'Patangs help children's dreams reach the skies

'Patangs help children's dreams reach the skies
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Manekshaw Parade Ground on Sunday saw a unique kite festival where corporate executives flew kites along with slum children from the NGO Parikrama.

Along with the kites, the children’s dreams too soared high, as proceeds from the event will go towards their education.

Sixty-five teams from different fields, including those from BCC, KSRTC, the Indian Army, schools and corporates competed with each other for the first place. The participation fee from each team will fund a child’s education for six months. Each team comprised two Parikrama children and four from the organisation.



Each kite was hand-painted by the children in various hues and designs that set the mood of the Utsav. They even recited a poem on kites, written specially for the occasion. An exhibition of designer kites was also held, with the little ones enthusiastically explaining the history of kites and the science of their flight at the counter.



Another special feature was the kite display by V.K. Rao, who has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for flying 2,500 kites on a three-kilometre string.



The first kite was flown by Governor T.N. Chaturvedi. The jury to decide the winners included police commissioner S. Mariaswamy, Justice Saldanha, Ashwini Nachappa, Prakash Padukone, Prasad Bidappa and Vani Ganapathy. The team from Yahoo! emerged winners of the festival, with the best display.