Braving the sweltering afternoon heat, around 500 students from 16 schools gathered at Modern High School for Girls on Wednesday to do their bit to forge friendship with Pakistan.

As part of the first India leg of Kites for Peace, the students scribbled peace and friendship message on kites that will be taken across to Pakistan and put on display .

The initiative by Peaceworks, of Seagull Foundation for Arts, was kicked off by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

“Kite-flying has been part of the sporting tradition of both our countries. Children of all countries share nothing but a sense of affection for each other,” said the governor.

This was evident in the messages that Pakistani children had scrawled across kites in the inaugural event of the initiative in their country in January. “What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?” wrote a certain Batool.

“Dosti Zindabad” was the message that the governor inscribed on a kite on Wednesday. Sushobhan Sapui, of Indian Institute of Cerebral Palsy, wrote: “Tomar bhasha, amar bhasha/Hotei pare annya bhasha, kintu jeta ashol bhasha/shetai amar moner bhasha”. “Will my message reach some boy in Pakistan some day? Will he understand what I wrote?”wondered Sapui.

Indrani Roy, coordinator of Peaceworks, said: “In January, we participated in the International School Educational Olympiad held at Karachi High School, where we collected kites signed by Pakistani students.”

In Calcutta, kites will be available for signing at British Council, Max Mueller Bhavan, and Seagull Arts & Media Resource Centre.