GAMES

                                By Varun Shah

Do you know there are so many old games that our grandparents and parents grew up playing, and now we don’t even know their names!  KidZone familiarizes you with some age-old games, which were a whole lot of fun !

                            IKRI – DUKRI

This is a kind of hopscotch with a broken piece of earthen pot, or a round flat stone. A rectangle about three yards long and two yards wide is drawn, and it is divided into various compartments about a foot wide. The space of four-foot square in the middle is subdivided into four triangles by a cross. Beyond these triangles are three more parallel lines. Standing on one foot, you have to hop and push the thippi, mainly with the big toe, into the first three houses, one after another, then into the four triangles, and finally into the three houses beyond the triangles. Whoever succeeds in going first through all the compartments is the winner.

                           GOLI   OR  KANCHEY

This is a game which is played with marbles. Children would buy beautiful, coloured marbles to play. Each player has to have a goli, or marble. On even ground, a little hole is dug with the heel of the foot. Everyone takes their positions about two yards away from the hole. Then they kneel and try to send the marble into the hole. The marble is held tight in the forefinger. The finger is stretched back like a bowstring by the pressure of the forefinger of the right hand. When the finger is released, the goli shoots forward, often overshooting the hole. You try to direct the goli with a gentle blow from your goli, so that it drifts into the hole. Everyone takes turns to strike the goli in the hole. Whoever gets all the golis in the hole first is the winner and he can take all the golis home.

And here is a poem I’ve made up myself:

                             CRICKET

                        Cricket is fun

                        When India takes a run.

                        When Sachin hits a six

                        Pakistan is in a fix.

                        When Ganguly hits a four,

                        Everybody wants to know the score.

                        When Dravid gets out

                        Everybody shouts.

                        When Kumble takes a wicket

                        Everybody likes cricket.

                        When Jadeja takes a catch

                        India wins the match.