Dahi Handi 2010: Govindas wake up to drum beats

Drum beats and music woke up mumbaiikers woke up on Thursday to celebrate the Janmashtami festival.

Govindas reached the venues to form human pyramids to break the 'dahi handis' at various places in Mumbai.

Dahi Handi is the famous celebrations of Mumbaiikers on Janmashtami, in which pots of curd and luck placed on suspended high.

Young govindas form human pyramid to reach the Dahi Handi placed on suspended height. The group of successful govindas are paid huge amount.

The highest prize money for Dahi Handi 2010 is Rs 25 lakh. With huge prize money at stake, Govindas in Panchpakhadi area of Thane aimed to break the Spanish team's world record of a nine-layer pyramid, and planned to make a 10-tier pyramid for the dahi handi - a popular sport associated with Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna.

With rain playing hide and seek, preparations were affected Thursday morning. "But then, the sun shone brightly and we breathed a sigh of relief," said Monu Patil, a Govinda, as the participant in the human pyramid making is called, from suburban Borivli.

With most Govinda groups still strategising their plan of action, a small group at Malabar Hill in south Mumbai became the first in Mumbai to break the handi.

"We aimed at celebrating the festival in a safe manner. We tried to keep the handi at a manageable level as we did not want to risk the lives of any of our Govindas," said a participant from the group.

The Govinda group from Dadar closely followed in breaking the handi. It had women Govindas too.

"We have been practising for two months for 3-4 hours every night to get used to the human pyramids," Patil said.

Preparations for dahi handi are on a high this year, with several places offering a whopping prize money of Rs.25 lakh (around $53,000).

The celebrations were at their peak at Thane, Worli, Malabar Hill, Dadar and Borivli, and will continue till 5:30 p.m.

Special festivities for children are also being held on the occasion across the city.

Already crores of rupees are riding on the Govindas.

Dahi handi is the celebration of the spirit of Lord Krishna, who loved eating curds and butter and broke earthen containers to get these.