Rani Baug Govindas celebrate 100 years of breaking Dahi Handis

Mumbai: Residents of Sankalp Siddhi Tower in Rani Baug on Thursday broke 100 Dahi Handis to mark the completion of 100 years of celebrating the festive tradition.

The Bal Gopal Govindautsav group, Rani Baug, was started by Vasudev Tatkare, a mill worker, in 1924 from a chawl at the same place. The families from the chawl, now living in a tower, continue to celebrate the event every year.

Sankalp Siddhi tower has been a tower only for around two decades. For nearly 80 years, it was a chawl, famously known as Gavli chawl in Rani Baug, Byculla. With 120 houses, the families have been, over the generations participating as Govindas in Dahi Handi festival.

Recalling his childhood days, when he used to practice for Dahi Handi festival, 50-year-old Abhijeet Khamkar says, “We started practicing when we were five to six years old. As a part of our childhood play, we were asked to practice standing on a cricket ball. We didn’t know back then that whatever our parents are teaching us will help us participate in Govinda by keeping our balance at the top of the pyramid.”

The children from the families start their journey of participating in the Dahi Handi festival, when they are young, by being on top of the pyramid and as they grow older, they go on to become the pillars of the pyramid, at its base.

“That is the journey that one goes through, from starting on top of the pyramid, to being the base of the pyramid. A hundred years ago, when Vasu Master (Vasudev Tatkare) started this, the govindas would go around the area to break handis,” said Khamkar.

“The tradition continues. On average, we break handis at 14 different locations. Around 12 of these we break are ‘Sanmaanachi Handi’, which means the first handi at a location is broken by us as a mark of respect,” added Khamkar.

Shardul Kharkude, 41, who was overseeing the preparations for the centenary celebration of Dahi Handi, said, “We have not had any injuries here in many years. This is primarily because we do not give importance to going higher. The celebration here is more from a cultural and community building point of view.

“When competition started increasing and people started going after prizes based on how high the handi is, we decided to stop at seven tiers. We focus more on celebration, people getting together, preparing a few days in advance, etc.”

“Besides taking all the safety measures, we pray to God and remember the ‘Master’ before and after practice. On the day, we start the event with prayers,” said Krunal Dalvi, another resident of the building.

Although some of the inhabitants are living and working elsewhere, they still come back for the Dahi Handi festival.

Shashikant Jaiswal shifted to a home in Kalyan after the family grew here, but he comes back to the building a few days in advance and lives with his brother here to prepare for the event. Sameer Kalpude works at a private firm in Riyadh but makes sure to make the trip to Mumbai for this event.

Although there is a tower now, residents said that the days of celebrating Dahi Handi in the chawl were priceless. “We had a rectangular chawl and there used to be an open space in the centre. The place was ideal for Dahi Handi.

“Everyone could stand outside their homes and see the event. They would even throw water while Govindas formed pyramid. The water timings in our chawl were of 7pm, which is the time when we would come back from other places. Residents would connect the pipes to taps and we would have shower, dance and celebrate the whole event,” recalled Khamkar.

He added that some families would pour warm water on us because we would be very tired after returning from different places and some would even pour ice cold water out of fun.

It is this community building that Khamkar and others are still trying to maintain and the event celebrating 100 years of Dahi Handi festival adds more glory to it.

“Although the chawl is gone and we all live in the building, the days of community living and celebrating together are still missed. We hope our children continue to celebrate the trend for many more years.” he said.