This is how "mach gaya shor sari nagri re", aka Dahi Handi, became a bygone episode during Janmashtmi because of the pandemic!

Dahi Handi was a common sight in the areas of most of Maharashtra and Gujarat celebrated with great zeal and energy during Janmashtami until the arrival of the Coronavirus-led pandemic which changed the whole outlook of the festival.

Not many years ago, Vardhan Ingle and his group used to roam around every street and corner of Aurangabad to aim to break Dahi handi tied at good heights while competing with other groups during the nights of Janmashtami. It was a ritual for Vardhan to first, play the flute in his nearby Lord Krishna temple and then, control his nervousness before going with his group to break the handi! He mentions the sound of the loud music and the cheers by the people used to ease the pressure, as he would move with his gang all charged up to climb on the "mountains of humans". Those streets and corners now see no such groups due to the pandemic.

While worshipping Lord Krishna and fasting has been part of the traditions during Janmashtami in North India, some states like Maharashtra, Gujarat add up the fun to the celebrations by organizing Dahi Handi competitions. Such competitions observe an end number of groups singing and dancing to break the Dahi Handis.
The Handi is tied to a rope hanging at a height, and the crowd leaves no chance of showering water and other stuff to the groups who try to reach the Handi by making a human pyramid.

Belonging from Aurangabad, a district in Maharashtra, Vardhan always found Dahi Handi celebrations, a game of coordination. However, there were no such celebrations as what used to be before, as he stepped out in his city with a camera on Janmashtami last year. "I saw one or two people with small handis in their hands who were going somewhere and the roads were deserted like never before," says the passionate photographer.

Apart from the social distancing norms, which is mandatory to curb the spread of Coronavirus also being the major hindrance in organizing such events, Vardhan says, it's the economic status of the people that will keep affecting the celebrations. "Even if one has a good motivation towards promoting the cultural activities, one requires money for it. Given that many people have lost their jobs and their regular income, I am sure that even if the groups go to collect money for the Dahi Handi, people will not be able to give it," he adds.

Dahi Handis, a unifying thread

It was not only public places where the Handis were arranged for the people to come and break in return for rewards. Many residential societies in some states also used to organize the event for their members. One such society was of Bhavesh Dharne in Dadar, Mumbai, who remembers the Dahi Handi event as a "picnic". "It was not a one-day affair for us. We would go to the gym and go for cycling, one month before the festival just to increase our stamina for Dahi Handi. We also used to practise for nearly three to four hours at night after finishing all other work." Bhavesh remembers.

With the first sunlight on Janmashtami, Bhavesh adds, the surrounding of my society would fill up with fun as there were large speakers around and people getting ready for Dahi Handi. "The Govindas (the groups that break handis) used to visit households to get parsad since many people worship in their homes that day." says Bhavesh adding how his colony remained silent in 2020. "It did not even feel like Janmashtami last year. Though the society did put a handi, it was only two-tier and only two people went to break it. There were no visits to each other's home and the festival which used to unite many colonies was no longer the same," he adds.

Similar was the case with Deepak Kaushik whose locality in Vadodara used to have a Dahi handi tied up on a crane at a height of around 40-50 feet for the competition. "Real Estate owners and jewellery shop owners of our local area used to sponsor such events and people used to come from far-away places to win the cash prizes set for breaking the handi," says Deepak, who has been participating in these events since childhood. To maintain the tradition, his society conducted it on a small scale for which people brought the required things like handi, rope, Makhan (butter), Dahi (curd), chocolates, colors, etc. and only 20 to 30 of them performed the ritual.

Deepak also used to participate in the celebrations at his college, ITM Vocational University, which remained closed last year due to the pandemic. The closure of educational institutes, on the other hand, has also deprived some students belonging from other regions of India of the Dahi Handi celebrations that they could become part of only after getting to their institutions.

Samyak Jain, who belongs from Delhi, had never got to experience the fun of Dahi Handi as it is not organized in the capital city, unlike Maharashtra and Gujarat. However, since his college, BIMTECH- Birla Institute of Management, had people from all over the country, the students there were able to participate in every festival celebrated in the country. "I still remember how I could not break the handi with the coconut but the coconut was broken. We had made the pyramid in just 10-11 seconds but it took the whole of one minute and the third coconut to break the handi. The whole hostel was making fun of it. But it was amazing how my group did not let each other down and maintained the balance till I broke the handi," Samyak talks about the celebrations in 2019.

The next year did bring something else to the students. While many of them, including Samyak, had gone back to their homes, only a few students were present on the campus who were allowed to see the breaking of the handi, placed just at the height of 4 feet, from a distance while college staff broke it themselves. "Even though all of it has changed now and I have passed out, I cannot forget the trust shown by my group that day," Samyak says.

The children from Adhar Muk Badhir Vidyalaya, Pune, who could not speak or listen, had also developed trust in their friends, which was best visible in the Dahi Handi celebrations at the school's premises before the pandemic for two years. Initiated by an Advocate and a social worker, Rohan Shetty, the event would be organized to make specially-abled kids feel that they could also be part of the culture and traditions of the society.

Mr. Shetty, the founder of the NGO, 'YOUTH- The power to change', works for the specially-abled kids, along with the street kids and underprivileged children in Pune. His team organizes therapy, music, and dance sessions for them regularly. The organization was also quite active in the relief work during both the waves of Coronavirus and the recent flood in Maharashtra.

Talking about the Dahi Handi celebrations for specially-abled kids, he says, "Those children could not listen but still had trust in each other. I always felt that their eyes could talk and that's how they might have developed such coordination to break handis like normal people. I wish the schools were open, and I could organize such events again."

While the whole country is missing the festival, the little Govindas from Adhar Muk Badhir Vidyalaya have also gone back to their homes, who had once got the rarest of the rare chance to be part of Dahi Handi amusements.

Also Read: Peeping beauty through windows: How the pandemic has changed the way of celebrating monsoons in India?

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