PUNE: Dhol tasha troupes in Pune are gearing up and practising hard to make up for time lost during the incessant rains in the city in the first half of August. Dhol tasha has become synonymous with Ganesh festival celebrations and Pune is a hotspot for the troupes. 

Groups that were practising at riverside sites in the city were severely affected when rains caused rivers to swell, preventing them from practising. Many groups’ instruments were damaged putting them 10 days behind schedule.

“There are around 200 dhol tasha troupes in the city. Of which, 25 practice by the riverside, while others practice on Sanas Ground, Market Yard, Sinhagad Road or Hadapsar. Due to the heavy rainfall, the riverside practices got stalled for 10 days in August,” said Parag Thakur, Chairman of Dhol Tasha Mahasangh, Maharashtra.

“These group also incurred monetary losses as their mandaps were destroyed but still, they managed to continue with practice in other locations of the city,” said Thakur.

“They also faced problems while shifting their dhols and other percussion instruments to other locations. The groups practising by the riverside incurred losses of around Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh,” added Thakur

PRESSED FOR TIME
Yuva Vadya Pathak President Advocate Anish Padekar, whose group practices near Omkareshwar Temple, faced challenges in training new people for the dhol tasha due to less time. “Due to heavy rains, our practice was stalled for eight to 10 days. However, our mandaps were not damaged. But due to constant water release from the dam, a lot of people could not come for practice. There are 160 people in our group and every year, new people need at least 25 days to get trained. However, this year due to monsoon, our practice was stalled and we faced problems in training new people,” he said. 

SUNDAY PRACTICES
Padekar and his group members cleaned the place after the rain got over to resume the practice. “As the water resided, all our members cleaned up the place so that practice can be resumed without any further delay. Usually, we do not practice on Sundays as we use it for maintenance but due to less time, we are also practising on Sundays,” he further added.

‘OUR PRACTICE WAS STALLED FOR 10 DAYS’
“August 1 was the inauguration of our mandap but due to heavy rain and constant release of water from the dam that increased the water level in the river, our mandaps and around 50 dhols were damaged. Our practice was stalled for 10 days and but since Ganesh festival celebration happens only once in a year, we continued to practice without other instruments by tapping on our knees with our hands for a week. In fact, once the water resided, mud accumulated there which we cleaned ourselves so that we can resume our practices as soon as we can,” said Avinash Nigochkar, a member of Shivtej Group-Dhol Tasha that practices in Deccan on Riverside Road and incurred a loss of Rs 1.30 lakh.