Second wind for Kabul kite maker goes on as autumn demand soars
Kabul kite maker Halim Muhammadi and his children sit surrounded by bright-coloured tissue paper and bamboo sticks in their modest living room, preparing for the city’s flying season.
After selling hundreds of thousands of kites during the cooler months, particularly in spring when flying conditions are ideal, kite makers spend the rest of the year replenishing their stocks.
A kite takes only minutes to make. Mr Muhammadi, 50, cuts a piece of tissue paper into a diamond shape and glues it to a thin bamboo frame, as he has since he was a child.
He passes the fragile object to his children – daughters Madina, 18, and Nigina, 15, and son Shohaib, 14 – who adorn it with simple decorations and leave it to dry.
The main kite-flying season starts in the winter and finishes at the end of spring, but a breeze at any time of the year is enough to draw people of all ages to rooftops, dusty hills or cemeteries to enjoy one of the country’s traditional leisure activities.
Selling for only a few cents each, kites are a cheap pastime in the impoverished country.
Kite flying was banned during the Taliban’s reign between 1996 and 2001, but soared in popularity after the US-led invasion, which allowed makers such as Mr Muhammadi to reopen their businesses.
The country’s kite-flying culture was made famous by best-selling Afghan author Khaled Hosseini, whose 2003 novel The Kite Runner became a global bestseller and was adapted for film.
Fierce battles waged by kite flyers, who use string coated with crushed glass to cut down other kites, ensure many repeat sales.
“My entire family, including my sons, daughters and wife, make kites,” Masood, 40, a second-generation kite seller, said recently at his shop in the bustling Shor Bazaar in an old neighbourhood of Kabul.
“During the winter, we sell between 100,000 and 300,000 kites. I make about 300,000 afghanis [Dh15,262] in three months.”
Pahlwan Karim, 65, whose family has been making kites for almost a century, said: “People are crazy about kite flying here.”
Mr Karim’s kites are branded with a picture of a scorpion – after his kite-making brother’s nickname.
“This market sells hundreds of thousands of kites every day in winter,” he said.
During the winter, we sell between 100,000 and 300,000 kites. I make about 300,000 afghanis in three months MASOOD Kire maker, Kabul