Punekars super excited to celebrate ‘Dahi handi’

NP NEWS NETWORK

Pune

The festival of Dahihandi is just a day away and the people of Pune are super excited to celebrate this festival. The Janmashtami is celebrated by the Hindus to symbolize birth of Lord Krishna. Dahihandi celebrated a day after Krishna Janmashtami, is celebrated every year in various cities of Maharashtra.

Govindas or the participants form a human pyramid to reach out to an earthen pot carrying curd and butter in it or Dahihandi, which is hung high and is out of reach. The participants try to reach to the pot and break it. This festival is celebrated very enthusiastically in big cities like Pune. Numerous banners of Dahihandi festival could be seen in the city since past few days. Every ‘Dahihandi Pathak’ or team of participants tries to do something unique, to attract people.

NPnews24 had a conversation with few Dahihandi organizers in city, one of them who is president of ‘Tulshibag Mandal’ Vivek Katavkar said, “We are organizing this festival since last 18 years. Initially we were focusing on building tall pyramids by Govindas. Now we are celebrating this festival in the name of ‘Vidhayak Dahihandi’ which means instead of building tall pyramids, we are trying to do something beneficial for society, to do something for the needy in society, since past few years. Now, we are celebrating this cultural festival by building small sizes of pyramids. And whatever the amount collected, we utilize it in social cause.”

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‘Govinda ala re…’ And ‘Bol Bajrang Bali Ki Jai …’ are such songs which will be played in the whole city this day to fetch the attention of people and celebrate this festival. The reason is enthusiasm of Gokul Ashtami. Govindas are now ready to break the pot in the streets of Pune. Even the Dahihandi organizers are super excited for this festival and will be calling some great celebrities and Bollywood stars on the stage to pull the maximum crowd.

Vinayak Kadam the vice president of this Dahihandi said, “We have started helping the needy in society every year on this special occasion. Two years ago, we helped a remote area- ‘Adarwadi- Dongarwadi’ in Mulshi Taluka. The village has only 40-45 houses. We gave them grains, as they were starving of hunger due to lack of grains because of heavy rain. There are about 500 activists in our Mandal. We also helped some NGOs and Social organizations like Mamata Foundation last year.”

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Deepak Mane the president of ‘Babugenu Mandal’ said, “Our organization is one of the oldest organizations in city as it completes more than 100 years. We are organizers, and lot of Pathaks or team of participants comes from all over the Maharashtra to take part in the competition of Dahihandi. Last year, Some Pathaks came from Mumbai and Baramati too. The winner was given a cash prize of 1 lakh  for building 7 layers, this year we are going to give 2 lakh rupees of cash prize to those who will build 8 layers. We also take some precautions for safety of Govindas, like providing cushion layer, safety belts, chest guards and helmets to participants.”

Why is security and protection essential for this day?

Every year there is a tough competition in Mandals among the participants for building higher layers than each other. Often, youngsters in attempting to break the pot get injured. Sometimes, a participant might fall from good height in the struggle to build pyramid and put his life in danger.

In 2012, around 225 participants were injured. The government has made some rules for safety of the participants. Like, organizers need to take the safety measures like- safety belt, chest guards and helmets for every participant. Also they should have cushion layers during the event. And, organizers should keep ambulances at the event.

Henceforth, the Mandal’s first priorty is the safety of the participants to avoid accidents and any major life loss. Organizers should take care of noise pollution too. The participants should see this as a festival and enjoy it rather than only considering it as a competition.