It was a rainy morning that Janmashtami, we were small kids in our building, chipped in 5 rupees each, to gather the materials for our dahi handi program. We were all excited as it was our first effort to celebrate this festival. I decorated the clay pot with flowers and leaves,crowned it with the customary auspicious coconut, the rope with garlands, fruits and balloons. We requested our 1st floor members to let us tie the rope between their windows. The rope looked resplendent and the pot was inviting us to have a shot at it. I was the tallest and looked strong, (But I am a very meek hearted person) hence was the automatic choice for the base of the pyramid. Despite numerous amateurish attempts, we could not succeed in breaking the pot. The parents were also exasperated and getting impatient.
The rope was lowered by our kind 1st floor members and at the height of 8 feet, the pot was broken with the coconut much to the relief of the gathered parents. The small kid who had climbed on my able shoulders, in all excitement threw the coconut down, bang on my shoulder. I also left him hanging on the rope in retaliation. His poor parents rescued him and he vowed to never attempt this breaking ceremony again. That was our first and last attempt at the dahi-handi ceremony.
We felt victorious like some soldiers and rushed home to grab our meals. We decorated ourselves with the garlands too. It was all unadulterated media unexposed fun. The erstwhile hanging small kid left the crowd, shivering inside.
It was a rainy afternoon, when I got a call from my hospital that a 18 year old boy, named Sanjay was admitted in a comatose condition with a grievous head injury. He had fallen from the top of the human pyramid during the dahi handi celebrations and the crowd could not arrest his fall. He fell from a significant height and the skull bones of his head just split apart on impact on the hard concrete road. He had a hematoma in his contused brain. He was operated by a team of skilled surgeons and after a month, walked away home.
His widowed mother, incidentally was a staff nurse in my college hospital where I had studied. She thanked me profusely with tears in her eyes. I gave her a small memento, a piece of the coconut shell which had accompanied Sanjay during the time of admission to the hospital. The coconut shell protects the soft kernel inside like the skull bones protect the soft brain.
Sanjay still wears a locket with the piece of the coconut shell inside, as his protective amulet.
It was a rainy evening in our KEM hospital, we were posted as interns in the casualty department. It was a busy night with all the dahi handi revellers getting admitted for poly trauma in various states of drunk stupor. They were in a state of euphoria despite the fractures and injuries. They were all ordinary working class people. I thought that, just alcohol alone could not be responsible for their pain free state. Someone from the crowd told me that their team had won the first prize in the dahi handi competition for the tallest human pyramid formation.
Money was their biggest anesthetic and analgesic!
Next day, all of them got discharged, proudly flaunting their hard white plaster casts. There was a swagger in their limp also. They would be feeling rich, albeit for a few days.
Nowadays, dahi handi celebrations begin in rainy nights with pomp and music. They are well covered by the news hungry media. Each street has a dahi handi, affiliated to the local politician. There is a lot of money to be given away by the pot bellied politicians.The flop TV stars and out of work movie side kicks grace this festival. They have glamourised the festival and given it political hues which upsets me. The sanctity and the purpose have been relegated to the back ground.
The innocence of celebration has been snatched away from us.
I still recollect the 5 rupee contribution, from our pocket money, which we had made in our childhood.
I try to sleep, amidst the din of the blaring loud speakers.
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