Update on Kite Running
As some of you may remember, The Kite Runner was tied for first on my “best of” list for last year. Absolutely amazing book.
Anyway, I saw this article this morning about kite running events in Pakistan and thought I’d pass it along for anyone interested:
Little Shayan was one of ten people, mostly children, who died last week during the frenzied run-up to the spring festival of Basant, their heads partly severed by glass-coated, steel or nylon kite twine.
The cords are razor-sharp so they can slash the strings of rival kites during aerial duels, but when they fall across roads they become “like cheesewire”, according to one policeman.
Spurred by angry protests, the authorities shocked the country by outlawing kites the day before the centuries-old rite and arresting more than 1,000 kite-flyers and sellers. (read the rest of the article here)
March 14, 2006 9:26 am 
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By DJ Cayenne, March 14, 2006 @ 10:28 am
It is incredible to me that these kites have enough velocity and the lines are so sharp that they can result in partial decapitation. That’s crazy.
By Shaft, March 14, 2006 @ 10:29 am
No kidding. Next time someone tells me to “go fly a kite”, I’m going to get a totally different visualization in my mind.