“Does this boy look 12?” asks a prominent daily displaying
photo of a collapsing Govinda who definitely is not 12! I say its a wrong
caption. A correct one should be “Does this boy have concerned parents?” Its a
sad thing that the Supreme Court of India had to intervene in a matter that was
domain of adults or more aptly speaking parents to ensure the safety of minors.
What possibly could be the purpose of having a Dahi Handi at such an enormous height?
One – adventure, two –culture. Let’s consider the first option – adventure.
Every adventure sport has a definite purpose or correctly speaking every
traditional adventure sport has a definite and a well defined purpose. It is so
atleast in India. In Maharashtra for example traditionally played sports be it
Kusti, be it mallakhamb or be it dand patta all were aimed to keep the youth
ever ready for warfare. And therefore it is not surprising there are legends of
warriors or adventure sportsmen continuing to be associated with the sport
either directly or indirectly till his very end despite an injury or an accident.
Not only this, it would not be surprising to find his siblings or offsprings
embracing the same without protest from family members – even women! Does Dahi
Handi evoke that kind of feelings? Can an injured be expected to participate in
future events with same zest or the parents of those deceased Govindas his
siblings to carry forward what has been increasingly touted as cultural baton?
The answer is obvious. This not because of the dangers involved but because the
entire exercise lacks the purpose and much needed conviction. Culturally
speaking Dahi Handi was a pure fun where friends in a locality got together on
Janmashtami collected money shopped for earthern pot, rope, cucumbers, fruits,
garlands etc., tied it at a decent height in a muddy ground cleared of all
stones and other dangerous things likely to cause injury in the event of a
fall. It would take a 3-4 tier pyramid to break the Handi that would be broken
by noon. Today the event seems to have got all the glitz and glamour but at the
cost of its essence of simplicity and togetherness which used to be the soul of
the event. Today’s Dahi Handi seems to be driven more by glitterati and money.
We dragged Dahi Handi from muddy grounds to busy road junctions and overloaded
it with cash prizes and smothered the true spirit of Dahi Handi.
Dahi Handi commemorates the childhood exploits of Lord
Krishna who as a child broke into houses with friends and stole butter from
pots hung from ceiling by forming human pyramids that would be needless to say
two or three tiers tall. So where does the cultural aspect of forming an 8 tier
human pyramid come from? The butter stealing acts of Lord Krishna have two explanations
– 1. He being aware of his being divine incarnation did not want his maturity
to rob his foster mother Yashoda of the pleasures of raising a child. 2. It
symbolized Lord Krishna breaking into the minds of people and robbing them of
their hearts.
In the present case are the Govindas giving their parents
pleasures of raising children or nightmares? In the view of the two fatal
accidents wherein two minors lost their lives while practising for Dahi Handi,
the Honourable Supreme Court India clearly demarcated the age limit for ones
participation in such risky sport leaving the height and the number of tiers
untouched. It could have easily been obeyed and should have been obeyed. There wasn’t
any need to be rebellious and flaunt the orders of the SC. Even if some
politicians did it there wasn’t any need for the Govinda troupes to be part and
parcel of this rebellion. They should have respected the court orders and
boycotted such rebellious politicians since it is this very Supreme Court who
have time and again intervened and come to the rescue of the common man like in
Priyanka Matto and Jessica Lal case. Lord Krishna when punished for his
mischief by his foster mother Yashoda repected his confinement and seldom
rebelled. Have our modern day Govindas instilled these values of Lord Krishna? After
all isn’t it that it’s we who have to decide whether we are ‘Govindas’ or ‘Go-
Bindaas’?
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