Mumbai, Pune: With some of the biggest groups cancelling festivities in Mumbai, Thane and Pune, if you expected a colourless Janmashtami, that's certainly not the case.
Several groups have gone ahead and organised their gatherings. In areas like Dadar and Ghatkopar, where traditional festivities have picked as the day progressed.
However, swine flu is still somewhere on the minds of people, as a number of onlookers wore masks during the celebrations.
Meanwhile, Mumbai's biggest Dahi Handi in terms of prize money - Rs 25 lakh - is also being held on Friday, with dozens of groups already having tried to scale the 50 feet up to the prized pot.
With Maharashtra accounting for bulk of swine flu deaths and infections, the popular Dahi Handi ritual that draws huge crowds during the Janmashtami celebrations was expected to become a casualty, as Shiv Sena appealed for low-key festivities on Friday.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray appealed to people to celebrate Janmashtami at home and desist from crowding the streets in the wake of the spread of the deadly H1N1 virus. Dahi Handi is only next in popularity to the Ganesha festival.
Uddhav had said that health must be the first priority and people should restrain from indulging in big celebrations to avoid crowds.