Ujjain : The sky was dotted with colourful kites of various shapes and sizes as Ujjainies celebrated Makar Sankranti, here on Friday. Scores of colourful kites dotted the Dussehra Maidan. Children turned-up in good numbers along with their parents to participate in the Kite Festival.
The day remained as an unofficial holiday as most of the market streets and shopping corners in the city remained closed, as no one wanted to miss the chance of kite flying. The programme organised by local administration was also dominated by the upcoming Simhastha Fair, as an exhibition was organised to tell about the preparations. School Education Minister Paras Jain, Member of Parliament Chintamani Malviya, Collector Kavindra Kiyawat, who had reached the venue early morning, were a hit among the selfie takers. VIP’s and officer participated in many events and enjoyed the morning breakfast. Hundreds enjoyed the kite festival with fun-loving rivalry to outdo each other in kite flying skills to the accompaniment of music being played by DJ parties of various groups. The sky over Dussehra Maidan resembled a multi-coloured spectrum of wafting hues at the kite festival which was organised as part of the celebrations.
The kite festival, jointly organised by the administration and residents, was a crowd puller. Kite flying, traditional games, painting competition, cultural programmes, traditional Malwi food stalls, poha-jalebi, sweets and snacks stalls were the mood setters for the fun loving Ujjainies. Some enthusiasts provided free of cost kites to the new comers. While youngsters came along with friends to try their hands at kite flying, there were some seasoned kite flyers, who skilfully held the kite high and turned the sky into a battlefield of some sort. Thrilled kids kept their eyes glued to the sky and kept the spirits high by helping their parents to fly kites. Parents helped their children in giving the initial thrust to make the kites fly in the air. Some parents were seen reliving their childhood days, fully engrossed in flying the kites themselves. Some children were seen pestering their parents to buy more kites as the earlier ones got disentangled from the spindle and flew away.
