Lahore bombings, but with both pro- and anti-kite flying supporters ready to continue the kite fight, things look up in the air for 2009. “Each year the festival spells tragedy for many families”, the BBC's Paul Anderson in Pakistan says.
It has become a highly competitive event in which people employ extraordinary skills to bring down - better still, capture - an opponent's kite. Sometimes they use string coated in pulverized glass to cut an opponent's kite; other times metal wire - which is often coated in corrosive chemicals. The authorities have banned the use of metal- or chemical-lined strings to try to prevent accidents or electrocutions from kite-flying. Strings made of thin metal wire or coated with glass were outlawed last year but the ban was never enforced in view of their popularity with kite flying enthusiasts. Metal or glass coated strings help cut the strings of rival kites - the main objective of the sport. But they can catch unsuspecting bikers across the throat, at times with fatal consequences. Metal kites also cause short-circuits in overhead power cables, leading to heavy losses for electricity utilities.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
ADDING MORE COLORS
Kites high up in the air, people dressed in bright yellow colored dresses, music, food, happiness and total fiesta all this would sum up basant for us. Basant is a festival which was celebrated every year in Lahore where people would enjoy flying kites, its origin is from Lahore and due to its entertainment it has now taken the entire nation by storm. It is celebrated in every corner of Pakistan, people often decorate their houses with kites and yellow flowers called “ ganday kay phool” , women make new dresses for this special occasion and wear bangles. It has become an important part of our culture now. The media also participates in the promotion and publicity of this event each year and not only have this but big company such as coca cola even sponsored basant activities. Promotional songs are also sung by various singers to add more life to the celebrations. Basant is becoming a very important aspect as far as tourist attraction is concerned, many foreigners fly from different parts of the world to see this even which for them is a combination of color, music and bucket full of fun.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Basant remains a controversy
Lahori’s were deprived of the basant for the last two years and were given false hopes that ban on basant will be uplifted until 15th march this year, however the hidden motive of the government was a big question mark at that moment. Long march was announced on 15th march and the government chose the exact same date to lift the ban on basant. Basant from many years has been celebrated in February because of the fine weather is suitable for kite flying and it’s the first time since I started celebrating basant that the date has moved to march. The main purpose of basant was not to let the joy and colors of basant spread amongst the people of Lahore but to divert their attention from the long march. From the last two years economy had to bear a loss of more than Rs 200 million annually. Around 500,000 families, directly related to the kite flying business, have lost their sources of livelihood because of the ban on Basant, ignoring all this government restricted Lahori’s to celebrate basant and deprived these families of bread and butter. Many people were forced to quit their business and had to do labor in order to survive. No aid being given to these families government acted irresponsibly towards its motive of giving people social and economic stability yet again. Cultural events like basant should be promoted rather than forcefully made a part of politics. It is still unclear that, Will Lahore see the next basant? or it was just dirty politics this year to make the long march unsuccessful.
Basant “clearing the misconception”
Basant is a festival observed with great enthusiasm in the sub-continent (India and Pakistan) way before independence. People started celebrating basant back in the days when agriculture was the big profession and sarson plants gave their beautiful yellow flowers. It’s an agricultural festival .Different societies in the world are recognized through their culture and basant has been part of our culture long before any of us were born. This unique event has a lot more associated with it that we can’t realize. Basant is the identity of Lahore and is what makes Lahore the liveliest city of them all. There are many different opinions associated with whether to celebrate basant or to ban it, however no one considers the significance of basant for the not-so-fortunate people. Unlike the rich, they do not have the luxury of Broadband Internet, Wi-Fi, the poor don’t have HDTV, DVD players, Laptops etc. Basant originally was a sport of poor people, and was enjoyed greatly by them however this culture was then given a slightly different direction by the elites of the society. Invitation from places like “Salu ki Hawaili” and invites from different hawailis started the dance, drinking, and firing culture, and its sad to say that our rulers, and government officials were all part of it. Basant since then has been negatively portrayed and along came different opinions of religious extremists and intellectuals of the society. I remember for me and for most of the people of Lahore basant was an event filled with colors, joy, entertainment and gathering of relatives and friends. Basant in Pakistan, particularly in Lahore, my city, could be described as a mega event. It was the center of attention for people of all ages, young or old, everyone was in it. This event was the biggest of them all, you name it Diwali, Holi, and you name it. Basant alone was grander than any other festival celebrated in Asia, or for that matter in the World itself. Today, however a gloomy picture is laid in front of us with questions arising whether to include it in our culture or not.
