The sky turns stage for Kite Festival

At golden hour, the sky at Thiruvidanthai Beach along the East Coast Road (ECR) turned into a canvas of colour, sound, and culture as the Tamil Nadu International Kite Festival (TNIKF) soared high. For Benedict Savio, founder of TNIKF, the vision goes far beyond a weekend of entertainment. The whole idea is to make this festival a globally iconic event happening in Chennai. Taking flight for the fourth time, this celebration positioned itself as a family-based tourism. Benedict says, We are trying to make this an event for families to come and enjoy, taking a break from their screens. We want people to see nature the way it is. Additionally, the team also wants the visitors to know how the kites work. If you go to Malaysia and Bali, they have a kite culture in their blood. The kites showcase the art of the region, says Benedict, who wants the same culture to be practiced here. This year, 40 flyers from eight countries participated. Each kite told a story from Indonesian and Vietnamese kites that produce flute-like sounds in the air, while Tamil-inspired designs are in the making. We had Jallikattu and the words Tamizh Vazhga designed on kites this year and are planning to create other kites like Bharatanatyam, Valluvar Kottam and some temples. These can be showcased at international events in China, Malaysia, and Vietnam, he says. The event, held between August 14 and 17, drew an audience of 25,000-30,000, but Benedict is already planning ahead. We want a hundred flyers from 25 countries to come here, so the event gets bigger. In this journey, we need appreciation and encouragement from the government to make it one of the worlds biggest championship events in the future, shares Benedict. Plans are also underway for themed editions, including a Jurassic-inspired one next year, and the launch of kids training clubs and summer courses on aerobatic kites. Because Benedict believes, Kites are the celebrities. The only vision is to make this Tamil Nadu kite event one of the worlds best events and put it on the world map.