pendence tradition turns bloodsport, courtesy Chinese manjha

July 20, 2023 7-year-old Neha (name-changed), was delighted as she headed to a Paschim Vihar market in west Delhi with her father to buy new clothes. The family of four, father, mother and two kids, the 7-year-old daughter and her 13-year-old sister, left home on scooter.

- UJWAL JALALI

Wind stroking her curls, the jolly girl stood in front of the scooter as her father drove the two-wheeler, her mother and sister as pillion riders. Then, came a sharp interruption.

Near Guru Harkishan Nagar, a nearly-invisible thread affixed to a kite dangling in the sky wrapped itself around the young girl's neck and slit her throat without a hesitation. Blood spraying from her little throat, the father rushed his daughter to a hospital; only too late. She was brought in dead.

This is not an isolated case; every year, deaths due to the kite strings are reported from across the country. The number of incidents involving 'Chinese manjha' is the highest in the last week of July and early days of August when kite flying is most common.

Banned, yet in use