Bazaar: Kite Market in Ahmedabad, Day
Director: Madhusree Dutta; Cinematographer: Avijit Mukul Kishore
Duration: 00:33:34; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 3.530; Saturation: 0.123; Lightness: 0.316; Volume: 0.215; Cuts per Minute: 36.455; Words per Minute: 0.208
Summary: Makar Sankranti, which usually falls on 14th or 15th January is the last day of the month of poush, by the Hindu calendar. The season is celebrated for post harvest revelry at the end of winter. In some regions it is celebrated by holy bath at Ganga river where it has met the sea. In some other places the day is celebrated by making sweet made of the new rice. Yet in some other regions the day is marked by flying colourful kites. In India the kite festival on Makar Sankarnti is mainly observed in Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Gujarat the art of kite making and kite flying has been taken to a great height and has also become a vibrant craft industry. The artisans who make kites are mostly Muslims whereas the consumers are primarily Hindu. For many years this reciprocal structure of Muslim craft and Hindu festival has been celebrated as an example of communal harmony and social ecology.
But the myth of harmony associated with this festival was shattered in March 2002, barely 45 days after this video of the kite festival in Ahmedabad was shot. Gujarat and specially its capital Ahmedabad unleashed a pogrom on the Muslim citizens. The carnage had full patronage from the state and from a large number of people from Hindu and Jain communities. Many of the traders and artisans in the kite markets might have become victims of the carnage and many of the kite players that we had shot with might have been the perpetuators of the violence. "I distinctly remember one striking moment. While working with the kite festival rushes to edit into a film I got tired and switched on the TV. It was the first week of March 2002. Images of Ahmedabad carnage was being reported and one shot came on screen which look like the same neighbourhood where we shot the festival only 6 weeks back. It was the same youngsters on the same terraces and the same sky littered with flying objects - only this time the objects were stones and crude bombs. Since then the colour of the kites in this footage changed for ever, for me" - Madhusree, about shooting these images.
Shot by: Avijit Mukul Kishore
It is the 14th of January. Old City, Ahmedabad, bathed in gentle winter sunlight, gears up for the day before one of the biggest festivals in Gujarat - Makar Sankranti. In a day, the sky will be awash with thousands of kites, bright and colourful, strange and beautiful. Today the kite market is bustling with life, colour and urban cacophony. The drone of the constant selling and bargaining is punctuated with familiar city sounds. It's a curious, yet intimate mixture of activities both festive and mercenary. The stage is set for the age old love affair between the camera and the boisterous bazaar.
The tradition of flying kites trickled down to India from the Chinese. While they are renowned for their elaborate silk kites, India is more famous for it's special variety of 'fighter kites'. Flying kites is a popular sport here, especially during the time of Makar Sankranti. The festival is usually celebrated after harvest.
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
bargaining
bazaar
colour
festivals
gujarat
kites
makar sankranti
market
urban cacophony
urban music
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
Pop art has arrived. Dozens of recycled plastics are used to create a motley collection of kites. Times have changed, and tradition has been given a colourful twist. While the bazaar still boasts of the usual colourful geometric designs made of the light textured kite paper, we also find a kitschy assortment made from translucent plastic labels - labels recycled from shampoo bottles, henna and detergent packs, papad packets and so on. An environment-friendly trend, perhaps? Their shiny bodies catch the glint of the winter sun. One design in particular grabs our attention: kites made of silver plastic labels. When held against the sun, they shine beautifully, like flying fish. The seller twists and rotates the attractive kites against the sun, whose rays gleam and reflect excitedly all around him. In all this beauty however, lurks a chilling premonition -Forty-five days later, the gleaming edges of the kite would be replaced by the gleaming edges of a sword. But for now, the marketplace seems like the epitome of harmony in chaos, betraying no signs of the communal tension that will unleash itself on the city and paralyze it few weeks later.
