January 8, 2012
On a visit to a long-lost friend of mine in Dubai, I was intrigued how witty his kid was. Within 5 minutes of reaching my friend’s house, I was invited by his 5 year old for a game of cricket. Wow…I thought! It would be fun to play cricket with this kid, knowing for sure that I would defeat him in his own territory. Also, it had been a long time since I played cricket and thought it as an appropriate way to flex my muscles. I enquired where the kit was. He pointed me towards one of the rooms and led me in. I went inside alone while he ran into the kitchen to fetch coke. I searched the whole room for the cricket kit. I found nothing except a television and 2 chairs. Upon complaining that I could not find the kit, the kid frustratingly led me to the room, swiftly booted the television and PS3(Play Station) and LO…..EA Sports Cricket was on the screen.
There you have it. A typical modern day way of playing cricket! What a surprise!
While this can be fun, I could hardly come to terms with what had happened. And the truth is, most of the ‘new age’ kids are brought up this way. Not to mention, that I lost the ‘cricket’ with this 5 year old. This kept me thinking as to how the times have changed within less than a generations. And this prompted me to write: Games People Play(ed)!
Below are the few games that I recall playing while I was a kid till my late teen years. And what fun was it! Only those who played it would know.
Games people play(ed)!
While there are numerous games that we played I would like to mention the most enjoyable games we played as young adults and teenagers.
Kricket
Cricket with a ‘K’! For those who have not played ‘Kricket’, here is the thing. Growing up in a small village, we did not have the luxury of wooden bats that the kids have these days. All we had was a branch of the coconut tree modeled to match the structure of the bat that we saw the young Kapil Dev played. And this was called a “Koththalige” bat. Hence, the term ‘Kricket.’ While the rubber ball came for one rupee, the bat was free. And if you have not played with this bat, I suggest you to make an effort. What an awesome device this was! The shots that were fired from these bats were nothing short of modern day cricket bat. I should say that my mom had become an adept ‘Kricket’ bat craftswoman.
Beri-Chendu
The no-nonsense game, as I would like to call this. The premise of this game was to aim….you guessed it right, the back of the opposing team member. The game goes like this: there are 2 teams. You get an improvised version of a rubber ball which is usually taped to reduce the effect on your body. The goal of the team is to hit the opposing team member on his back. You could play this game whole day long. The only thing stopping this game is the fatigue of all the players. Although this is not an official game anywhere, this game used to be fun.
Lagori
This one is a classic game that most of us would have played while young. I had heard someone organizing this game is Dubai in the past. The game is quite simple; there are 2 teams. First, the member of one team tries to dislodge the 7 tiles piled over the other with a soft ball. And then the goal is to arrange the tiles over the other before getting the soft ball shot at them while the opposing team targets them with the soft ball. If you touch the opposing team member before the ball touches you, then you are deemed not out. This game originated in Karnataka. And this used to be a fun game coupled with startegies. A swift and quick player would always be a sure winner. Though the game has several versions, the ultimate challenge is the team play.
Kutti-Donne
This game is I guess is an offshoot of Cricket with the absence of a ball and standard bat. Instead, you have a two sticks, one shorter and the other a longer one. I exactly do not know of the origins of the game, but who cares? You need enjoy the game thoroughly. Well, kutti-donne was one of those games that I enjoyed. There was a big flaw though; the ‘kutti’ might sometime be lodged in your eyes if you are not really careful.
Goti
While the connotations of the word have changed in the recent years, this is the game that could be played on any surface or area. You did not require any area or the whole ground to play this game. In the western countries this game is known as ‘marbles.’ These are balls made of glass with a diameter of ½ inch. The Indian version of the marble ball is called is Goti. The game involves, drawing a circle, and players knocking the opponent’s ‘goti’ out of the circle with another ‘goti.’ There are other versions of the game present. But this is the version that I grew up playing. The Gotis were collected for fun and for nostalgia. As my friend would say, lots of people still play ‘Gotis.’ At one time I collected as much as 50 plus ‘gotis.’ Person with the highest gotis was called ‘goti raja.’ There was also a time when cashew nuts were replaced during the cashew season.
Mara Kothi
This game literally means, ‘Tree Monkey.’ This was one of my most favorite games. We played this post lunch in the school which was surrounded by a lot of trees. In the game all the players are ‘kothis.’ One of the Kothis is chosen randomly to fetch a stick which is kept near the tree while others climbed as high as possible. The objective for kid on the ground is to catch one of the ‘kothis’ on the tree while making sure that the stick is not thrown away by another member playing the game. If the stick is thrown the ‘kothi’ who is supposed to catch other ‘kothis’ is supposed to fetch it first and carry on with his duty. If in case he manages to catch another player, the player caught will be the person to fetch the stick. While this looks easy, it is not easy for anyone to play this game as you need to be very agile, strong and fearless in climbing trees.
Kalla-Police
This is the game with Bollywood connection. This game was our version of hide and seek. The premise was simple. There were two groups; one the Kallas (thieves) and Police. The objective of the Police was to catch the thieves for no real crime. The geographical area was undefined for this game. A single game could take a whole day. In the forests, through the valleys, on the trees, in the fields and so on…the game took both the thieves and police throughout the surrounding territory. Being thieves was always fun because the police had literally to catch the thieves unlike in hide and seek where you need only to sight the opponents. Your stamina to outrun your opponent decided your fate in this game. Bollywood connection is when we acted like Big B in Don. Don Ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi, naamumkin hai….hahahahaaa!!
There were many more games like that we played as kids and grew up. The above mentioned were the main ones.
There is a disconnect these days due to the faster pace of life, modernisation and our current generation of kids may not recognise the games their parents played!
Who will save these games? I am not sure. The point is not just to recall what we played as kids and teenagers, but to remind ourselves as to whether we are losing the touch with the nature and the same games that made us so happy? Should we first of all make an effort to save these games? All of us must answer!
This article will be complete with your views. And let us not forget the games that we played.
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