Page 80 - Viva Real English 4 : Ebook

they keep tugging at the string and walk backwards with eyes fixed on the kite in
the sky.

Today kites are used mostly for fun. Families go to open spaces like parks or
beaches to fly kites. Sometimes there are kite-flying contests. Experienced flyers
can launch their kites up in the sky in a few moments. Novices need others to help
them, and some patience.

India has an old tradition of kite-flying. Indian rulers at once loved this import
from China. Kites also became popular among the people because it was easy to
make them, and one needed no special skill to fly them. The king of Jaipur during
the sixteenth century, Sawai Ram Singh, grew so fond of kites that he established
a kite factory to specially make kites for him!

Indian kites are generally diamond-shaped, made with paper and bamboo. The

various colours, designs and pictures of gods and goddesses make them look
different.

Makar Sankranti, which falls on 14th January, is the great Indian kite festival. On
Sankranti day, in cities like Jaipur and Ahmedabad, the sky looks dazzling with the
spectacular sight of a million kites flying simultaneously. China and Japan have
their own equally amazing kite festivals.

Kites can be large and elaborate, or small and simple. Some kites are very cheap.

You can make a kite of your own, using just sticks, paper, tape and a reel of string.
The next time you are looking for something fun to do, go fly a kite.

novices : people who are new and dazzling : very impressive
do not have the skill to do spectacular : like a spectacle, or an
something impressive show
import : a thing that is brought from elaborate : carefully prepared and

another country organized
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