Yesterday, the city marked a relatively safer dahi handi than it has done previously. One says relatively, because there were still some injuries to govindas, with a number of them sent to the hospital.

Even so, awareness seems to have crept in, slowly but surely. Some dahi handis were cancelled altogether prior to the festival for different reasons. At other celebrations one saw that govindas were wearing a modicum of safety gear. There were helmets, some harnesses, there were also some arm grips on a number of govindas. While there is much to be done in terms of safety, with every govinda togged out in full safety gear, a beginning has been made. One can only push for even more widespread safety measures the next time around, with an absolute policy that won’t let up when it comes to this aspect.