Get rich with practice too The human pyramids are getting taller and the cash prizes are getting bigger with each passing year. Consumerism has seeped into the dahi handi festival with govindas now being rewarded for practice sessions as well

Get rich with practice too

The human pyramids are getting taller and the cash prizes are getting bigger with each passing year. Consumerism has seeped into the dahi handi festival with govindas now being rewarded for practice sessions as well

Practice makes a man perfect, they say. And with the increasing commercialisation of Janmashtami, practice, too, seems to getting rewarded, and the giving out of cash prizes has penetrated into the rehearsal sessions too. Organisations, belonging to or affiliated with political parties have, for the last two to three years, been organising practice sessions. These sessions, which are held mostly in the constituency of the elected representative, invite groups to participate in the pyramid-making sessions. The groups are given cash prizes, medical kits and even trophies for making the best human pyramids. This year, organisations associated with the NCP and the MNS have organised such sessions, where prizes was doled out. “We conduct these sessions to attract people towards dahi handi,” said Sangeeta Ahir, chairperson of Shri Sankalp Pratisthan, which organises the dahi handi in Worli. Sangeeta is the wife of NCP leader Sachin Ahir, who contests from Worli. “There are over a hundred groups in south Mumbai alone that participate in the festival. Since most of the govindas reside in the Worli Koliwada area, they do not have to travel far, which is why we conduct these in different spots around Worli,” she added. This year, her organisation gave away cash prizes from Rs6,000 up to Rs10,000, depending on the number of tiers. “The highest prize (of Rs10,000) was given to a group that made an eight-tiered pyramid. This year, a total amount of Rs6 lakh was given out to various groups.” The expenses of the MNS hovered around Rs2 lakh, claimed Girish Dhanurkar, MNS corporator from Dadar who runs the Navnirman Pratishthan. “Around a hundred govindas participated this year. We gave them safety kits, jackets, protective headgear, cash prizes, apart from a trophy,” he said. Unlike Sangeeta Ahir, who started holding these sessions last year, Dhanurkar has been organising them for the last three years. In the first two years, only medical kits were given out. “With increasing commercialisation, even govindas want to know what the prize money is like, before they perform,” said Dhanurkar. Bala Nandgaonkar, an MNS MLA who organises a similar practice session in his constituency, said: “This year, we gave out cash prizes of around Rs2.5 lakh.”