Just Walking Around

Kites and Til Gul …..

What is with children and kites. May be it is the feeling of letting your heart wander outside your body. Letting it soar in the sky carefree. Flying among hide & seek with the sun. Pushing your way against gusty winds and still keeping yourself grounded by way of the string attached to the bale (manjha). The hands holding the string controlling the swift movement in the sky. Too much liberty (dheel) and you will drift away , too much tautness and you will be cut down to size. Much like the journey of our life.

Its Makar Sankranti the 1^st festival on the onset of the new year. A festival that celebrates the winter.Makar Sankrati has a special relevance in Indian context as it denotes Uttarayan the movement of the Sun northwards from tropic of Capricon to the tropic of Cancer, the start of the winter solistic .The days gradually becoming longer than the nights.The climate also changes for the good , cold winds blow across the landscape , bringing in a little coziness in the air. A little lethargy and laziness also comes in the air. Its also an important time in our Agrarian society as its time to reap the Rabbi crop. Fresh fruits and fresh vegetables are available at your local markets. To keep the body warm our ancient scriptures have laid down use of Seasame or Til and jaggery or Gul / Gud in our daily diets. Thats where the sweet meat Tilgul came from . These famous Maharashtrian sweet are small ladoos with high energy and much better in taste than those high energy bars you get at the shops. These tilguls are savored by young and old on Makar Sankranti day. 

In the North of India a similar sweet known as Gajak is famous for its taste and chikki type flavor.The best Gajak you get in Indore and my personal favorite is at Sheetal Gajak churning out these delicacies since mid thirties.. One of the oldest and best place to taste and buy the Gajak in the busy bylanes of Indore. Here you will find variety of Gajak’s , the rich Gajak roll , These are very famous type of gajak, comes in two varieties one is filled with soft condensed milk (Khoya) and one without core. Garnished with pista and nuts you can have it in one go.Then there is the Sugar Gajak , in this you will find a different flavour, here Jaggery has replaced by sugar. Another mouth watering variant is the Soft grinded Seasame seed Gajak - These are so delicate it will melt in mouth. Goodness of sesame seeds and jaggery tantalizing your taste buds. Gajak if not made properly will surely go to the dustbin, as it needs a pristine and expertise only a specialized chef can prepare it.

The other thing that is associated with Makar Sakranti is the Patang baazi or Kite flying sessions across prominent cities like Ahemdabad , Baroda, Surat , Rajkot and Jamnagar in Gujarat. It’s a 2 days long event who’s preparations starts way back in December and culminates in a crescendo on Makarsankranti day on January 14^th  and carries on January 15^th as Vasi Sankranti (Stale Sankranti). Kite makers manufacture kites in lakhs , in variety of shapes and sizes unbelievable to the eye. The basic shape being the rhombus made of bendable bamboo sticks with central spine and a single  bow. The paper used is light weight so that the kites can fly high up in the sly and yet not tear down when facing the winds. The manjha or the string attached is made fierce using abarasive material like crushed glass . Such fierce names like tar manjha , kanch manjha , baraielly , panda manjha and the latest addition the Chinese plastic thread which is very sharp and have become notorious as they have lead to life threatening accidents.

In Gujarat, from December through to Makara Sankranti, people start enjoying Uttarayan. Undhiyu (spicy, baked mix of winter vegetables) and chikkis (made from til (sesame seeds), peanuts and jaggery) are the special festival recipes savored on this day.

In the major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara, the skies appear filled with thousands upon thousands of kites as people enjoy two full days of Uttarayan on their terraces.Even new source of economic activities have started of renting open spaces and especially the terraces in bigger cities of Ahmedabad and Vadodara. The cost of renting starting at Rs.8000 and reaching even Rs.15000 – 20000 for a group of 20-25 for a full day. Bookings are taken online by websites like “MyTerrace.in”.Then there are the ancillary small industry of catering providing lip smacking snacks like fluffy dhokla , khandvi , fafda, pati samosa , bhajjia and patra. A package is offered for serious Patangbaaz groups of snacks , lunch and evening snacks and made to order cold drinks and lemonades. The kite flyers then can enjoy the entire day flying and cutting kites and only coming down when the sun sets for the day. The competition is fiercely fought , accompanied with strategies and collective wisdom and experience.

When people cut any kites they yell words like "kaypo chhe", "e lapet", "phirki vet phirki" and "lapet lapet" in Gujarati.

A full day is well spent becoming one with nature and the whole atmosphere is filled with loud shouts and laughter.

So here’s a tribute to this festive spirit and fun.

As they say in Marathi----- Til gul ghya ani god god bola….  ‘Accept this til-gul (sweet) and utter sweet words’. The underlying thought in the exchange of til-gul is to forget the past ill-feelings and hostilities and resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends..

Happy Makar Sankranti….