His joy is flying kites

"There are very few people who manage to live their passions,” reported The Times of India (TOI) in its Ahmedabad edition on January 12, 2010, referring to 86-year-old Homi Pestonji Ghadiali. For nearly 80 years, since he was a seven-year-old in a Parsi orphanage in Surat, this aficionado has been flying kites every day. For him every day is Uttarayan (known as Makar Sankranti in other parts of India), the day when the sun starts to travel northwards marking the decline of winter. People celebrate the occasion by gathering outdoors in large numbers and flying kites.

In Ahmedabad, where he now lives, "Dada” (grandfather) has a huge fan following among the children of Vejalpur and the announcement "Dada dhaba par ché. Badha aavi jao! (Grandpa is on the terrace, come on everyone!)” can be heard on a regular basis. Though their mothers request the octogenarian to stop flying kites as it distracts children from their studies especially during examinations, nothing holds him or his young companions back.

Dr Homi Dhalla offering flowers at Birkenau Concentration Camp in Poland

Ghadiali’s 67-year-old wife Rhoda reveals: "Before he officially proposed to me he asked me whether I like kites. I was stunned.” She recalls that her husband stood first in an all-India engineering examination because she locked up his kites and threatened not to give them back until he had cleared the exams. "Five days after we lost our 46-year-old eldest son, Homi was on the terrace flying kites. The eldest son loved kites like his father. This man has not changed a bit for the last 51 years,” she admitted to TOI.

Homi Ghadiali (inset) and on his terrace flying a kite. Photos: Prof Shrikant Rakhe

"Kites teach you to be stable in the choppiest of situations. They help calm your mind, balance your thoughts, improve vision and teach you to share,” is Ghadiali’s philosophy. He loves sharing his joy in flying kites with children, in fact with people of all ages. When TOI asked him what he does during the monsoon, he responded: "Nothing productive... Those are some of the saddest days.”

The kite flier’s blood pressure measures a perfect 120/80 and he does not need to wear spectacles, reveals TOI. His son Khushroo elaborates: "My father starts his day by going to the post office and various banks. He brings back letters for all our neighbors, helps the postman arrange letters and deposits money for our neighbors. In the evening he makes sure that everybody participates in the kite flying on the terrace.”