Kite flyers of the world unite, you have nothing but the wide skies to conquer, seems to be the war cry of an intrepid band of kite flyers.
This was exemplified by the presence of Michael Alvares from Perth, Australia, who came down to India on an invitation from Team Mangalore, whom he met at Dieppe, France, in September last.
Michael, who originally hails from Mangalore, but has since settled in Australia for the past 35 years, had no second thoughts about coming to this city. A family event commemorating the 50th year celebration of one of his aunts becoming a nun at Bangalore came in handy for Michael to plan his trip to Mangalore.
Michael conducted two special kite workshops at schools — one at SVS High School, Bantwal, on Thursday and at St. Agnes Special School, Bendore, on Friday.
Taking time off from his demonstrations, Michael told presspersons that kite flying had been a passion with him for quite some time now. A sprightly 52-year-old, Michael did what he came here for — fly kites and give children a wonderful time. For the students of the special school, this foreign visitor with all his flying contraptions provided moments of fun and laughter as Michael took them through the demos and the workshops.
While the lack of wind did come as a dampener in that Michael was not able to give a full demonstration of the exact capabilities of what his kites including the "Rokkaku" — a hexagonal 12-cell box kite could do, the children enjoyed what he did nonetheless. A workshop where he gave them mini kites to colour and later helped them fly their creations virtually brightened a sunny day. He promises to be back next year.
(courtesy thehindu.com)
0 comments:
Post a Comment