Precautions To Take On Makar Sankranti

Yayyy!! It’s time to fly kites and eat til gud. Makar Sankranti is here!

Makar Sankranti is an Indian festival of kites which comes every year in January. This day marks the onset of a new harvest season. Everyone get excited and start flying kites with great enthusiasm and eat sweet laddoos.

But as they say, every coin has its two sides, same way is it for festivals also. On Makar Sankranti, the massive number of injuries caused by our “manja” kites every year tends to go unnoticed. This number includes kite-flyers, passersby, commuters and birds. But this doesn’t mean we should stop flying kites it’s just that we need to take some precautions.

We at UrbanAsian would like to list down some precautions that you can take on Makar Sankranti while flying kites.

Avoid flying kites before 9am or after 5pm:

The most who are affected during Makar Sankranti are birds. So before 9am and after 5 pm, birds are out searching for food or are on their way back to their nests so you can avoid flying kites at this time.

Opt for a glass free manja:

Generally, people use glass coated manja which is really sharp which makes it easy to cut others kite and say Kai Po Che. But this glass coated manja is also harmful to you as it may cause a cut to you as well as others. So opt for a glass free manja and enjoy flying kite with ease.

Keep a local animal welfare association’s number handy:

In case you spot an injured bird, call a local animal welfare association for help IMMEDIATELY. Till they arrive, place the bird in a dry, warm cardboard box with a few tiny holes for ventilation and if possible give the bird some water to drink. PLEASE KEEP THE NUMBERS ON YOUR SPEED DIAL.

Drive slow & wear a helmet/neck protector:

Go slow while driving a bike on the day of Makar Sankranti. This might also give you enough time to slow down your vehicle if you find a kite-flyer rushing across a busy street to catch a kite or if a kite comes on your face, Make sure to wear a helmet, muffler or neck protector to avoid injuries from manja.

Avoid going at the edge of the terrace:

Avoid going in narrow edges or at the terrace edge. Standing near the edges leads to many accidents. So be carefull and look where you are going when you run to catch a kite or even fly a kite. Same way stay away from electric poles too.

PLEASE DO FOLLOW THESE PRECAUTIONS