City Skies, Flying Kites
Driving back from a workout this morning, I hopped on a thought train. It’s great weather to fly a kite, especially on the beach. But the beach is such a letdown compared to my kite-flying days in the city as a kid. My childhood days were in Bangalore in the mid-eighties. I basked in reminiscing on fond memories for a bit.
Rooftops
Kite flying was not just fun. It was also fiercely competitive — certainly not for sissies. It turned into this obsessive sport, with unexpected twists as more kites crowded the urban sky on any given day. On such days, it was a sly game of outwitting your opponents. Most homes in the neighborhood were matchboxes with roof access, which was a perfect spot to launch and maneuver kites. For many a young lad or lass, it was also a place of heartbreak, sweet revenge, hard-fought victories, and battle scars. There were hardly any houses taller than two storeys except a few wannabe scrapers aspiring for the sky.
Hometown
Our neighborhood especially, and our hometown in general, was renowned for its greenery — with neat rows of trees, shrubs, and flowering bushes lining every home on its streets. One could behold the Broccoli from a high rise — usually an apartment complex. Being India’s Garden City, the locals meant…
