Come Uttarayan, and it is business as usual for the pols in the walled city of Ahmedabad. January 14 and 15, the festival of Uttarayan and Vasi Uttarayan, sets the stage for cultural tourism, as pol residents rent out their terraces for visitors to dive into Gujarat’s world-famous kite festival up close and personal.

More than ‘terrace-on-rent’

In a trend that has caught up in recent years, the locals host people from across Gujarat, India, and even from around the world. However, what started as a simple ‘terrace on rent’, has now taken the shape of a full-fledged hosting venture that could compete with any five-star host or vacation rental company.

“In Gujarati, we say Haath halavta aavo (come bringing nothing),” said Ketan Vyas, who hosts Uttarayan tourists in Dariyapur’s Vadigam. “We offer food, water, snacks, manja (threads), and kites – from morning to evening – it’s all on us.”

“If we serve them right, they would like to come back next year,” Vyas notes.

Booming business

This, however, comes with a price. Vyas, who hosts three such properties, can easily accommodate 40 to 50 people in a day. With his prices set at ₹4,000 per person, a group of 10 people would easily be lighter by ₹40,000.

If the group is interested in the ‘package’ of two days, Vyas offers a 50% discount on the second day.

For NRIs and foreigners, he has a quotation in dollars, which reads $92 (~₹7,900) per person. 

Corporates are also known to approach such hosts. If a team of 15-20 employees find themselves in the middle of the city having the time of their lives, the hosts have the opportunity to earn ₹80,000 to ₹1,00,000.

Byproduct hive-offs 

“The food comes from outside vendors, who set up shops in Raipur in Uttarayan,” said another host, Chetana Soni of Raipur, adding, “The undhiyu and Jjalebi, Uttarayan staples, we order for our guests from the special shops put up for the day.”

Soni emphasised that it is not only the people of pols who are earning and introducing outsiders to the ‘Uttarayan of the pols’, but many small players benefit from this economy.

“The shops outside, kite and manja shops, the lodges and hotels near the walled city, all get to earn from this,” said Soni.

What’s next?

Already this year, the corporatisation process has begun. What started as single players renting out the terrace, is now seeing the first glimpses of a middle-management by tour and travel companies.

The bigger firms are getting the homeowners in touch with potential clients, and the days of commercialisation seem close.

One of the hosts that Gujarat Samachar Digital visited, had found their clients through an advertisement from the bigger tour and travel agency, who offers its clients the experience of Uttarayan in Ahmedabad.

It remains  to be seen if the cultural tourism unique to Ahmedabad would now find a system structure that would help all the parties involved, or the rustic charm of being hosted by a family fades away as in business lingo as the process becomes more mainstream by the day.

Like flying a kite, the balance between economy and culture of Uttarayan hangs by on a thin thread, it’s fate depending on the hand that lets go, or ‘pulls the string’.