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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2012 9:45:18 GMT
Greetings Kitists,
A very happy new year to all of you, I have just watched the interesting video posted by Colin showing last years New Delhi Kite Festival.
I was particularly fascinated as the camera panned along the beautiful paper fighters made by by pasting pieces in an appliqué style when there they were!...........two of them in fact; Aldi Deltas!
I did not realise that these magnificent specimens of British/Chinese art were available in India and then it dawned on me. Brits have been there before! Just perhaps they were a generous donation from Dary Koon the well known British kitist; I have not seen him fly his Aldi trains these past couple of years.
Or perhaps they were bartered by that other Anglo Indian kitist Collin Marshalwallah for one hundred hand made traditional Indian fighters? That sounds more like it! Maybe with a pair of second hand 'genuine' Ray- Bans thrown in to clinch the deal!
Have a great time in India Collin.
Best Regards Dick.
T he Pink Panther strikes again! Huge congratulations Inspector … your skill in A. spotting the hidden agenda in that clip (that I did not draw attention to deliberately) and B. deducing the ONLY two possibilities of how Asda Kites got to Delhi! T’was not I however, my deltas are limited to seven and irreplaceable. Mr K however did at one point have around ninety and were given away as ‘gifts’ to hand picked deserving Indian Kitists! Inter-continental Asda Deltas are now resident all over the Globe!!!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 11:14:56 GMT
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Post by greenman on Jan 4, 2012 13:33:38 GMT
Sounds like C2LLN has a full itinerary of festivals to attend whilst in India. If NORAD can track SANTA, I wonder if KW can track C2LLN.
Where will he be & when?
Cheers, Greenman
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 17:53:33 GMT
All that glitters is not Gold......as the saying goes.
I am in GroupII and going for the experience, defiantly not for pleasure! The Schedule that I was GIVEN on the 28th December was a flight from LHR to Delhi departing at 13.30 on the 6th January and with the 5.5 hour difference (ahead) landing at Delhi at 3.20 after a 9hour direct flight, THEN flying at the arranged 'road show' that day! That 'road show' bit really scares me as I am guessing we will be coached everywhere!
According to Google Maps.... Delhi to Vadodara is 988 km, 14 hours 3 mins
Vadodara to Bhavnagar 196 km, 3 hours 31 mins
Bhavnagar to Ahmedabad 173 km, 3 hours 12 mins Ahmedabad to Kutch is 374 km, 6 hours 39 mins. fly for the day and return the 374 km, 6 hours 39 mins to Ahmedabad!
That ends the pre-arranged Gujurat festival, and I arranged the below more relaxed schedule to attend the Belgaum kite festival in the south.
14th January leave Ahmedabad and fly to Mumbai and fly from there to Hubli and collected from the airport to attend the Belgaum Kite festival on the 15/16th. Jan.
Ahmedabad to Mumbai is 544 km, 8 hours 4 mins (but we are flying, I hope!) Mumbai to Hubli 580 km, 8 hours 35 mins (but we are flying, I hope!)
Rest and recuperation on the 17th and on the 18th fly to Mumbai to then fly back home at 2.15 on the 19th arriving LHR at 6.35.
NOT your normal fly in the park.....but no body twisted my arm! Way back in the summer when I was bagging my invite, I did ask if Sabrina could accompany me, and heard no more until she got a flight and hospitality too! Sadly she could not get more time off College (having been to Fuerte in College time) so I again I chanced my arm and asked if son Luke could take her place, and he is now coming with me! All that was arranged by e-mails back and forth to Ahmedabad on the 29thDecember as an Indian VISA had to be arranged at the London Embassy and even Derek could not get one that quick due to all the Xmas/new year holidays.... but I knew a 'man that can' and with his help it arrived yesterday the 3rd Jan.....talk about last minute!!!Delhi hotel: www.hotelbluebell.co.in/Vadodora hotel: savshantihotels.com/tower/index.htmlAhmedabad hotel : www.inderresidency.com/
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Post by jelv on Jan 4, 2012 20:04:58 GMT
Collin, are you sure that letter was for you? It's addressed to "Respected Sir". After the email you sent in error, surely they can't mean you! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 10:03:17 GMT
Ahhhhh... the 'India Invitation' thread in the members area: kiteweekenders.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=gd&action=display&thread=1170
I am so confused as I have posted things all over the place recently .... I have added the continuing saga of e-mails there, please do not click the link unless you have half an hour to kill as it really is quite boring, but informative all the same. It just shows how these things are not easy, and to quote what John.F.Kennedy once said: We choose to go to India in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
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Post by greenman on Jan 6, 2012 13:40:54 GMT
Do we have lift off or are they stuck in LHR?
