Manja (kite)

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People preparing and applying Manja to the Kite thread, Dhaka, Bangladesh
People preparing and applying Manja to the Kite thread, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Manja is the Hindi word for the kite string or thread used for flying & fighting kites in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan and the surrounding region specially in the Indian subcontinent. It is gummed, colored and coated with powdered glass for kite fighting in the sky. Kites are fought all throughout the year and during special kite flying festivals in the region. Two fighters will entangle the glass powder coated manja while flying their kites in the sky and try to cut off the string of each others kites by pull or release method. The winner's kite keeps flying while the loser's kite gets cut and drifts away with the wind. Children and/or adults run after a cut kite and try to capture it when it falls to the ground, a practice called kite running.

[edit] Threats to bird and human life

Manja, the glass powder coated kite flying string is extremely deadly not only to other kites but to birds flying in the sky and to humans. Many thousand flying birds get slashed wounded and killed every year in most cities in the region, often times endangered species by getting entangled in the deadly manja of flying kites and having their wings or necks cut. Many kite fliers get deep cuts in their fingers when they are not careful when handling manja while flying kites. Several people die when their necks get slashed with the deadly manja, people commuting on the roads in two wheelers like cycles, motor cycles and scooters are specially vulnerable to manja from kites being flown nearby getting entangled in their necks and causing deep cuts and death from resulting blood loss.

Many people also get seriously injured and lose their lives when they fall off rooftops when flying and fighting kites and handling the manja reels and vigorously pulling or releasing it during battle of the kites. In the Indian subcontinent kites are generally flown and fought from the rooftops of houses.

Kite running is the practice of running after drifting kites in the sky that have been cut loose in battle with other kites. Several kite runners die each year gazing up and running after kites as they are so fixated on the drifting kites in the sky that they run into the path of oncoming traffic and trains without looking down or fall from trees and buildings which they were trying to scale to get at kites that landed on top.

Others gravely endanger their lives when they walk around in the middle of congested towns and cities facing up with their eyes fixed on fighting kites in the skies, the excitement to see which of the fighting kite wins and which one loses sometimes makes people dangerously unaware of what is happening on the ground in their immediate surroundings causing injuries and collisions with the traffic etc..

[edit] See also

  • Kite
  • Kite fighting
  • Uttarayan, The kite flying festival of northern India
  • Kite running, the practice of running after and catching kites drifting in the sky which have been cut loose in battle with other kites

[edit] References

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