Heave ho! Mumbai aims high for Dahi Handi festivities

Preparations for Dahi Handi - a popular sport associated with Janmashtami in and around Mumbai - are on a high this year, with several places offering a whopping prize money of Rs.25 lakh ($53,000), a far cry from last year's lacklustre celebrations on account of swine flu. Special festivities for children are also being held on the occasion. With organisers - among them political leaders - trying to outdo each other, already crores of rupees are riding on the Govindas - young men who form a human pyramid to reach the 'dahi handi' or pot of curd suspended high. As many as three organisers in Thane have announced a Rs.25 lakh prize money for the Govindas.

Image: A visually challenged child breaks the "Dahi handi", an earthen pot filled with curd hung high, during celebrations to mark Janmashtami at the Victoria School for the Blind in Mumbai,on  September 1, 2010. Janmashtami is the festival that marks the birth of Hindu God Krishna.

Text: IANS

Images: AP, AFP