Dahi Handi: Govindas to soon plan trip from Mumbai to Spain for learning new techniques as part of adventure sport

Govinda Pathak forms a human pyramid to break `dahi-handi` during the celebrations of the `Janmashtami` festival at Dadar, in Mumbai. Pic/PTI

As the dream of making ‘Dahi Handi' an adventure sport got real for all the Govindas in the state, the Mumbai-based Govinda pathaks are gearing up for further preparations. After the Krishna Janmashtami festival, the committee members will soon start planning about visiting Spain to learn new techniques from Spain's castells, a human pyramid popping culture.

On Thursday, the government declared ‘Dahi Handi' as an adventure sport in the Assembly. For a few years, the Dahi Handi Samanvay Samiti (DHSS) committee has been requesting the Maharashtra government to make it an adventure sport so that they can have competitions and events to form human pyramids throughout the year rather than playing it only on the day of the festival.

Arun Patil, a coach for Mazgaon Tadwadi Govinda Pathak and a committee member of DHSS, said, "Visiting Spain is still in the planning stage. We will be deciding about it after the festival. It will be more of a learning experience for the Govindas who will visit Spain as they have a lot of clubs, a set of rules and come together to perform throughout the years besides on the day of the festival."

Also Read: Maharashtra government declares Dahi Handi as adventure sport

Patil added, "We wanted to practice and perform at various competitions, and events throughout the year, the way people in Spain do. This will help to boost our culture among the young generation and also have healthy competition. Rather than practicing 1.5 months just before the festival, practicing across the year will help all the Govindas to better their skills and the game too."

In the past, teams of Govindas (participants) from various Govinda pathaks (groups) had performed in the cultural competition as a guest in Spain and New York Times Square in 2018 and 2014 respectively. The committee of Dahi Handi Samanvay Samiti had received an invitation a few years ago to visit Spain and perform as a guest, a few days after the Dahi Handi festival.

Also Read: Dahi Handi: Only 400 Govinda pathaks in Maharashtra have insured themselves

Speaking about the past experience, Patil added, "In the past, we got the opportunity to visit different places in Spain. It was a good opportunity for the Govindas to learn new skills and techniques used by the people in Spain to form a human pyramid. It is a good exchange program of ideas."

While planning to visit Spain as a team of 10-20 members, bearing the travel cost is a major question in front of the Govindas. They seek sponsorship in order to bear the travel expenses.