In addition to a form of entertainment, Basant and kite flying was a source of income for many. The women, (as in a society such as Pakistan) who faced opposition as to go out and work, easily made kites and earned a sustainable income from the comfort of their home. Other than these different rooftops in inner Lahore were booked by multinationals paying huge amounts to the owners. Hotels were booked full and an inflow of capital through tourism and different people coming in Lahore pumped a lot of investment in the economy. An economic activity of almost two billion rupees is generated for the people of Pakistan through this event.
Higher authorities responsible for making decisions whether to allow basant or ban it should worry more about making it safe and keeping this part of our culture alive rather than sitting around and banning in because they are not responsible enough to take necessary measure.
Long live Basant
Long live Pakistan
In addition to a form of entertainment, Basant and kite flying was a source of income for many. The women, (as in a society such as Pakistan) who faced opposition as to go out and work, easily made kites and earned a sustainable income from the comfort of their home. Other than these different rooftops in inner Lahore were booked by multinationals paying huge amounts to the owners. Hotels were booked full and an inflow of capital through tourism and different people coming in Lahore pumped a lot of investment in the economy. An economic activity of almost two billion rupees is generated for the people of Pakistan through this event.
Higher authorities responsible for making decisions whether to allow basant or ban it should worry more about making it safe and keeping this part of our culture alive rather than sitting around and banning in because they are not responsible enough to take necessary measure.
Long live Basant
Long live Pakistan
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Colours of basant……
Basant was celebrated mostly during the month of February. Month of February is known as month of jashn-e-baharan. This is the time when the sky is clear and this time is ideal for kite flying as winds are slow and they provide support to kites to fly high. This is also the time when fields appear golden yellow and bring beauty to the place. YELLOW is the colour which brings the feel of basant as yellow is the colour which is considered auspicious and is given a great importance on this day. The second most important colour on this day is green. Light green colour represents the trees and the season ‘spring’. Colours of basant are always bright and they are not only limited to kites only, children, teenagers and people from all walks of life wear colorful bright clothes. To bring more joy to this event special dishes were cooked and the “dhool” beat created excitement for the people to dance. People use to install colorful lights on their rooftops so that they could see their kite flying in the sky. Little, little things added some colour to basant, for example people not only from Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, and Faisalabad would come in large number but in fact people from all around the world would come and add some sort of energy to basant.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Basant: what should be done
Basant acts as a two-sided weapon -for some it brings joy but for others a life long pain due to the heart shattering incidents caused by reckless kite flying as well as the useless festivities associated with it. There are no major actions being taken by citizens or the government to improve the deteriorating conditions and effects of this event. Basant is becoming more and more dangerous over the years but still there has been no proper implementation of rules and regulations that can help us avoid such casualities.
Come to think of it ,basant is our cultural festival. it very beautifully and elegantly depicts out heritage and culture but the problem occurs when things start getting out of control and i think we have reached a point where we will ignore everything just to have fun. I hope the government does something useful in this regard. for e.g by imposing a ban on this festival but even if it is allowed peoper rules and regulations should be implemented inorder to ensure the safety of the people during the days basant is celebrated. There is only one way by which we can make sure that basant is celebrated in a safe atmosphere.
Imposing a ban on basant is not the greatest of ideas, however alternate ways of celebrating it safely and enthusiasticly gives us a more realistic and practical approach towards solving this problem.
Come to think of it ,basant is our cultural festival. it very beautifully and elegantly depicts out heritage and culture but the problem occurs when things start getting out of control and i think we have reached a point where we will ignore everything just to have fun. I hope the government does something useful in this regard. for e.g by imposing a ban on this festival but even if it is allowed peoper rules and regulations should be implemented inorder to ensure the safety of the people during the days basant is celebrated. There is only one way by which we can make sure that basant is celebrated in a safe atmosphere.
