A Fight For The Sky
“BA KATA RA!”
Rajeev shouted the traditional warcry after cutting another kite from the sky for the twentieth time.
It was a clear and windy day, ideal for flying kites. Normally the sky would be filled with kites on Makarsankranti. That day, however, there was only one kite in the sky. This XL-sized kite had “Death” handwritten on it in Hindi and a reversed swastika symbol drawn on it. Tacky, just like its owner Rajeev.
“I managed to get my hands on the banned Chinese string,” Rajeev bragged the day before at school, “that combined with my kite-o-matic v3, is going to wreak havoc in the skies tomorrow.”
“Just like how it did two years ago? With a mini-explosion on your roof-top?” Raghav mocked him “Or the last year? When it .. very conveniently .. caught Sayani’s clothes off of her rooftop. Remember trying to explain yourself to her father when you went to her house to return it?”
Everyone burst into laughter and started exchanging their versions of the story. As Rajeev ignored the rabble and dug into his recess food, Gargi noticed the smirk on his face and couldn’t help but be worried. Had Rajeev’s kite not caught onto Sayani’s clothes, Gargi, the ten to one champion, would have been in great trouble the year before.
After four consecutive losses, Gargi knew she had to wait and reflect. She looked at Rajeev’s rooftop. He laid on a recliner and filled his mouth with puffed rice. The kite-o-matic did its job on its own. A mere box, with an omnidirectional sphere on its top from where the string came. There were three cameras on Rajeev’s rooftop pointed towards the sky, two more than the last year. Every now and then, an unknowing and belligerent veteran uncle would try to enter his sky and get cut off. When Rajeev shouted the warcry some of the puffed rice would come out of his mouth.
Gargi looked at her other friends’ houses. They had already depleted their kite reserves.
“What happened Raghav Babu?” Rajeev laughed like a maniac “Not in the mood to fly kites today?”
The kite-o-matic had an obvious advantage during a kite battle. When a human rapidly alternates between their two hands while pulling the string, during each alternation, for a split second, the string isn’t as taut as it could be. During this time it is vulnerable to an attack. The kite-o-matic doesn’t have this disadvantage because it can continuously pulls the string thanks to its motor. Moreover, both Rajeev and Gargi are aware of this vulnerability and the kite-o-matic takes complete advantage of it.
Raghav put both his hands in the air and motioned in dismay to the former champion who looked away in obvious defeat. The others in the neighbourhood noticed this exchange and got disheartened.
When a kite gets cut off, the winner tries to curl its broken string to their own and pull it towards them, this rarely works. Usually, the little ones run after the kite through the streets and try to catch it before the others. Only a few of them know how to actually fly kites, so they return to their own rooftops where their elder brothers and sisters make use of the kite.
The kite-o-matic, however, was programmed to shred the losing kites to pieces. It used the chinese string to do this. It was successful in doing so after every win. Infact, there were many strings hanging on the chinese string from kite-o-matic’s past desecrations.
“I got you some Chinese string,” Gargi didn’t notice her little brother climbing the stairs “The uncle flying from the grounds gave it to me. He got fed up with Rajeev cutting down and ripping all his kites. He said the strings will be spoiled by next year.”
Gargi looked at the sky and noticed how efficient the kite-o-matic was in shredding the kites. It would approach the losing kite slowly and only when very close its motor will start rotating rapidly and pull the string to rip the loser in the sky.
“Roll the string on the spool” Gargi smiled “We might still have a chance.”
Her little brother helped her get the first push from the other diagonal end of their rooftop. As soon as her kite was in the sky the kit-o-matic started making its way towards her kite.
Gargi was flying the kite she didn’t want to touch. She didn’t want to put herself on the same spectrum as Rajeev. Her kite had the hindu symbol OM drawn on it. It was her last kite.
As the Nazi kite got in range, everyone’s gazes were fixed on the sky where a grand battle was about to happen.
When the musical sound of the kite-o-matic pulling its string started, Rajeev sadistically smirked and looked up. Gargi’s kite was rapidly pulling away from his kite. It was obviously not fast enough. Soon her kite dangled freely in the sky and started moving away.
The kite-o-matic started approaching her kite slowly to shred it to pieces and finish the job. Rajeev noticed Gargi smirking at him from her rooftop.
‘Wait.. No! She’s feigning defeat!’ Rajeev shouted to his non-voice-controlled machine. It was too late anyway.
Gargi pulled rapidly at her string. Her string caught onto at least three strings which were hanging from Rajeev’s string from his past battles. She kept pulling, and although these strings simply laid on top of her string they were all still taut because of friction. She knew that at least one of these strings would probably be tied in a knot around Rajeev’s string creating a weak point.
Both their strings got cut-off together but their kites both flew like they were still attached to their owners. The kites were flying while tugging at each other as they flew further away. For a good ten seconds, no one in the neighbourhood understood what had happened. And as soon as everyone comprehended what they were seeing, they knew what they had to do.
“BA KATA RA!!”
