Being Sporty In No Small Way !!!

Yes, the Football World Cup's finally over and a new season of La Liga, English Premier League and Serie A is upon us. The Indian Cricket Team is currently touring Srilanka, and many of us have the Airtel Champions League T20 and the 2011 World Cup to look forward to. Rafael Nadal looks to claim the only Grand Slam that has eluded him in the US Open and Tiger Woods attempts to start again from scratch. The NBA Draft pick is just over and ,so , daily come and go these zillions of tidings in the World of Sports and the associated industries. But, tell me how many of you gave a thought for those games we used to play as kids ;in the past one month or so. Chi Ku Li Ba , Paandi , Book Cricket , Round Toss, Pen Fight , Rubber Fight and so on. This entry in a way is a tribute to those , moments of frivolous and innocent indulgement we shared in these activities.

Games like the above ,were omnipresent during our school days. Days ,when, innocence stemmed from our spirits and days in which our present materialistic outlook was an unknown entity. We have lost our innocence as we progressed through life ,and in a way our shedding of all these games ,is an indication of the above.

To start off ,Paandi has always been a game that had fascinated me . Partly, due to the fact that i never understood it and partly due to the fact, that the girls never allowed the boys to play with them . It had a major rural audience and found a huge following among these children ,especially girls. Paandi is also known as "Nondi " ,and you will understand why as you read on. A more traditional game , it mainly involves a grid 4*2 in size (eight squares of equal area) and , more importantly a stone. As far as i could understand from what my cousin sisters used to play, the game is as follows. The girl throws a stone onto one of these squares , then hops to that particular square ("Nondi":- Hop) and then, picks up the stone with her feet and then hops back to the start. I know its not a great explanation , but as i had already admitted, i never understood the intricacies of this sport. Probably the following link might throw some light :-

http://www.traditionalgames.in/home/outdoor-games/nondi-nonti-pandi-panti

Now , to a game, that held mine and many others attention, throughout my primary and middle school. CHI KU LI BA (click here to view a demo of the game ) is the Desi/Tamil version of the STONE PAPER SCISSORS (click here to view a demo of the game) game . It's a very simple game ,but one which contained amazing levels of entertainment,fun and frolic. The basic concept is the structure of power. For example , the paper exerts more power over the stone as it can cover it ,whereas the scissors exerts more power over the paper , as it can cut through and so on. So the two players basically , need to form the respective symbols using their hands, and whoever has the symbol of the higher precedence ,wins the tie. A simple game decided by the moment, but one which epitomized those fun-filled and no holds days of our life as kids. I dont think i need to explain further on this, as most of you should be familiar with this game. If you are not ,you have missed out on your childhood. Below is the link ,for the Chi Ku Li Ba official page on Facebook :-

www.facebook.com/pages/Chi-Ku-Li-Ba/111163662235911

. Moving onto games which required a bit more agility and ability with numbers, Book Cricket is the first which comes to my mind. Again , a game most of you should be familiar with. I will explain ,though for those poor souls ,who lost their way during their childhood. Book Cricket is a game solely reserved for class hours, which makes it all the more spicy. All you need is some textbook, a classmate who is as disoriented with the proceedings of the class as you are, a not too smart teacher and a place in the last bench (preferrably) . The score is read by every single flip of the book. The catch here is the fact, that only the last digit of the right hand side page number is taken into account . So, invariably you end up with numbers 0,2,4,6 and 8 and the batsmen end up with even numbered scores. The toss is won by the guy who gets the highest even number at the first run. Then the game starts. 2,4,6 and 8 are valid scores and 0 is considered out. So the score adds up till, you get a zero. This case is repeated for 10 wickets. Finally , the target is set , and your opponent has to follow the same process and try beat your score. Simple enough, is it not. No sponsors, no cheerleaders, no late night parties, no Lalit Modi ; just happiness, innocence and childish fervour. The man of the match turns out to be those moments we share , while we play this game.

Finally, a game i should not miss out. ROUND TOSS. A game we discovered during, our XIth and XIIth and especially during our IIT JEE classes. Its basically a variant of doubles in tennis. Lets start off with a simple example. Imagine a tennis court , with four players ;P1,P3 on one side and P2,P4 on the other . My explanation will be better elucidated if i can add illustrations to support them. But , its already 11 in the night ,and i am feeling too lazy and tired after , a long day in the saddle :P . Coming back to the game, the basic principle behind the game is "MOVE AS YOU PLAY". Lets look at why is it called so.

.P1 serves and moves to the other side of the court. If we freeze the court at this point of time, P2,P4 and P1(in that order) will be on one side and P3 on the other . Now, P2 hits the return and moves to the other side. If we freeze again now, we will have P4 and P1 ; P3 and P2 on opposite sides of each other. Now, P3 returns and moves to the other side. Following the freeze cycle ; P4, P1 and P3 will be one side and P2 on the other. Now , finally P4 hits the return and moves on. So ,now a single cycle is complete. Similar to tennis , a person is out if he/she misses the return and ,slowly , one by one is ousted till the final 2 compete against each other , over a normal game of single point tennis ,to decide the winner. This game can be extended to several players. I remember once playing with 30 people during the IIT JEE Classes. This game had a huge following amongst the students of P.S.Senior and PSBB schools. Again , a simple enough invention of a game, but ,as you can see ,it gets a bit complicated and a wee bit difficult to understand on paper . The purpose of explaining this game is better served, when i add illustrations to this post ,and i promise i will get back to this post soon ,and edit and add illustrations.

.There are many more i can think of ; and many will be there , of whose existence i would have forgotten or i never would have been aware off . If you can name a few of them in your comments to this post, i will be forever grateful and indebted to your sporty and kind hearted souls.

. This post is a fond remembrance of all those amazing days we shared, as kids ; running and laughing ; holding hands together and playing our way into each other's hearts and mind . Life was truly a Bed of Roses then . God, can i have those days back again, please.