A hobby group of kite flyers exhibited two original kites, Garuda and Five Elements, at the 17th international kite festival held at Dieppe, France, earlier this month. Mayor of Dieppe had invited Team Mangalore to represent India. The team has returned to the city after participating in the festival from September 7 to 16.
Kite flyers from over 40 countries participated in this event. Members of the team included Sarvesh Rao, Dinesh Holla, Satish Rao, Shashank Shetty, and Pran Hegde.
The team conducted workshops for children on “How to make Indian fighter kites”. The team distributed kites among children for free.
To propagate the Indian culture, the team members distributed Bindis among women and lapel pins among children. They wore traditional Indian Kurtas in the Grand Parade, which captured the fancy of the entire gathering.
Graywings, an exhibition of line art sketches by Mr. Holla, artist and designer of kites of Team Mangalore, attracted a huge crowd.
Kites exhibited by other teams such as Kathakali, Yakshagana, Gajaraja, Avatar Bird, Charlie, Owl, Deer, and Pushpaka Vimana, were appreciated by the people of France and kite flyers.
Team Mangalore had participated in various international kite festivals held in Canada, U.K., France, Thailand, Korea, Sri Lanka, and Cervia, Italy.
The team is planning to organise an international kite festival in Mangalore in January, 2014.
A notification was made at Dieppe and many kite flyers had expressed their willingness to participate in the event.