HYDERABAD: After hosting football legend Lionel Messi on the ground, Hyderabad is now gearing up to watch the game soar into the skies, with drone-basedaerial football displays set to headline Telangana’s Sankranti celebrations.
The festivities begin with the International Kite and Sweet Festival at Secunderabad Parade Grounds from January 13 to 15, themed ‘Celebrate the Sky’.
The event will see the skies filled with kites flown by 40 international participants from 19 countries and 55 flyers from 15 Indian states, with Algeria making its debut.
Adding flavour to the spectacle, a Sweet Festival organised with CLIC will feature more than 1,200 varieties of sweets and traditional Telangana delicacies across 60 stalls, alongside 100 handloom and handicraft stalls and folk cultural performances. Entry will be free.
The celebrations shift to Gachibowli Stadium on January 16 and 17 with a mega drone show, where LED-lit drones will narrate India’s journey from cultural heritage to technological innovation, featuring aerial race courses, FPV feeds, drone football displays and visuals of Telangana’s tourist destinations.
From January 16 to 18, the International Hot Air Balloon Festival will add colour to the skyline, with European teams operating balloons. While morning flights will take off on the city’s outskirts, Parade Grounds will host a ‘Night Glow Balloon Show’. Balloons will rise up to 3,000 feet, carrying six to seven persons, with rides open to children above five and citizens below 65. Tickets will be available online.
As part of HYDRAA lake rejuvenation efforts, kite festivals will also be organised at restored water bodies, including Bathukamma Kunta, Nalla Cheruvu, Thammidikunta and Bum-Rukn-ud-Daula Lake.
TGTDC managing director Kranthi Valluri said special public transport would be arranged to Parade Grounds, with ride-hailing services offering discounts, and appealed to the public to avoid Chinese manja and use only cotton thread.
