High on Dahi Handi

The festival season has been heralded in this bustling metropolis. The celebrations which will extend well into three months from now, will witness a long string of occasions like Dahi Handi, Ganpati, Navratri, Dassera, Diwali, Ramzan and Christmas.

On the flip side, it is also a season where people flock out in large numbers with the result that streets are cho-o-block with traffic snarl-ups and the men in khaki grappling with problems arising out of law and order.

For the severely short-staffed police, who have the unenviable task of manning this giant city, it is work round-the-clock. The immediate challenge is the Dahi Handi on Tuesday.

Untill a few years ago, the festival was confined to the small by-lanes of Girgaum, Dadar, Parel, Lalbaug and parts of the suburbs. Now, it has acquired a political hue what with many political parties who vie with each other in doling out hefty prizes to attract attention and derive political mileage.

Not long ago, a prize money of Rs 11,000 was considered princely. Dahi Handi mandals would be in competition to break the Handi and pocket the prize money.

Now, not only have the mandals multiplied, the Govindas have become fiercely competitive and in fact, professional. The prize money has become so lucrative that Govindas do not mind climbing to dangerous heights.

Casualties have also gone up. A typical Dahi Handi day is one where exuberant Govindas in shorts and bandanas arriving in trucks, eyeing bounty-full handis.