Basant announces the end of frosty winter that makes blossoming and blooming difficult. It heralds the arrival of sunny and windy days. In Sanskrit it’s called ’Vasant’ which means spring. It’s celebrated all over the subcontinent.

Lahore Basant has traditionally been a great cultural event known for its unrestrained merry-making. Its special feature has been kite flying. It is surely an urban sport as kite making and flying require technical and artistic skills rarely found in the countryside.

We also have in our classical music a Raga called Basant that captures and expresses buoyant mood. It is an old Raga dating to the eighth century. But what triggers the change in the season and heralds the arrival of comfortable days is what grows in the fields in the countryside that surrounds the urban space; mustard plants with their saffron robe. It’s a crop that offers its sight as an aesthetic feast, fresh stems as a veg and seeds for cooking oil. It’s a splash of colours emanating from the innards of the earth. It symbolises rebirth at the end of cold weather that once used to be very harsh.

As to the recorded history of Basant, Majid Sheikh in his recent write-up carried by this paper says; ‘…Even Mahmud of Ghazni enjoyed his time in Lahore for there is a painting in the British Museum with kites in the sky and his beautiful Georgian slave by his side. I will not mention the glasses in front of him lest the pious get offended’. Even the man who plundered Lahore and is portrayed in our history books as an idol-breaker couldn’t resist the pleasures Lahore Basant offered.

The Mughal court loved the sport. ‘We find women flying kites in Pahari and Kangra paintings of the Punjab’, says eminent painter Ejaz Anwar, who is known for his paintings that creatively capture Lahore’s walled city and its skyline dotted with kites.

In Punjabi literature, religious and secular, we come across a number of references and allusions to the festivities of Basant which at times rises to the metaphoric level. Basant reflects joy of physical and spiritual regeneration, and arrival of sunny and windy days which stirs emotions. The most vivid expression of celebrations is found in the sky painted with colourful kites in motion. The kites flying in the sky emerge as a metaphor of dynamic human journey to what lies beyond. It will be relevant to quote Baba Guru Nanak and Shah Husain aka Madho Lal Husain. ‘Amongst months, auspicious is the month when spring season ever begins. Ever, ever bloom thou, O my soul, by remembering that Lord of the world’, [page 1168, Guru Granth Sahib] says Baba Guru Nanak. At another place he says, ‘The months of delightful spring season have come. They who are imbued with Thy love, O Lord, utter Thine Name with joy’, [page 1168].

Shah Husain, who was contemporary of the Emperor Akbar, talks of the festival in a celebratory tone. ‘The twine has nine strands attached to it that I carry and fly / I am my beloved’s kite who holds my string [Nao taar dor guddi di, mein lye krahan uddi / Saajan de hath dor asaadi, mein saajan di guddi]’, he says in his lyrics [Kafi]. In the first line the kite stands for the female emancipatory journey in the face of innumerable complexities bequeathed by patriarchic past. In the second line the kite signifies an unconditional and deep bond between man and woman. Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Lahore Darbar celebrated Basant with great relish. It held Basant fair spread over days and weeks.

Basant is in fact one of few secular festivals we have that is inclusive. It acted as a bulwark against the undertow of communal tensions and religious extremism. Sadly a decade ago when Lahore’s Basant began to be integrated with international entertainment and sport circuit, its zesty noise was pushed into mirthless silence by the authorities--bureaucratic and judicial-- on the pretext that twine used for kites was lethal and caused fatalities. No doubt twine and string made from metal or glass particles become as sharp as razor edge. Loose chemical-laced twine of a torn kite hanging in the air can cut the throat if it touches an exposed neck especially that of a motorcyclist. The situation has been exacerbated due to fast vanishing trees in the city which reduced the risk of harm for the loose twine would become entangled in their tops and branches. So basically it was a question of regulating the twine making and selling which could be settled through the enforcing required safety measures. But it proved to be an egregious administrative failure of stiff-necked bureaucrats living in ivory towers which exposed their incompetence as well as indifference. The officials who took pride in organising the festival found a unique way of dealing with the brouhaha over Basant; they banned it. They obviously had little regard for vox pop. The court order against the festival made things easier for local politicians and administration. But it was in fact a classic case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater. If we don’t want to add to our overwhelming poverty of culture, a way out can be found. At times simple measures can effectively address a complex problem. One of the measures that can be suggested is this: ask the makers and sellers of kites to re-organise their representative body and tell it loud and clear that if lethal twine finds its way into the market and causes even a single fatality, the body will be charged with manslaughter and prosecuted. If that is the language they understand, use it. Let the exhilarating human noise replace for a day the depressing cacophony the machines make in a city known for its zest for life. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2018