DUBAI // International kite enthusiasts gathered in the emirate on Friday for the third annual kite fiesta.
Teams from various countries gathered for the festival though high winds made it challenging to get some of the larger kites into the skies.
More than 10,000 people were expected to come to the Dubai Shopping Festival event at Dubai Outlet Mall over the course of the day.
Kuwaiti brothers Amar and Ali Buhamar have been attending the event since its inception and have seen it grow in popularity. Although they both have full-time careers, they travel the world through their kite passion, recently visiting countries including France and Turkey while, next week, they will go to the Pune festival, in India.
On the kiting community, Ali Buhamar said: “Sometimes I see these guys more than my sons.”
At the event, he had the largest of the showcased kites, measuring 45 metres and weighing about 20 kilograms, though he was waiting for later in the day to fly it because of the winds and the large crowds, all flying kites.
Sandesh Kddi, from the Indian team, High Fliers, was in the UAE for the first time at the event, after being invited by the festival organisers.
“I’d seen the success of the previous events and really wanted to come,” he said. “It’s so good to see so many people here and, among the kite community, we all know the others share the passion.”
Mr Kddi runs a manufacturing company in India but makes several trips a year to countries for kite events.
He said: “To lift these kinds of kites you have to have winds of around 14 kilometres an hour, so it’s very hard to fly these kites. The mall is a barrier and the crowd is a hindrance.”
Mr Kddi comes from a long line of kiters and said the hobby is something healthy for children to do. “It’s fading in the new generation a little because kids are stuck to video games, indoor games, and you want them to come outside and move a bit. It’s something to do as a whole family, with no age barrier,” he said.
Ali Buhamar, 42, agrees and said that one of the pleasures of travelling to such festivals is the multiculturalism.
“In Malaysia recently there were 32 countries represented,” he said. “This is why Dubai is such a great location for the event as it is such an international community, which brings together so many cultures anyway.”
He and his brother Amar, 37, have been kiting seriously for more than 20 years. Amar said: “Our whole family kites, so we started as children. It’s something that’s passed from generation to generation, fathers to sons.”
Vishal Mahajan is one of the organisers of the festival.
“When we first started the event, it was just meant to be an introductory thing and now it’s become a regular shopping festival event,” he said.
“During the nice weather, it’s a great opportunity for people to get outdoors. Last year we registered about 10,000 people when we had only expected about 6,000 and we hope to have more this year.”
He said the popularity of the event spanned many demographics. “It’s such a mix of people of all nationalities and a safe family area. Being outdoors and right at the mall definitely helps boost the numbers.”
Rajesh Nial, from the Keralan team Kite Life Foundation of India, which promotes heritage through kites, ran a kite workshop for 100 children on Friday morning. It was his second time attending the event.
He, too, was struggling to get the elaborate king of Kerala kite into the air in the early afternoon, with winds again the problem. “The problem is also that there are all these small kites, which can end up cutting ours [when the strings cross]. Last year there wasn’t such a big crowd during the day. More people came later on in the day.”
mswan@thenational.ae
