Ahmedabad's kite museum gliding into tattered oblivion

The unique Kite Museum in Sanskar Kendra houses a collection painstakingly built up over half a century by one man, Bhanubhai Shah. There are rare kites here that have been crafted together from more than 400 pieces of paper. But today, they are in danger of falling apart.

A bit of advice for prospective visitors to this obscure corner: carry a torch. Only 10 of the 28 overhead lamps are working. The museum's caretakers, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, have not bothered to renovate the place once since its inauguration in 1987.

The reception one gets at the museum is far from inviting. The guard arches his eyebrows when one asks for directions. Inquiries about a guide are greeted with a sarcastic smile. His expresion seems justified when one finds out that besides tourist groups from abroad or newly admitted students from the nearby National Institute of Design, there is rarely a soul who ventures here.

When asked for a brochure about the museum, another official says that they do have one, but don't now where it is. As an afterthought, he orders a subordinate to get some copies in a few days.

This is the nightmarish tale of Bhanubhai Shah's dream house. Shah the donor, designer and trustee of the museum which houses the best of his 50-year-old collection and is a showcase of the country's unique kite-making skills. "While abroad kites are hand-painted, in India various patterns are pasted on kites", he says.

Asked about the state of the Kite Museum, the AMC says its hands are full. The museum's caretaker, GM Hiragadh, says, "As we are planning a City Museum in the same premises, we are planning to shift this to another place," That, he says, is the reason for the neglect. It does nothing to explain why the place has not been renovated since the ceremonial ribbon was cut.

Occasionally, when a kite gets damaged, the AMC calls upon Bhanubhai to replace it.

But in the recent past, the kite-collector has received no such call. Not just that, Bhanubhai has not even been informed about the plans to shift the museum.

Straining one's eyes in the scant light, one can grope through the history of the kite. Nuggets of information like the birth of the kite in 200 BC in China, the New York Tribune displaying results of the 1896 US Presidential elections with kites, and IIT kanpur working to generate electricity, grind grains and pump water by kites can be gathered if one takes great pains.

"It took me three-and-a-half years of back-breaking work to compile this information from various sources," says Bhanubhai.

History bears witness to the fact that kites were the predecessors of today's aeroplanes. But this museum does not seem to grant it the same status. It's more like a tattered kite abandoned by the roadside.

Compiled from local news media