Winter Kites

“Watching them as they watch the kites transports me, fulfills a cellular yearning to spend winter in Pakistan again, flying kites from rooftops. I wasn’t even born there. I am the child of diaspora, born in Florida, raised in Pennsylvania. But I returned often enough that, when I was old enough to follow the long story of our family back to its source, I could already taste and smell and see where it would lead. Sindhis, from the southeast corner of the country, along the Indus River, fly kites in the winter and drink hot black tea boiled in water and buffalo milk all year long, even in the blazing heat of the Thar desert summer. But it is an especially soothing habit in winters without modern heating systems.”

Excerpt from Winter Kites, published by Farmer-ish, read full piece here