“CHAMOORNA” THE CUT KITES
TANDI AND STEEL WIRES

THE FIRST BATTLE AGAINST KITE FLYING

It is unfortunate that Kite-flying in Lahore was also related to the richness and poverty level of people. As very very poor children wanted to indulge in kite flying and did not have the money to buy anything, they had to find ways to get hold of kites. One way was easy, grab hold of a long TANGA (a slim bamboo stick or danda) and put a portion of thorny bush (TEENGRI) on it, and chase after cut kites in the city. This was where the first problems used to occur as obsessed with capturing kites, children used to fall prey to traffic hazards on the busy streets of Lahore. The proverbial KATI PATANG moved the Lahori boys to heightened testosterone levels of risk taking on the streets. But that was not enough.

The next way out was to CHAMOOR a cut kite. This involved flying a smaller kite and keeping it in the air. When the cut kite got near, the smaller kite would be wound with sophistication on the string of the cut kite, and both kites brought down into the hands of the most excited boy of all times. The Victor of a cut kite. Fancy techniques were involved to do this. A very simple technique for people who knew no technqiue was to put few match sticks in the first few feet of the string. With knots tied on say twenty match sticks, the snaring of the cut kite was easier. That is all that was done.

Then one day shops started selling thick heavy TANDI (a thick thread which refused to get broken) and a warped steel wire of say 10 feet in length. There were about twenty twisted wire knots in it. It was very difficult for anyone to do this himself. So there was someone who had injected the TANDI and the STEEL WIRE . These were not available merely at sophisticated KITE SHOPS. Those were sold at small general merchant stores all over the city. Buying groceries, you could buy this COMMANDO TACKLE for a little amount of money. The result the TANDI got in way of people, but the STEEL WIRES started falling on ELECTRICITY LINES. There used to be a big boom, as the electricity in Lahore tripped again and again. Somebody with a twisted piece of mind had laid the first COMMANDO SABOTAGE of kite flying in Lahore.

Was this the ingenuity of the local people? As the client addressed was a highly uneducated and poor person, this got on a big way. Nobody told the poor child the consequences of such a drastic action. And frankly he hated the rich person so much, he would not care for anyone. The first accidents happened with this commando tackle. It is for us to see who gained by injecting this ruthless and dangerous equipment in the city of Lahore. That is why we call it a RAW deal.

P.S. We are not done with this topic. There is plenty more.