The Hindu

• The group will participate in three international festivals this year 
• It has been invited to kite festival at Dieppe in France in September
• Special request received to attend the festival in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia
• To take part in kite festivals in three cities in Turkey

Mangalore, Jun 17: It is a unique group of intrepid kite flyers. Team Mangalore has already made an impression in the international circuit of kite enthusiasts.

The group is now getting ready to showcase its unique creations at three major international kite festivals in August, September and October. It is scheduled to participate in an international kite festival in Turkey in August, at Dieppe in France in September and at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia in October later this year.

The team already represented the nation in international kite festivals at Bristol in United Kingdom and France last year. The team will be going to the Jeddah kite festival on a special request from the Union Ministry of Cultural Affairs. On display at these events will be trademark kites of the team, including those based on Yakshagana and Kathakali design.

The team was to participate in the 10-day Istanbul International Kite Festival, which was scheduled to begin from Sunday. But the festival has been postponed from July 28 to August 6 by the Istanbul Kite Flyers' Association. Giridhar Kamath of Team Mangalore said the team had been invited to participate in the event that would be organised on a much larger scale.

While the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality had taken the initiative to host the festival along with the association initially, two other local metropolitan municipalities in that country had since offered to organise the event.

"We accordingly cancelled our travel plans and have now booked air tickets as per the latest schedule," Mr. Kamath added.