Indian Games

[jaiganes]

Looking at the modern children, one striking difference between the childhood that the previous generation had and the one that this generation is having is the lack of Indian or native games. In our generation (i.e, 1980s and before) we used to play a variety of inddor and outdoor games that were the games of this soil. Whereas today almost all kids play games like cricket, tennis and football. Nobody is playing games like Kabaddi, Goli, Ghilli or the indoor games like the Dhaayakattam , paramapadham, pallanguzhi, paandi or aadu puli aattam. These games have a rich culture and heritage value and were tools of passing on some ancestral knowledge or the other. They also sharpened our observational and math skills unlike the hit and run games of the west that are unidimensional and strengthen only hand eye coordination. I would like to see our hubbers come out with details of their favourite native games and how they enjoyed it. Let the games begin.....

[Roshan]

What is Kho Kho???

Anyways I have played all those games during my childhood days - except gilli. I have played cricket too with my brother and his friends. :P

It's so sad that nowadays the kids dont indulge themselves in such 'kiddish' games but stick to TV and computer games. Besides they are more occupied with tution classes and they've got hardly any time for playing.

[hehehewalrus]

Your forgot 2 important ones:
Olinjukandu
Thirudanpolees


Ice-adiching while playing Olinjukandu is an art in itself demanding consummate wizardry!

[blahblah]

Your forgot 2 important ones:
Olinjukandu
Thirudanpolees


Ice-adiching while playing Olinjukandu is an art in itself demanding consummate wizardry!

Is olinjukandu a typical Indian native game? I thought it was the Hide n'seek game itself?

[jaiganes]

walrus !!
what is olinju kandu ?
If it is hide and seek, we used to call it Iceboys.
Had a chilling incident once when we played hide and seek (iceboys) at our home. There are basic rules for our safety like not hiding inside vessels like drums and not hiding on trees. One smart friend of ours climbed the stairs and hid in the sunshade (a kind of loft above windows outside the house). The person who has to seek spotted everyone except the first kid. When he got a wind (through an ettappan)and was climbing the stairs, the other kid tried to shift his place, and in a moment, suddenly slipped out of the balcony! He fell down and to our shock was motionless for a minute. Thankfully my parents and neighbours took him to the hospital and luckily he hadn't broken his head. Even now when I think of that incident i am shocked. After many years, I met him on the train to chennai and he was working in Oracle. I reminded him of that incident and he started laughing.
My favourite indoor game in summer is the dhaayakattam, my cousins and me would start playing it in the morning after breakfast and till evening we will continue. I somehow had the blessings of "Shakuni maama from mahabarath" I used to take "pazhams" and "daayams" were a commonplace when I roled the "chokkattan".

Roshan wrote:

what is Kho Kho

It is a game usually played by girls in schools.
There would be a line of girls sitting with alternate persons facing opposite side. There will be a "rider" whose aim is to catch the one other person who is free to run around in a clockwise dierction. If the rider is tired, she can touch any person in squatting position and that person will now start "riding". The uniqueness of the game is the fact that players sitting are in such a position that the rider wil have to think before passing the chase on to the next person as to who in their clockwise running would be able to catch the runner quickly. It is an interesting and difficult game to play.

[Roshan]

It is a game usually played by girls in schools.
There would be a line of girls sitting with alternate persons facing opposite side. There will be a "rider" whose aim is to catch the one other person who is free to run around in a clockwise dierction. If the rider is tired, she can touch any person in squatting position and that person will now start "riding". The uniqueness of the game is the fact that players sitting are in such a position that the rider wil have to think before passing the chase on to the next person as to who in their clockwise running would be able to catch the runner quickly. It is an interesting and difficult game to play.

Oh Wow !! I have played this game too in school.

[a.ratchasi]

Except for hide and seek and 'catching', I did not have the privilege of playing other games meantioned as I was one of those 'city kids'. Though, a trip down to one of the kampungs (village) at a ripe old age of 13 exposed me to a game called 'rounders'.
I can't recall how the game was actually played, but I do remember getting hit with a tennis ball in the course of the game. Ouch, it was painful!! What made me cherish the game even more besides playing the game for the first time was the spirit of playing together with a large group of kids. The laughter, the fight between the 'gangs'...hmmmm compared to the no of kids in my neighbourhood which was three, yeah, that's right, the three of us!!

Other games that I played in school especially the days just before the semester break, were 5 stones, 'getah' (where rubber bands are stringed together make a long rope. Min 3 players needed. 2 to hold the rope horizontally and one who gets to jump over it.The player gets to jump at various heights as long she does not come in contact with the rope), badminton minus the net and with own rules, pepsi-cola (i wonder if the kids nowadays actually know its existence).

aahhh....memories.....

[hehehewalrus]

walrus !!
what is olinju kandu ?
If it is hide and seek, we used to call it Iceboys.

A nice and popular tamil term like Olinjukandu has been mercilessly peterized to "Iceboys"

Ratchasi, we called that game "masaa masaa" - fierce contests between my class and the next section when we were in classes 4th and 5th. Generally the class leader of the opposing team was a hot target and he received atleast 7-8 painful hits per game - our method of revenge for his "writing down names" of our friends in free periods

[jaiganes]

Another indian game, which I have heard about and seen in movies, but never got to play as a kid was "Pachai Kudhirai" There is a sweet little tale behind this game (as it is with every other game). In this game, two to three players must bow down with their knee not bending. Another player has to jump over the other players who are in the bent position. This is called "Pachai kudhirai" dhandradhu or jumping. There is a legend of Dhesingu raaja behind this game and the kids will sing a song while playing this song.
Another game specialized by girls is "Koozhangal". It is a game in which a stone is thrown up and before it is caught the player has to pick up stones in the floor. It starts with onw stone picked up from the floor and two stoes and so on. I tried playing this game with my cousins and could pick up only 5 stones. There are complex levels where you have to throw two stones up from both your hands and pick up two set of stones from the floor. This was a game where girls always did better than the boys.

[blahblah]

Any of you know 'Noottankol' and 'kuttiyum kolum'[Sorry both malayalam terms].