Biz down by 35%-45%, say kite-makers, blame it on frequent, heavy spells of rain
Times of India | 17 September 2025The Met office has forecast a similar weather over the next two days, which may come in the way of kite enthusiasts. It's only from Friday that the Met office has predicted more prominent sunny spells and a decline in showers.
The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) Kolkata recorded 9.2 mm of rainfall between Monday and Tuesday evening. At 31.1°C and 24.9 °C, the maximum and minimum temperatures on Tuesday were below normal.
Even though there is no major weather system at present to cause a downpour, the Met office has not ruled out one or two spells of showers in coming days. "The few spells of rain that we are getting are under the influence of an upper air circulation.
We expect similar weather on Wednesday and Thursday, after which we will encounter more sunshine than clouds," said H R Biswas, head of RMC Kolkata.
Kite-makers and traders pointed out that the three months leading to Vishwakarma Puja were their busiest time as they made kites and prepared the manja or threads.
But the continuous and the frequent heavy spells of rain this year dampened their preparations to some extent, literally, they said. "For good manja, we need long periods of sunshine. This year, the quality of the thread and the number of kites made are affected due to frequent rain.
Business is down by 35%-45%," said Ajit Dutta of India Kite.
They pointed out that the demand for plastic kites was far more than that for traditional, paper ones.
"The overall demand is also a little lower than previous years'. We start getting buyers since a few days to Vishwakarma Puja. There were quite a few queueing up at the shop by Tuesday afternoon, but due to lower production this time, we could not meet the demand," said Swapan Patra of Kolkata Kite.
Even though the city remained dry for almost seven days until mid-last week, there have been a few spells of rain every day in the past three days. As a result, kite traders pointed out, last-minute buyers might not purchase kites if the skies stayed overcast.
