Tushar gestured toward the hazy sky. “You see all of this pollution? We would do anything to see stars even if they are not real.”
Seeing them unlocked some memories of beautifully lit box kites, and I couldn’t wait until nightfall to see them again and have the benefit of supplementing my mental images with actual photos.
Jayesh snuck up behind Tushar and began tugging at his jeans. Tushar leaned down so Jayesh could whisper something into his ear.
“You can ask her yourself,” Tushar said to him, rising back to his full height.
Jayesh held Tushar’s hand and looked at the ground. He shuffled his feet while Carrie and I watched, amused.
“Go ahead,” Tushar prodded.
Jayesh raised his head. He pointed at Carrie and said, “Can I touch your hair?”
I stifled my laughter. Carrie hated people touching her, especially children.
“Oh, um, yeah, sure,” she said, awkwardly kneeling until she was at his eye level.
Jayesh reached out his hand. “Why is it the color of the Thums Up label?”
Carrie chuckled. “Because I’m Irish and never had a chance to have pretty dark hair like yours.”
He pondered her answer and broke into a shy smile. He nodded before scurrying off to his mother and hiding in the folds of her sari.
Tushar, Carrie, and I broke into laughter as soon as Jayesh was out of earshot.
“I am sorry,” Tushar said. “He is not used to seeing people who look like you.”
Carrie shrugged it off. “I get it. Not a lot of red hair and freckles around here.”
She became much more comfortable and relaxed as we chatted while watching cut kites flutter to the ground. Children in the streets chased after them, their laughter floating to the rooftop.
“California Girl, do you know how to fly a kite?” Tushar asked me, picking up a spool of string. His eyes shimmered. I wasn’t sure if it was from the sunlight or his sheer excitement. I had never seen him radiate such joy.
Carrie, never one to miss an opportunity to tease someone, jumped in before I could answer. “That’s cute. You have a nickname for me already.”
Tushar’s cheeks reddened.
“It can’t be that hard,” I said, playfully grabbing the spool from him. “You can do it, right?”
His eyebrows shot upward. “Let’s hope you fly kites better than you take photos.”
I slapped his arm. “I can’t believe you went there.”
My eyes darted to his parents, making sure I hadn’t been disrespectful by touching him. Thankfully, they seemed more interested in the kites flying overhead. It seemed that on Uttarayan societal formalities were abandoned.
With an expert flick of his wrist, Tushar’s orange kite caught the wind and began soaring upward. As it ascended, he released tension on the string, allowing the kite to glide up through the crowded sky.
Never one to be outdone, I confidently dangled my kite from my fingers and flicked my wrist the way I had seen him do. But rather than flying up to join Tushar’s kite, mine fell to the floor with a faint tapping sound as it landed against the cement rooftop.
Tushar and Carrie laughed, and after a second, I couldn’t help but join in.
“Now do you want help?” he asked.
Defeated, I nodded. Tushar handed his spool to Carrie so she could take over flying the kite. He showed me how to dangle the kite from my fingertips, flick it up to catch the wind, and immediately release the spool. After a few attempts and some more pointers, my turquoise kite was sailing into the sea overhead, the thin paper making a flapping sound against the gusts of the wind. My palms began to burn from the friction of the wooden spool handles rotating in my hands as more and more string released.
“Pull it back!” Tushar yelled. He used his hand to shade his eyes from the sun as he followed my kite into the air.
I held the spool in my left hand and wrapped my right fingers around the glass-laced string to stop my kite from traveling any farther. The string made tiny cuts in the pads of my fingers, but I didn’t care. As the wind floated through my hair and the sun kissed my face, the only tension I felt was that on the kite string.
“Careful!” Tushar called, reaching out and jerking my spool toward him. “Someone is trying to cut you.”
Sure enough, a bright-red kite was closing in on mine. Tushar yanked the string with a few sharp jerks. The kite caught a breeze, and he maneuvered it out of harm’s way.
He laughed. “If you take your eyes off for even a second, someone will come. Let me show you how to go after those people before they can come to you!”