by: Lumad Aloranon
The summer months of March and April have always been special to kids growing up in Aloran in the 1960s.
It is the time when we brag our genius in flying kites.
The kind of kite you fly depends on your age bracket.
When you barely can run, you have your folks make you one from leaves of marang or kamansi.
The kind that is tied to a thread that you can hold a few feet above your head and run around the street with so much enthusiasm.
But why only on the streets?
Why not in the plaza where there is plenty of space to run around?
That is because you will annoy the cool kids flying their cool kites.
These are paper kites, though mostly newspaper, some use papel-japon or arus that comes in different bright colors.
The structure is pretty-much one.
Cut the paper into a square, line a broom-stick (gungi) along the diagonal, with a couple of inches more towards the front, that is the front propeller, form another broom-stick into a semi-circle and connect the left-wing side to the right passing the diagonal.
Paste the sticks into the main fuselage with cut-paper and cooked-rice or anunang (glue is expensive).
Then cut another piece of paper into like 1&1/2-inch X certain length, should be long enough for the kite to cruise stably but not too long to cause drag, this is the paikog.
Cut two pieces of papers roughly the same width then paste them on both wings to add to its cruising stability.
The next step is as critical as the previous.
Cut a thread two feet long, tie one end where the semi-circle stick is over the diagonal and the other end an inch above the point where the tail begins, this is the galong.
Hold your kite up like 45 degrees from vertical or at an angle where the wind force would be most.
Then do a circle-knot on the thread, this is where you tie the rest of the thread, tugot.
Now you have your kite.
This en-titles you a place in the town plaza and to show case your kite-flying prowess.
You start by holding your kite couple of feet above your head while running up and down the runway.
This is just one of the test flights you are going to make.
If your kite does not go up, the tail is probably too long, shorten it.
If it has the tendency to keep turning, it is the tail again, it is too short, add a few inches to it.
If it keeps leaning on one side, balance it on the other side.
And despite all these, still your kite does not fly, it must be the galong, adjust it to have the full wind force on its fuselage.
Finally, your kite is airborne.
What a feat!
That piece of paper and stick glued together by anunang actually flies!
This is where the most fun is.
You position yourself in shade holding the tugot, looking up in the air with so much pride on your face.
When there is less wind, you pull it back while whistling the tune asking for wind, and when you feel the wind, you give it more length.
How high should I let it go?
What?
Sky is the limit!
Fly higher kite, here is more length.
Then!
Woooooopsss, my kite is flying pilot-less!
That is when you and some kid-spectators run as fast as you could after it.
There is still hope it can be recovered.
Some actually land on the ground, unscathed.
There are times when a bunch of kids are already on-site, and would gladly hand your precious kite back.
Then run back to the plaza while there is still daylight, to fly the kite again.
Some actually end-up hanging on trees like Christmas decor.
But that is not the only time your kite could end-up a decor.
Sometimes the wind drags it to where the trees are and it takes skill to beat it.
But do not worry, here is Loloy Titang (The Masai, may God grant you eternal rest my friend) who can retrieve your kite for five centavos.
Five centavos!
Where will I get five centavos?
Loloy is a good friend of mine, he retrieves my hanging kite for free.
Some of us fly the same kite the whole season, some lose two the same day, while if I lose two in a season, I already consider it lucky.
Making a kite that actually flies is no-easy task, but I would rather take the time making it than fly the same one the whole season.
I do not envy the play-safe guys, they are boring.
Our flying rendezvous is surrounded with trees in all directions.
There are ancient acacia trees, coconut trees, some aroma trees, and right at the center is an Ilang-ilang tree.
So, it really takes skill and bravado to fly your kite in the morning and bring it back home in one piece before sunset.
There really are brutal days, when each of those trees decides to start decorating.
The acacia trees usually take the lion share, the lone Ilang-ilang tree also takes a fair share and so do the coconut trees nearby.
The site is quite colorful.
I enjoy looking at the dangling Christmas-like decor, especially knowing I have contributions to it.
Then, sadly we bade summer goodbye.
We then keep what is left of our tugot, and the rest are throw-aways.
While getting ready for other games, the kite flowers are fading.
Soon those made-up of expensive papel-japon or aros, seem to have been made-up of newspaper.
Coming rains would deal them the coup de grace.
A couple of decades back, I was looking at a picture of my five-year old son flying kite in our nearby rice field.
The picture reminded me of Aloran - once upon a time.
The kite, I can not believe is made of the same materials and the method has not changed at all.
The field is also surrounded with trees, mango and coconut.
There were also other kids flying kite, and some spectators.
But I did not see trees with kites dangling.
These kids were born with natural GPS and they are smarter.
Just a few years back, the same boy in the picture was flying kites with his five and four-year old sons.
The kites are made of semi-plastic material and one came in red, the other blue.
What an awesome scene it was - my son flying kites with my grandsons.
This always plays in my mind and reminds me not only of Aloran, once upon a time, but of life itself.
What a privileged-life I live, and what a Privileged Grandpa I am.
Someday some children looking at the pictures of kites dangling from trees and ask how did those kites end-up on top of them?
Tell them that once upon a time in Aloran, foolish kids fly their kites over those trees, not knowing how to land them safely on the ground.