sent from: Bombay, India. destination: Long Beach, California, USA

We took our lunch in Hyderabad upstairs in a simple meat restaurant, chicken kebabs and parathas. A brawl seems to break out downstairs, but when we descend theres no evidence of anything untoward. Someone suggests biriyani –  NO, we say, too much food. In the streets a kid on a bicycle pedals furiously, two kites attached to his bike, one bearing the face of Shar Ruh Khan. After a rest I go to the roof of the building to see kites in the sky, nothing but kites, thousands and thousands. Every roof is filled with children whooping and hollering and tugging on strings and pointing and staring. Sounds of drums and celebrations drift up from the alleys and roads, utter cacophony. It is mesmerising – in the end my eyes rest on the trees which appear to have grown as many kites as leaves, caught in their firmament, fluttering.