Saraswati Puja, for Anjan Mukherjee, has always been synonymous with kite-flying. Exams over, he would get busy preparing the kites with friends and siblings. As K-day dawned, the air would echo with shouts of bhokatta as colourful kites in every shape and size filled the sky.
If Vishwakarma Puja is the festival of kites for the rest of Bengal, kites arrive more than six months earlier in Bally. At 64, Mukherjee no longer flies kites himself but spends the day on the terrace of his GT Road home, watching the para kids compete for a space in the sky.
"No one knows how this tradition came to be, but this is characteristic of Bally," Mukherjee said. "As a child, I remember spending all day with my siblings and friends on the terrace, flying kites and making manja using a mortar and pestle from the kitchen. We would grind glass and mix it with boiled arrowroot powder or ground bel to make a paste. This paste would be smeared on the strings of the kites."
The skies are dotted with innumerable kites and every terrace or open ground in Bally is taken up by kite-flyers on Saraswati Puja. "Not a single terrace goes empty that day. Everyone flies kites from dawn to dusk on Saraswati Puja. If someone does not use his terrace, someone else from the neighbourhood will book it in advance for that day," said Souvik Patra, a resident of Santiram Rasta near Bally police station and a member of Bally Kite Club.
The morning of Saraswati Puja is devoted to the goddess of learning but by noon, all the action shifts to the terrace after a quick khichuri lunch. "The afternoon tea also comes to the terrace, as no one will go downstairs," Mukherjee said.
Nonagenarian Brindabon Chandra Ghosh, a resident of Kumarpara, remembers the infectious enthusiasm. "Since my childhood days, I have seen people flying kites on Saraswati Puja. There weren't so many buildings in those days, so everyone would be out on the open grounds," he said.
Old-timers like Ghosh and Mukherjee rue that the passion has waned.
Shankar Adhikari of Shibu Kite Shop agrees. "I have been selling kites for 20 years but over the past few years, there has been a sharp decline in sales. Business is poor this year with board exams starting early and Saraswati Puja falling right in the middle," the kite seller said.
To woo customers, Adhikari has on offer a special kite this year. "I have made a chor ghuri (thief kite). No one except the owner can see it in the sky," Adhikari said.
The chor ghuri is made of transparent cellophane that makes it invisible in the sky. The range of kites at the store starts from Re 1 for a plastic kite to Rs 80 for a designer one. "The designer ones are made to order," said Adhikari, who also has paan-shaped kites priced between Rs 10 and 15 for a piece.
Those passionate about the sport continue to wait eagerly for Saraswati Puja.
"Not just locals, but people from Calcutta also participate in this festival," said Mithu Biswas, a kite enthusiast said.
Manoj Gupta, a resident of Entally, visits Bally every year on Saraswati Puja. "I enjoy the kite festival in Bally and for the past five years I have made it a point to visit my friends there on Saraswati Puja," he said.
