Lahore is known as the heart of Pakistan and everything about this city, situated in the north-east of Pakistani Punjab, is unique.
It is renowned for its festivals and food.
One of the festival that is (or was) indigenous to Lahore was the Basant.
This event used to be the epitome of excitement and fun.
People of all ages used to celebrate it with great zeal.
The festival was a major source of revenue for the city as many foreigners used to join the celebrations and with time this festival had become quiet popular at the international level.
This was all true until 2005, when the festival was banned and the people of Lahore were deprived of their festival.
Before we get to the reason of the ban, let's discuss what the festival of Basant is.
Basant was celebrated in Lahore at the arrival of the spring season.
The arrival of spring was the arrival of prosperity because it was at this time that the food crop used to get harvested.
The festival was usually held on one of the weekends at the end of the month of February.
People used to wear yellow color to represent the color of the mustard flower that used to bloom in the season.
The skies used to fill with kites of different colors and sizes.
These kites used to be flown with strings that were coated with crushed glass so that they become sharp.
These sharp strings used to help in the duel between kites.
The winning kite used to cut the string of the opponent.
This duel, seemingly simple, used to require skills of great level.
The festival used to last for a 24-hour period.
I, like many other from Lahore, saw this festival bring the best out of the Lahoris.
It was, therefore, a huge shock when the festival was banned in the greater benefit of the population.
The prime reason was that Basant had become a bloody festival due to the ignorance and malpractice of some individuals.
People started using twine that was so thick that it was almost unbreakable.
They also started coating this twine with magnanimous amounts of crushed glass.
This all was done so that people using these strings can win more duels without realizing that the strings had to fall down from the sky anyway and the string was no less sharper than a saw.
Many people standing on their rooftops and riding motorcycles were killed as the string cut through their throats when it fell.
Another reason were boundary-less rooftops.
Children were most prone to this hazard as they used to get lost in the festivity and lose conscious of their stepping.
Many died falling down and others were critically injured.
The last reason that led to the sad demise of the festival was the indiscriminate gunfire.
People used to fire their guns in the air above but sometimes the angles of the guns were not monitored and people used to get killed after being hit by stray bullets.
The festival was simply the best.
The people who were celebrating it, weren't.
The government deserves some blame as well because, have it wanted, it could have contained the festival from becoming such a bloody one.
The general public, however, deserves most of the blame.
The issues facing the festival of Basant should be resolved if it has to be allowed.
It is, however, better to ban it if people want to celebrate it in the same bloody manner.