Bhopal: On the day of Makar Sankranti, a harvest festival which falls in January, the blue sky can be seen filled with gorgeous, multicolour lights. You must have heard about the passion some people have for kites but have you ever heard of a person who not only flies kites but also wears them? In Bhopal, the capital city of Madhya Pradesh, there is one such kite man who wears gold kites on his neck.
The owner of a small shop which sells wholesale kites, Laxmi Narayan Khandelwal is known not for his trade but the kite ornaments that he wears. Laxmi Narayan Khandelwal has a shop near the Laxmi Talkies in the Itwara area. He has been selling kites for almost fifty years. He is so passionate about them that he wears kites on his neck, his ears and in his rings as gold ornaments.
Has been passionate about kites since the age of ten.
Kite man Laxmi Narayan Khandelwal says that he has been flying kites for almost fifty years. He is still as fond of flying kites as he was when he was ten years old. The kite man says that as a child, he would eagerly wait for the times when he could fly his kites again. He would restlessly wait for Makar Sankranti, a festival known for flying kites. But that too had a problem. The festival comes for only one day in a year. So, what was he supposed to do without his beloved kites for the rest of the year?
Converted his passion into a profession
The kite man says that he thought what better profession than to do what he loves. He started a wholesale trade of kites. His attachment of kites gave him an idea. Why not convert kites into jewellery and ornaments? This idea of his soon grew bigger and changed his life.
He makes new kite jewellery every Makar Sankranti