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Post by DaveM on Jan 6, 2012 16:48:10 GMT
Do we have lift off or are they stuck in LHR? He did call me when he was airside at Heathrow, no mention of delays, so I guess he is en route. Possibly blagging another airline meal by now ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2012 19:09:55 GMT
Hey I’m alive….just! Exhausted from just the 7/8/9th we have been in India because of our rushed kiting ‘performances’ in two cities so far and we are in the third location for a fly tomorrow at 8am!
Arriving in Delhi on the 7th at 3.30am we were collected and eventually got to our hotel ‘Bluebell’ at 6am which was not all that …. didn’t matter much as we got a sleep and were woken for breakfast at 7.30 then coached into central Delhi to fly in a park at 10am. Not a lot of wind but we did what we could till about 3pm when we were coached to Delhi airport to fly to Vododara at 7pm arriving there at 9pm and coached to the hotel ‘Savshanti Towers‘ for about 10.30 which was a better hotel than the one last night, but again it didn’t really matter as we only freshened up, ate and slept till 7.30 when we were summoned to breakfast, coach and flying at the Vadodara event with a lot of pomp and ceremony put on to welcome us, all very nice and the wind was absent at 10 am but improved by 1pm but still up and down which was challenging to keep a kite up and made more difficult when thousands of public were in the area offering helpful hands, even if you said no thanks….all done with appreciated enthusiasm and smiles from keen Indians who don’t get to see what we take for granted. Its an experience!
Coached from there at 3pm after a packed lunch of curry and chapattis for the seven hour drive to Bhavnagar arriving at the brilliant ‘Sun ‘n’ shine’ hotel where we had dinner and retired to our rooms at 11 to make this posting that took till 1am 2.30am because of the internetconnection dropping out continiously! Just got these picture up on FB: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3055949282364.198502.1372301398&type=1
Tomorrow its up at blooming 7.30 to go fly somewhere new again and be coached to Ahmedabad in the evening for the main two day kite festival commencing the following morning at the crack of dawn!
Its not been easy travelling out of a suitcase and 50kgs of kites and luggage going in and out of coaches and different hotel rooms every day. Painfully SLOW internet connection....will update as when we are let off the leash and given a little free time, wi-fi permitting of cource!
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Post by DaveM on Jan 9, 2012 8:27:36 GMT
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Post by greenman on Jan 9, 2012 13:36:16 GMT
Good to hear from you Collin. Spending your days having a relaxed fly followed by being mollycodled on luxury coaches and ending your sunkissed day in a 5* hotel must be awful for you Have fun. Greenman
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Derek
Active Weekender
Posts: 57
Likes: 6
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Post by Derek on Jan 9, 2012 13:54:56 GMT
Thanks for the first report C2LLN. Looks like the usual well-organised, peaceful and relaxed itinerary the Indian Kite Festivals are famous for. You give the impression of continuous activity, so please don't forget to full stop.
BTW, did you remember to apologise to the good people at the Bluebell, the Savshanti Towers, and the Sun ‘n’ Shine for me? I was there about 1994, and they didn't invite me back yet . . .
Looking forward to a working set of pictures.
All the best! Derek
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2012 16:15:12 GMT
Almost feeling human again….no complaints at all as I knew what to expect and in that respect it delivered all the ‘experiences’ that make coming to fly kites in India so unforgettable! The whirlwind marathon of putting on a show at several kite festivals each day covering thousands of kilometres in between each one makes this different from any other kite festival in the world, no other comes close to matching the atmosphere when the pressure is on to put on a proper show for tens of thousands of expectant and appreciative public.
I might sound a bit more relaxed now, from my first report, that’s because we slept in this morning till 9.40 and every other kite flier had been coached to the festival having been up since 7am as they / we were told to do !! Wonder if we could get away with it tomorrow too?
Yesterday at Bhavnagar we had a better organised kite festival with the political and welcoming guests speeches kept to a tolerable one hour and had to make the most of very little wind to keep something in the air. The public were kept well away for a change but nothing of substance was flown they could have interfered with, due to the lack of wind but still it drew crowds of thousands!
Leaving there at 3pm we eventually got to Ahmedabad at 8pm and boy was we all glad this part of the endurance kiting arrangements was completed. I had forgotten just how good the 5 star Indra Resedancy Hotel was….everything works and fit for purpose, fantastic food selection, laundry, room service, gym, pool, wifi etc. you get the picture….well I hope you will get the pictures if this new link works: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3055949282364.198502.1372301398&type=1&l=fcd093e3f8Please let me know if this link is now working??
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Post by jelv on Jan 10, 2012 17:32:16 GMT
Link works fine.
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Post by dreamcatcherwolf on Jan 10, 2012 19:36:26 GMT
Yep, no problem... but so many pictures, and I only want to look at the kites, really...
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