Every human being in the city if Ahmedabad was on his roof. Kites covered the whole of the sky above Ahemadabad. Yes, you guessed it right, it was Uttrayan. Anyone who ever had even a slight brush with Gujrati culture knows what Uttrayan means to this western state.
I was in 2nd standard. My cousins were visiting us and I was boastingly showing them off my knowledge about the big city. I had slender frame and wore a spec, even then. My father had got us one of the most fancy and expensive kites available. It was sky blue in colour, made with a material which gave it a shimmering look, when the sun rays bounced on it. It had a beautiful sparkling tail. Now in Ahmedabad or rather in whole of the Gujrat catching a cut kite is as big a thing as flying one, on Uttrayan. There are hoards of kids combing the streets in hunt for a falling kite, with differing devices to capture it. Long sticks, lingar or long piece of manjha with a stone tied at one end were the most popular one.
Since I was not very old resident of the neighbourhood, I was not the part of this kite hunting fraternity. Usually I kept to myself and minded my own kite. It was the big day and I and my cousins were out with our precious kite. With our limited expertise we managed to get the kite flying. Since, we were no match to the honed kite-iers of Ahmedabad it probably stayed in the sky for less than quarter of an hour.
Seeing our kite fall down, swinging in the arms of the gentle breeze our child hearts were saddened. There was a fat kid hanging around on the adjoining roof, who had no kites with him. He kept looking at us all through this, and somewhere down I had created a notion about him. I had thought that since he had no kites with him, he was jealous to see us fly the pretty kite.
The scavenger boys, who saw the kite fall from the sky, ran towards it to catch it. We were on the top floor and getting down the roof and catching it before them was not possible. And I knew that being the outsider and a non-member I cannot get it back from them once the caught hold of it.
As soon as one of the boys caught hold of one end of the manjha, the fat boy shouted his name. The insecure kid inside me judged that he is probably going to tell that guy to keep it for him. This triggered an immediate reaction from me.
“Ay, jaadiya(fatty)!” I said trying to threaten him. I could do this only because I knew my cousins were with me. If I would have been alone I would not have done that.
He shot a look at me
“Hey, don’t take the kite, it is my friend’s” He told the street kid.
I was astonished and devastated. We got our kite back. I could never come to talk to the fat guy again, simply because I was not able to face him
Sometimes in life, we become too defensive just because we build up an opinion about someone or some situation. And that opinion is not created just with what we see, understand and believe. It is solely creation of our own mind. This incident taught me an important lesson – never be too quick in passing a judgement about something, especially when the only perspective with which you have seen it is yours. I am still trying to overcome the faults and imperfections that everyone of us is born with, with each such incident teaching another lesson.
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