Every January, on the last day of Poush, the sky over Old Dhaka fills up. Shakrain, also called Poush Sankranti, falls on 14 or 15 January, and for one day the rooftops of the old, southern part of the city belong to the kites.
A sky full of fights
In the afternoon, families and friends climb onto their roofs with spools of string and stacks of paper kites. Kite flying soon turns into kite fighting: flyers steer into each other's strings, trying to cut a rival's kite loose. When a string snaps and a kite drifts away over the rooftops, the whole neighbourhood hears about it. Bhokatta!
Everyone has a favourite kite, a favourite roof and a story about the year they cut down a kite that seemed unbeatable. The string matters as much as the kite, and a good spool is guarded like treasure.
When night falls
Shakrain doesn't stop at sunset. Music and dancing carry on, fireworks light up the sky over Old Dhaka, and fire-breathers perform on the roofs. Households compete to lay out the most kinds of pitha, and plates of kacchi biryani come out. Wikipedia counts it among the oldest annual festivals in Bangladesh, and describes it as a symbol of unity and friendship.
Bring it home
If you grew up with Shakrain, you know the feeling: a taut string, a crowded sky and a cheer from three roofs away. We made Ghuri Kata to bring a little of that back. Drag to fly your ghuri, cross a rival's string at full pull and cut it loose. The waves of kites keep coming, the sky turns from afternoon to night, and the best score is always one more bhokatta away.
It's not the same as a real Old Dhaka rooftop in January. But it's a good way to wait for the next one.