Imposing a ban on basant is not the greatest of ideas, however alternate ways of celebrating it safely and enthusiasticly gives us a more realistic and practical approach towards solving this problem.
Why is there a ban on basant
Now according to what I’ve researched I have come across a very intriguing consideration, that Basant on one side it is a joyful activity where people get together, fly kites, wear colorful clothes and enjoy the amazing weather while on the other side it takes the life of many innocent children. The mere thought of loosing so many precious lives to fun and frolic sounds appalling so there has to be a proper ban on this event. Looking at the statistics, it gives us a clear cut view and we will come across various incidents that further explain why there should be a life long ban on this preposterous event.Initially more than 50 people sustained serious injuries from lethal kite strings coated with chemicals and around 15 people including children lost their lives during the last three years. Where as in 2005 more than 200 were injured 19 people died in February during Basant before it was banned in Pakistan. In 2006 more then seven people were killed and 10 injured despite of the extremely special measures that were taken to avoid any unrest and the ban was lifted for a short span of time. In 2007 around six people were killed and 10 injured while there were a number of incidents which went unreported. If we take a look at the past history we will come across a lot of distressing incidents where the use of dangerous types of strings resulted in heavy losses of life, money and resources. Imposing a ban on basant is not the greatest of ideas, however alternate ways of celebrating it safely and enthusiasticly gives us a more realistic and practical approach towards solving this problem. We know that the Government at all these occasions can not fully ensure strict safety measures, and even if there are rules imposed the people do not abide by them. People tend to forget everything when they are having a good time and this mere ignorance causes nothing but tragedies. So all these factors are more then enough to figure out why there should be a proper ban on this event for now and for the rest of time
Basant causes nothing but a life long pain to the poor citizens who are victims to the causalities that are caused by reckless kite flying as well as the useless festivities associated with it. If we look back and see how basant is celebrated every year we will come across a dozen unsettling cases that caused nothing but distress to the people. It causes nothing but disruption of power supply, irreparable damage to human lives and also a lot of damage to Wapda installations. These main causes of fatalities and injuries were definitely owed to chemical coated string and the metal strings that were being smuggled into the country in large quantities. The government could not control the manufacturing of these deadly sharp twines and with that they couldn’t keep a strong hold on the situation as there were more and more incidents repeatedly of injuries and deaths caused by lethal kite strings coated with chemicals and due to that this festival has now become almost synonymous with "Cut Throat Kite Strings", "Intense Firing" and "excessive power breakdowns. A lot of rules and regulations regarding kite flying were imposed but the people almost never abided by them. So in such dire circumstances the Government had no other option but to put a life long ban on basant. I personally think that it is impossible to ensure safety of life and celebrate basant at the same time.
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Basant- is it bash or blood?
Basant is celebrated every year in Lahore with extreme enthusiam and excitement. Thousands of people from all over the World gather here in the city of Lahore to take part in this festivity. There is no other place where Basant is celebrated with as much enthusiasm and fervor as the ancient city of Lahore.Keeping our cultural heritage into view ,it was merely a festival confined to the old-walled city but now it has spread all through out the city and people are seen flying kites and enjoying the weather in every corner of the city.
Now Basant is an extremely controversial hot topic which does not go without issues and arguments. There are two sides to this festival, one is very grim and tragic whereas the other is vibrant, energetic and enthusiastic through and through.When we talk about the negative side of Basant we come across darkness, evil and viciousness that it beholds for people who go through various tragic incidents. We cannot help but notice how it can have such extreme opposite sides. At one side we get to witness the various parties and functions organized by households and huge firms , the ambience that it creates brings people joy and entertainment. While on the other we cannot help but ignore the disruption and blood which is resulted due to the celebration of this event. If we take a close look we'll come across some heart renching episodes that caused nothing but distress to the people and left a mark to those whose loved ones were killed and to those who suffered in the name of entertainment, recreation and festivity.
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