Kite Runners

In Kite Runner, kids ran through the streets of Kabul, capturing kites that had been cut lose during a kite flight. But on Kite Hill in Kabul, it is more like a scrum, with kids jostling for position, and some having long sticks that they try to lasso the kites.

As the kite floats down, unattached to anything and subject only to wind currents, a crowd gathers.

                                        

 

If you get a kite, it belongs to you--even if the original owner is around. Kids can reuse the kites, but often they resell them. Unfortunately, the kites are easily torn, as the paper is little more than tissue, which allows them to fly in very low wind, but also makes them very fragile. Here the kid is taping up a kite--much like we taped up baseballs when I was a kid, to get it back in action.

There can be a long pause between kites coming down, during which the kite catchers stroll around, waiting for action.