The Hindu : Front Page : A subdued ‘Dahi Handi’

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A subdued ‘Dahi Handi’

Siddhesh Inamdar

Parties cancelled fete following swine flu scare

— Photo: Vivek Bendre

No room for panic: Youth form a human pyramid to break Dahi Handi on Janmashtami at Dadar in Mumbai on Friday.

Mumbai: As the handi cracks open, it pours golden colour water mixed with yoghurt on the face of 11-year-old Vikas Jadhav. Though only half a person tall, he is balancing himself at a height of 25 feet on the shoulders of a four-rung human pyramid. The earthen pot broken, the boys let go of each other. The open arms below are all ready to catch the falling stars of Dahi Handi.

This year, though, the arms are fewer than usual, some being scared away by swine flu. Not wanting to take chances, Jadhav wore a cyclist’s crash helmet. But he seems unconcerned about the invisible danger of the A(H1N1) virus for, the joy on his face dances naked, unclothed by a surgical mask.

“I am not scared of swine flu,” he says dismissively, “nor were my parents who never stopped me from participating.”

Evidently, Mumbai’s political parties that organise massive celebrations for Janmashtami every year have cancelled their plans, leaving it to their smaller outfits, and youth groups to organise handis on their own initiative. The boys had been practising every night for a month. At the last minute came an announcement from the party leadership that all Dahi Handi events stood cancelled. Unwilling to have their month-long efforts come to nought, the Shiv Sena’s shakha-pramukh for ward 46 Ganesh Shinde organised a subdued handi.

“The boys were disappointed by the cancellation,” he admits. “Subhash Desai [the Shiv Sena MLA from the constituency] wanted the children to come together and have fun. So we have organised the handi, though not under the party’s banner.”

Every year, about 150 boys participate in a handi of this scale and there is an audience of over 500. This year, though, there is hardly an audience and only 80-100 boys could be seen participating.

“The panic is unwarranted,” says deputy shakha-pramukh Amit Thakur. “It could have been made mandatory for children to wear masks, and the celebrations could have gone on as usual. We had anyway asked those with cough and cold not to participate.”

Janmashtami is an immensely popular festival in Mumbai. Last year, Rs. 11,11,111 was the highest prize money announced by the organisers of a handi in Mankhurd. The Nationalist Congress Party’s Sachin Ahir roped in singer Sukhwinder Singh to perform. However, everything had to be cancelled at the last minute.

Central Mumbai, usually submerged in a sea of humanity on Janmashtami, dared the virus. However, according to a resident of Girgaum, “The roads of Dadar are completely packed every year on Dahi Handi day. Though there is a crowd, it is not as massive as the ones I have seen all these years.”

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