Death From The Skies

Basant - Festival of death.....by kite.

For a so called man of the world, I know very little of what goes on in Pakistan. I know that there is probably more misery than I care to contemplate. I also know that my ISP, along with many other major companies, moved its Customer Service department to someplace that might be in Pakistan despite every representative claiming to have an English name like Nigel or Trevor. I know they play cricket and I know that they do not care for their Indian neighbours. Not exactly a comprehensive understanding of Pakistani culture and customs is it? There are many things I do not and will like as not, ever know about Pakistan. This week, however, I did broaden my knowledge a little when I discovered that kite flying is banned in the country.
Kite flying, you say?
Banned?
Yes, one of life’s simple pleasures, innocently flying a kite on a windy day is not allowed in Pakistan, and with good reason…….

Lahore, February 25.
Six children and four adults lost their lives and hundreds more suffered multiple injuries as locals ignored official calls for responsible kite flying during the annual spring festival of Basant.
The provincial government had lifted the ban on kite flying for just 2 days but had warned against the use of dangerous twine and fireworks and had asked people to refrain from firing into the air.
Part of the fun of Basant is kite battles and some kite fliers coat their kite strings with shards of metal or glass. This along with the stray bullets and large numbers of people falling off rooftops or being hit by vehicles while trying to catch stray kites, contributes to a large death toll each year.
An 11 year old was killed in Gulshan-i-Ravi when the string of a stray kite cut his throat. The boy’s relatives wanted to lodge a murder case against the Punjab government, as they had lifted the ban, but police refused and a demonstration ensued.
In New Samanabad, someone was killed when a stray bullet went through his head while he was standing on the roof of his house watching kites.
A stray bullet also killed an 8 year old kite fanatic, who was also on the roof of his house in Mozang.
A 13 year old died in Bahbanpura when he fell off the roof while trying to catch a stray kite.
An 8 year old in Maryam was killed by a stray bullet.
A 50 year old woman fell off her roof while trying to protect one of her kids who was up there flying a kite.
A 14 year old fell off his roof and was killed while trying to catch yet another stray kite.
A 20 year old was run over by a car and killed while chasing after a stray kite.
A youth was electrocuted while trying to get a stray kite that was stuck on an electricity pole. In a similar attempt, an 8 year old was killed on the roof of his house.
Hospital sources said about 600 people were admitted to different health facilities in the city and police claimed to have arrested 800 people for violation of the ban on firing, kite flying rules and hooliganism.

You would think officials would do more to inform young people of the dangers of kite flying, but it wouldn’t work. Some people are just too daft to understand that it applies to them.
Just like when the fire brigade used to come to our primary school every October and show nightmarish pictures of kids who had disfigured themselves fucking around with fireworks, 2 weeks later some spaz would show up at school with one eye bandaged and no eyebrows after a roman candle got caught in the hood of his snorkel parka or he set the faux fur trim alight with his sparkler. The same kid would be in borstal 2 or 3 years later for setting fire to rubbish bins at bus stops.

The amusing part of the fire brigades annual visit to our school was that we had a kid who had disfigured himself, not by fucking around with fireworks, but by falling into an electric fire when he was little. The kid, cruelly known as pizza face, was needless to say excused from a slide show that for him must have been particularly traumatic. Not that this made the rest of the kids any less insensitive to his misfortune, in fact the taunts would only intensify until bommie neet when they would die down again for a week or two. I wonder what he is doing now? If he had a hair on his arse he would have opened a local pizza stroke kebab house and cashed in on the name, "Pizza Face Pizza & Kebabs". He could have the last laugh by putting his pubes on the pizza's of the same drunken twats who used to taunt him. They would never know and he could laugh all the way to the bank. I'm digressing here....

I regret not taking the time to learn about Basant before I read about this year’s festivities. Rest assured that I will be ready for it next year. I wonder if they have these same issues in Bradford, where as far as I know, kite flying is perfectly legal.