The winter sun was beating down upon the zig-zag lanes of Ahmedabad. Thousands of kites of every possible size and shape were flying in the sky. There was noise all over with people thronging the streets like ants. All sorts of noises and smells filled the air. The cry of the flower seller trying to sell his marigold garlands, the sound of dough crackling as it hit the bubbling oil when the ‘halwai’ made ‘pooris’. There was a big crowd in particular outside the sweet shop where the ‘laddoos’ , ’Jalebi’ and ‘chach’ were being made in a hurry to keep up with the crowd’s demand. The month of January was always special for the city of Ahmedabad. It was the month of ‘Uttarayan’, the festival of kites.

There was one person who was indifferent to all the excitement and hullaballoo. Rahim sat on a cot under the shade of a banyan tree outside his hut. His eyes, as blue as the sky, stared blankly at the thousands of kites filling up the sky. His eighty year old frame, almost bent double, hardly covered half the cot. His hands and face were covered up with numerous lines just like rivers cutting through mountains. He was bald but had a flowing saffron beard. Rahim, who stared listlessly at the kites now, was once a kite maker himself. Not just any kite maker, he was the best in the city. He made kites of all varieties, of every shape and sizes possible and of every hue and shade. People from all over flocked his shop to buy kites. The period of ‘Uttarayan’ was the busiest time in the year for Rahim. From lowly ‘Mazdoors’ to the highest ‘Zamindars’ everyone wanted a kite made by him.

Rahim grew up playing on the dusty streets of Lahore. His family had moved across the border just before partition in 1947. When just a kid, Rahim had shown great love for kites. He was so fascinated by them that he learned how to make one when he was just five. He showed great skill both in making and fighting kites. He made his first masterpiece, an exotic multi-layered butterfly shaped kite with big colorful wings, when he was just thirteen. He could make his kites talk like no one else could.