Parade Ground comes alive with giant kites, sweet stalls

The International Kite and Sweet Festival at Parade Ground, Secunderabad, dazzled visitors with giant kites flown by international and national experts. A sweet festival, handicraft stalls, hot air balloons and drone shows are adding to the celebrations.

Hyderabad: Skies over Parade Ground in Secunderabad came alive with vibrant and colossal kites soaring high on the second day of the International Kite and Sweet Festival on Wednesday.

The festival being organised by the Telangana Tourism department is featuring a wide variety of kites such as alien, 100 metre snake, turtle, moon-shaped, dragon, peacock and Shinchan flown by the professional kite flyers. The highlight of the festival has been the 200-metre-long kite, with nearly 200 smaller kites tied in a single row and flown.

As many as 40 professional kite flyers from 19 countries joined 55 national flyers representing 15 Indian States in the festival.

Adding to the festivities, the department, in collaboration with Culture Language Indian Connections (CLIC), is organising the sweet festival, featuring 60 stalls where women from various States, including Punjab, Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala and Maharashtra display and sell their homemade sweets.

In addition, visitors can purchase handlooms and handicrafts as 100 stalls have been allotted to promote local artisans.

The department is also hosting a hot air balloon festival at the Parade Ground from January 16 to 18 between 4 pm and 9 pm. A two-day drone festival will also be held at the Gachibowli Stadium on January 16 and 17, featuring displays from 9.30 am to 8 pm.