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.
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