CHILDHOOD GAMES

There was a wide variety of games for children to play those days Those days, many many years ago when I was a small boy, there was a lot of open space for us to play in. Close to our house in Kovilpatti there was a huge maidan where the boys of our street played football and hockey. Wide open spaces for playing Every house in the street had a huge compound where also we could play games like tennikoit, kabadi (called chadugudu those days), marbles and hide and seek. We also used the road which was usually deserted except for an occasional bicycle. Motorbikes and scooters were unheard of. And there were only two cars in our town which plied in a different area far away from ours. On the road we played games like chillaankuchi and kambuthenni. Chillaankuchi was a game that had a slight resemblance to cricket. A short stick was used to hit a small piece of wood. There were fielders who could catch it and declare the hitter out. There was something like running between wickets and scoring runs. But it was a native game and much older than cricket in our area. In kambuthenni all the players used sticks that were about four feet long. Lots were drawn and the loser had to lay down his stick. The others had to push it along with their sticks while the boy with the grounded stick tried to touch them. The players had to touch some stone or rock with their sticks to become immune. The technique was to approach the stick from two or three sides to make it easier to dodge the boy. When he has succeeded in touching someone, he will have to bring the stick back to base without drawing his breath - somewhat as in kabadi. On moonlit nights we played games like hide and seek, or guess what. In the latter game things were divided into six sections - man, woman, child, animal, vegetable and mineral. By asking a series of questions one was supposed to guess what had been thought of by the group. This was the only game in which girls were allowed to join us, and they did very well too. The girls played some games among themselves. These included skipping, pallaanguli and a game called paandi, which involved a lot of hopping on one foot. For windy and rainy days Sometimes we played with clockwork toys like a somersaulting motorcycle. Every time there was a heavy rain many ponds formed in our neighbourhood. We used these for sailing our paper boats. My grandfather once bought me a very beautiful clockwork motor boat. Immediately after the rains stopped we took this boat to the ponds. The boat had a propeller and a rudder, and when we plied the boat in the ponds, many local people gathered to watch. We also utilized the rains for `bathing'. We stood under the cascade falling from the roof. My child-like grandmother also romped about with us in the rain watched by her adoring spouse. On windy days it was kite flying. We made our own kites which rarely flew steadily, but that was part of the fun. The indoor games we played included carom, snakes and ladders and a card game called literature, which was meant to improve one's memory and thinking ability. Once when I was about four or five years old my grandfather challenged me to a game of marbles. He couldn't squat like I could, but stood bent double and played. He groaned and grunted, but played on gamely till the end. I won, and thought at that time that I had really won. Later I realized that he must have deliberately lost just to make me feel good. When I think back upon that time, I am struck by the wide variety of games that we played. They were of all types, and tested various skills in us and paved the way for healthy competition and general camaraderie. The only game that we did not play, and never thought of playing was cricket. Well, times certainly seem to have changed! J.VASANTHAN jvasanthan@sancharnet.in Date:10/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mp/2007/02/10/stories/2007021000470400.htm