The camera follows the hobbling movement of a huge bamboo pole with Chinese lanterns hanging from its cross. On the lantern is design of an Indian flag with '2001' and '2002' printed brightly on them, signifying the year's end. It's a low angle shot, and the carrier of the cross cannot be discerned as he merges with the multitudes on the street. The effect is almost surreal - as if a wise old man, taller than the rest but stooped and hobbling, is trudging across the crowded lanes of Ahmedabad and looking down ominously upon those who he shelters.
bargaining
bazaar
colour
festivals
gujarat
kites
makar sankranti
market
premonition
urban cacophony
urban music
In a country as diverse as India, Bollywood and Cricket are the two most common languages. The marriage of pop culture with tradition results in a vibrant street culture - crude sketches of film posters, cricketers, photoshopped images of actors. Film-stars and cricketers were always iconic in India, but technology and its facility to reproduce, have now made them widely accessible.
A row of colourful kites divide the screen into two jagged halves - the festive colours and the dull urban city blues, joined together like a puzzle piece by its inhabitants.
The market is a study of urban cacophony and festival madness. Top angle shots reveal the entire market place. Bikes and auto rickshaws force their way through the crowded streets. A motley assortment of people bustle around, going about their business. The people seem to be unperturbed by all the frenzy - the constant honking, the constant drone of the vendors, the carts, the automobiles - all demanding their space - their moment in the sun. The people seem to be at peace with this organized chaos.
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
bargaining
bazaar
bollywood
colour
festivals
glamour
gujarat
kites
makar sankranti
market
pop culture
Children weave about in their toy cycles through the crowded lanes. It's a big day for them as they select which kites to buy, how many to buy, and ponder about how much prettier their kite is compared to a friend's. Underneath all the romanticized festivity lies a very fierce competitive zeal - a desire to show off, to be better than the rest. The kite market makes the most of their weakness.
The Old City of Ahmedabad, quaint and dusty, with its honeycombed streets and browned ancient buildings, darkens as the sun sets. The crowds however, refuse to disappear, as the market stays up and awake all night, in anticipation of the big day tomorrow.
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
bargaining
bazaar
colour
festivals
gujarat
kites
lonesome
makar sankranti
market
Kite makers prepare the 'manja' in the dying evening sun. The long lines of thread are tied to two different ends and then deftly gummed, colored and coated with powdered glass which would help the kite fliers cut the strings of their opponents while battling it out in the open skies tomorrow. The thread is then spun around a reel. The entire process has a certain rhythm about it - like a series of choreographed motions, smooth, languid and hypnotizing. Manja however carries with it a bit of an ill-reputation. Every year there have been injuries and deaths caused by manja. Birds, pedestrians, commuters on two wheelers, all run the risk of getting entangled with the manja resulting in serious cuts and wounds.
Thousands of feet of manja are deftly spun on the reel as the camera focuses in and out of the raining threads of pink.
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
bazaar
colour
festivals
gujarat
kites
makar sankranti
market
street surreal
No transcription
Old City, Ahmedabad
The sun sets, and the shops are lit by warm yellow lights. The shops seen here are different from those of the hawkers on the streets. There's something more up-market about this setting - more methodical, more professional. Kites are kept in neat rows on shelves, as organized as a departmental store. A lady makes out a bill, keeps the accounts. The kites on display seem to be of superior design and quality- very little roadside kitsch is seen - none of the 'ek rishtaas' (a relationship) and Sachin Tendulkars are on display. The kites have an international appeal about them - elaborate, shiny, tasseled - like the Chinese or South American kites. The customers too seem well off, more choosy, demanding. Families shop together, make decisions together - once again highlighting the inner-workings of the festive spirit, that is so much about unity, bonds reasserted and also communal harmony. It would be interesting to note that the kite-makers are predominantly Muslim, while the buyers are Hindus - celebrating a Hindu festival. A shopkeeper hangs a kite - shaped like a man, with the National flag printed on it and dutifully says "Mera Bharat Mahan" (My India is great). A post Gujarat riots viewing, would make this shot a crude mockery of the reality of the city.
bazaar
colour
confinement
festivals
freedom
gujarat
kites
longing
makar sankranti
market
street surreal
Pad.ma requires JavaScript.
