In the third edition of tweet fables, we tried to address the decline in the craze of celebrating the Indian festivals. And to talk on that topic, we took one of the festivals for which people used to get excited, Uttarayan. Earlier, people used to wait and start preparing for it in advance. On the day of uttarayan, there used to be a war of kites in the sky but nowadays, people seem to skip that and plan an outing or a trip during uttarayan. MNCs in metro cities don’t even give compulsory holidays to its employees. Thus, we (me and Ila Varma) decided to talk about that in the third edition of tweet fables. And this is how twitter users responded to it:
His kite was flying high. There was not much competition in the sky. Thus, there were lot of thoughts pondering around the festival of kites in the sky of his mind…
Will there be enough competition this year? Will his kites be sold? He also wanted to join in the completion. But cannot leave his shop. How much Hari wanted to cut kites of his enemy Shishupal. But it does not look like his dreams will come true. Not this year.
A plan hit him. Rohan asked his father to take care of the shop just for a day on Uttrayan. He wanted to celebrate with gaiety and zest like his other friends. #TweetFables
“You are born to carry on the business, it is not the time for fun.
His father didn’t let him go and celebrate uttarayan. “This is the main reason for the decline in craze for festivals in this country. People who really want to celebrate are loaded with responsibilities.” He thought at the back of his mind.
“Just one day, baapu,” Rohan pleaded, “all year I work hard in the shop, don’t I?” “Beta if we do not have food,” his father said, “all this business will fall; then you fly kite.”
“Few hours skip won’t matter much Baapu. A few hours of off from duty will color my life with numerous colors & I would be able to get myself out from monotonous routine, please .” Rohan requested.
“Jaane Do Rohan Ke Baapu, bachcha hai uska bhi mann rakh do” his mother.
“Shiela, we get good sale on the day of uttarayan every year. Closing the shop means bringing less money home. How will it work?” Rohan’s bapu tried to make sheila understand.
“Bapu, I just want few hours to fly kites. Not the whole day off.” Rohan interrupted.
“alright, go” his father relented grudgingly under pressure but warned, “return in an hour”. Rohan did not hear. He picked his kite, his manjha and ran. Sisupal, I am coming,
As soon as Rohan went up to his terrace, Shishupal’s cousins and uncles were wrapping up the stuff. “What happened Shishu? Where are you going?” Rohan asked.
“We are going for a family outing. This is my last kite.” Shishupal while choosing the best one of the lot.
Rohan was disappointed. With such difficulty he got out of shop, now Sisupal is also done. “Oye ladke,” someone called out from behind, sounded a female voice, “patang ladayaga?” “I don’t play with girls,” replied Rohan with a sense of condesenciont. “Harega tu!”
“Chal dekhte hain.” Those words provoked Rohan and he accepted the challenge. He did the warm up by cutting the kite of shishupal and then when the girl brought her kite in his range, the real competition began.
Shishupal was also interested in staying & competing.
Shishupal’s cousins pulled him down. The girl was proving to be a tough competition. Rohan cut her first kite, she came back in the game by cutting his two.
Shishupal fought with his family and came back on the terrace to fly the kites and joined the bet.
In this way, they ended the festival by having lot of fun. In the end, there was a tie.
Thus, they decided to tie their last flying kite with the rope as a tiebreaker and the kite which will survive till the morning will win.
Finally, the festival of kites won.
The storytellers who have webbed this story with me are:
Ila Varma
Abhijit Ray
