Diwali means different things to different people. For most, it is the fire crackers, the sweets, watching some new movie "first day first show", wearing new clothes, etc. But if you're from anywhere around "North Madras", there is "Kaathadi". Not flying kite on a Diwali day is almost blasphemous.
After celebrating Tatha's 90th birthday, we decided to fly !. Prem'na and I went to kappal poli chetty theru, purchased a lotai of "pre-manjaed" tread. Surprisingly, the cost of kites have not gone up since those days. We were able to get one dozen "Bombay Kaathadis" for just 40 Rupees. It was a lot of fun flying, we also managed to "cut" 4 kites, though lost 2.
This reminded me of some "kaathadi jargon", I'm listing a few below, see if you all can add more.
Manja : The magic potion made out of boiling extremely strange ingredients. Some experts claim to know the perfect formula to make the absolutely inseverable thread.
Peru-Vandi: The thick thread that most people use to fly kites.
Siru-Vandi: A little more esoteric, used by a few who believe that this thin thread can cut through thick thread more easily.
Deel: The ultimate battle, where our manja making and kite flying skills are tested against that of others.
Gaalia Paar: The victors of the deel chant this in unison, heart breaking if you're the vanquished and happen to hear this.
Baana: The really big kites with 'sungu', that need a lot of wind to fly. Flying these monsters is what separates the men from the boys.
Bombay: The relatively smaller kites that are easy to maneuver.
Chain 10: The thread that most of us use for manja. Thinking back, I'm wondering if this has any use besides flying kites.
Bun Nool : The "tooth-less" thread that is used by small kids to fly kites just for fun.
Paper Kathaadi: The home made kite made from newspapers. Usually flown by road-side kids who can't afford to buy a real kite.
Vajaram: A plastic plate like manja ingredient that does not melt too easily. Yet another of those things whose real world use outside manja I'm not able to figure.
Bottle-load: Layman term for ground glass used in manja.
Sai-thuni: The piece of cloth tied to either side of the kite when there is a stability problem.
Adi-vettu & Mel-vettu: The direction from which we take on our opponent during a "deel". Mel-vettu being preferred for favourable results.
Ironically, the above jargon along with kite flying is going to go into oblivion. The day after we flew, the government imposed a ban on kite flying; a non-bailable offence now. From next year, we may just have to settle with the other "Diwali things".
Good one Arun!!
ReplyDeleteI personally will support the ban since it can be potentially fatal.One of our family members did have his leg tendons cut off due to the manja thread.
Also I was a victim of post -deel violence(similar to football hooligans in Europe)in my childhood when a neighbour pelted stones at us after their kite was cut-off(? by prem or Yogan anna) and one of them ended in lacerating my forehead.If I am right, it was a chap called Naren and he was retaliated by the following verbal abuse-"Naren un kundiay palutu parkha varen"(Hope he is not reading this!!)
I also remember Yogan Anna's Bangalore style long tailed kaathadi which was not effective.
On a different note,North Madras which is the original Madras seemed to have lost its glory over the century to the much more prosperous South and West chennai.
Ezhil