A spectacular dahi handi competition between Spanish castellers and local govindas at the Gateway of India waterfront kickstarted the Janmashtami celebrations in Mumbai.
The MTDC (Maharashtra State Tourism Board) has invited 250 Spanish castellers and 150 homegrown govindas from Thane for a dahi handi competition at the Gateway. The objective is to draw more foreign tourists to the festival. You can see posters at major flyovers, at airports and hotels.
Castellers Are Looking Forward to It
It’s indeed fascinating to know that some of these Castellers would watch videos on the internet (few years ago) of Indian Govindas, during Dahi Handi. and today they have an opportunity to showcase their skills (building human pyramids) here in Mumbai.
Thousands of kilometres separate these places, the cultures are diverse, but our Govindas celebrate Dahi Handi in a manner which the Spaniards can relate to. Obviously, they are amazed at the speed and efficiency with which our local govindas raise human pyramids.
Are Their Techniques Similar?
Though the human pyramids in India and Spain may appear similar, there are some differences though. Castellers build the layers through compression, while the govindas use the tension in the lower layers. Our lower layers are like mattresses, meant to cause minimum harm if a player falls. For them, it’s not about how tall a structure can be built, but how many people carry each layer. The lesser the people in each tier, the tougher it is to raise.
We hope each of these teams have something to learn from each other.
Making of the largest human castle in history by Castellers
Castellers is an ancient tradition in Catalonia (Spain) that involves building human castles. This one is from “Castellers de Vilafranca” and is currently the largest one ever made, with a height of ten people! (Notice the ones at top are children). No ropes, no helmets, no nothing, just the traditional suit and guts! Some think it doesn’t make any sense to do this just for fun, however, in more than a century, very few have had severe injuries.
Video of Local Govindas making a record-breaking 9 tiers
Politics at Play
And when so many people are involved, its difficult to keep politics away, especially when this being a pre-election year. The Shiv Sena will be hoisting a pot containing onions and invite women Govindas to smash their fury into it (Onion prices hitting an all-time high in Mumbai). Onions rather than flowers will decorate the string, and the winning team will be given a prize of 11 Kgs of onions.
Sport Status for Dahi Handi
Legislators and mandals (associations) from the city are demanding the inclusion of dahi handi in the state sports policy, and if things go as per the plan, it could soon be a reality.
It means, dahi handi participants, who make the human pyramid to break the dahi handi, will be eligible for employment in government service under the sports quota.
Once Dahi handi gets the ‘sports activity’ status, more participation from youths can be expected, and coaching will be done in a scientific way, thereby reducing injuries.
Entertainment Guaranteed
Its definitely going to be fun watching the Spaniards against Indians on Dahi Handi, the only difference is that the Spanish team would do it as aerobics and team work, whereas for the Indians its a religious festival. It guess that’s what attracts foreigners to India…its Festivals, colors and its rich culture.
So lets have some fun this Janmasthami, Adios Amigos.
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