Hands off, Mr. Deshmukh!
True to its style, Maharashtra government is trying to address issues it has no business interfering in! Vilasrao Deshmukh has apparently decided to frame a code of conduct and set restrictions on the height of the dahi handis. This was after a few hundred injuries, including broken bones, were reported in Mumbai hospitals during dahi handi celebrations.
“There is a need to have a height restriction for the dahi handis,” Deshmukh said at a media briefing after a meeting with other Cabinet members.
“There is absolutely no restriction at all right now,” he admitted, adding: “The competition is intense as festival organisers are increasing the height of dahi handis and matching it with larger cash prizes.”
The state government would convene a meeting with all the Govinda groups of the city to formulate a code of conduct before next year’s festival, Deshmukh said on Wednesday.
[Source: ToI ]
They actually had a cabinet meeting about this. Is this an issue that warrants a cabinet meeting? Is this an issue that warrants state intervention at all?!
If the dahi handi organizers are increasing the heights of the dahi handis each year, they are matching it with huge cash prizes. It’s a case of incentives matching the risks. After all, the tradition that these dahi handis seek to perpetuate is based on Krishna’s attempts to steal curd hung high above the floor. If the incentive is something more worthwhile than curd, the effort required to earn the incentive has to be greater, fraught with risk greater than just trying to reach the ceiling of the room! The Govinda groups know this and therefore, only the best prepared ones dare to attempt the high handis. In fact, the organizers themselves run competitions where Govinda groups first have to first prove their mettle by demonstrating their capabilities, by erecting a smaller pyramid, before attempting the actual height. Only the ones who qualify are allowed to compete for the prize handi set high above the street level.
In any case, the human pyramids that these Govinda groups form are well within the range of human abilities. Ask the Catalans, they can build pyramids 10 tiers high! These Govinda groups manage about 6-7 tiers, with the elite ones going up to 8 tiers.
If injuries have to occur, they will occur even with the handis hung 10-15 feet lower than they are these days. Most injuries occur, not due to fall from heights, but because the person falling gets tangled in the jungle of arms and legs while falling and falls at an odd angle. Others get injured when someone falling from the top lands on the poor guy in the lower tier. When a pyramid goes up, support staff of that Govinda group circles the base tier with their arms raised to cushion the fall of the guys on top. That’s why injuries due to fall from heights are rare.
The point I am trying to make is… the government is unnecesarily trying to expend its efforts where none are required. It should let the celebrations be… and concentrate its efforts on preventing farmers’ suicides in Vidarbha or the preventing injuries/accidents due to the downright pathetic road conditions right here in Mumbai.
In fact, this whole business of Vilasrao Deshmukh trying to intervene in dahi handi celebrations, is a result of frustration arising out of the fact that the most popular dahi handis are the ones organized by Shiv Sena, MNS and the NCP. The Congress is not even in the picture. The grass-roots nature of this festival is so far removed from the arrogant ivory tower nature of Congress rule. With the other three parties ahead in the race to woo Mumbai’s Maharashtrian vote with high spending in dahi handi celebrations ahead of next year’s civic elections, it is not difficult to see the reason for the Chief Minister’s efforts at reigning in Dahi Handi organizers.
3 comments
HANDS OFF, THE OPTI MYSTIC
I appreciate your concern about the non-effective Maharashtra Government, but i am sure you’d be the first person to comment on the accidents caused by these dahi-handis, had the government not taken any action to save/help those who lost their lives!
Congress-NCP have formed the governent together, if you say it’s Vilasrao’s decision to come up with a code of conduct, then why would he call a cabinet meeting..when most of the important cabinet ministers are from NCP!
The government is trying to do its best in the Vidharba suicide cases…have you ever written about the efforts taken by the government to take care of the families of all those farmers? Just because the govt. is finding it difficult to come up with effective measures to curb the vidarbha suicides, it doesnt mean they should stop themselves from preventing petty injuries caused by uneccesary activities (dahi-handi in this case!)
Let me make an offer you will not be able to refuse…
I offer you 1 billion dollars (calculate the amount of risk associated with the task!!), are you ready to jump from the Mt. Everest? (wouldn’t you want the inefficient govt. to take care of your family after you go?)
Finally, I have a small suggestion for you…if this is what you normally feel about stuff happening around you…change the name to pessi-mystic!
Shailesh… I have, of course, replied to your comment on DesiPundit. Just adding a few points here.
If the Cong-NCP government had taken efforts to quell the crisis of farmers committing suicides, it wouldn’t have taken Manmohan Singh to personally visit the affected areas. As politics goes, it was a loud and clear signal that the Central government was unhappy with the efforts of the Cong-NCP rule in Maharashtra. But then, would you be kind enough to enlighten me about these efforts you are talking about? If I am convinced, I would be the first person to post about it.
Furthermore, you shoot yourself in the foot when you claim that dahi handis are unnecessary activities. Why, then, is the government trying to waste its efforts and resources in unnecessary activities. Let them sort themselves out! By regulating the height of the handis, government is only taking on responsibility by trying to define a safe height. People have been known to survive falls from 3-4 floors while others have died after falling from the 1st floor of a building. As I’ve said in the post, its the way you fall rather than the height from which you fall that causes the injuries during dahi handi celebrations.
I welcome the efforts to form a code of conduct. This should be a move towards self-regulation rather than government-imposed regulations. This code could also cover the sort of behaviour that the govindas indulge in under the pretext of celebrations. There is eve-teasing, petty lawlessness and goondaism to some extent perpetrated by some govindas. The govinda mandals should be made to realize that this should not be encouraged. Also, audits of dahi handi funding could be an option. But these are law and order related issues and the government would be right in intervening. Regulating the height of dahi handis is ridiculous and wholly unnecessary.
As for changing my name to pessi-mystic, thanks, but I’ll pass. I’m just foolishly optimistic to believe that perhaps writing about the things around me will perhaps change things for the better. So I’ll stay The Opti Mystic.
Give the detail’s of dahi handi,,,, we have to come for break the dahi handi in the various areas of the mumbait…… pls give us the details, that where we will get the dahi handi.
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