When was the last time you saw a marble? Remember those tiny, colourful and much-coveted glass balls that provided us with hours of fun? Or how about that piece of string tied together using a square knot and wound through your fingers and around your thumbs to create intricate designs?
We might not have had access to the internet or 24-hour children's television when we were younger, but we sure had a lot of fun. Playing traditional games outside, breathing in the fresh air and getting along with the neighbourhood children was what evenings were made of. Rainy days saw us playing board games like chess, checkers, monopoly, scrabble, card games like bluff and seven hands and even hide and go seek inside the house.
There was something wonderfully pared down and self-reliant about many traditional games. They did not need any equipment and could be played almost anywhere and with any number of children, irrespective of age groups. What's more was that the rules could be endlessly adapted to suit everyone's needs as long as a sense of fair play was respected. "Some of the games I loved playing as a little girl were 'What's the time, Mr Wolf', 'Hopscotch', 'Seven tiles', etc, none of which the children of today are familiar with," laments Pooja Thakur, adding, "It was the highlight of our day."
True, evenings after school (or tuition) were devoted exclusively to outdoor play as all the children from the neighbourhood gathered at the closest open space (usually a fallow field or ground in front of the church) to play and run around until the sun had set.
Ronny Mascarenhas grew up in Kuwait. But the fondest memories of his childhood include vacations in the village of Majorda spent in the company of his cousins and their friends playing games like 'Kho kho', 'Sticks and stones', 'Marbles' and 'Seven tiles'. "I was not familiar with many of the local games since I did not grow up in Goa and remember being extremely hesitant to join in each time I came down. However, once I got in to the spirit of things, I had a lot of fun and I would become sad when it was time to leave," he says.
And what of his pre-teen boys? "I see the same thing happening with my sons although I do not really coax them to go out and romp about the village whenever we come down for vacations each year," he adds. Why? "It's an unfamiliar neighbourhood for them, so I have concerns regarding their safety."
The same goes for Seby Menezes, 38, whose home is along the national highway in Pilar. "I don't really encourage my children to go out and play simply because it's not really safe. And when they do go out, I worry until they come back home," says Seby Menezes, adding, "When I was younger, there was nothing to do inside the house, so we would go out to play. Now there is a world of entertainment within the four walls itself. From computer games to the internet, to close to a gazillion television channels, there is no dearth of stuff to do."
Mother of two girls, Samantha D'Souza from Panaji also admits that her children do not play outside as much as she did during her own childhood. "I grew up in the village of Cansaulim and every evening around five o'clock we would gather in the open field next to our house along with all the village children and play games like 'Toss the ring' which was hugely popular, 'Chain cook', etc. The older ones always looked out for the younger kids. And our shrill cries of joy would ring throughout the village," she recalls. Her kids, though, usually spend their evenings either reading or playing video games.
It is thus clear that for whatever reason children today are not getting out as much as the previus generation did. As a result, many of the traditional games are being lost. Games and physical
exercises are essential for all-round growth. Traditional games also have a rich cultural and heritage value. Like Edgardo Civallero said, “a people’s intangible heritage is composed by the non-material part of its culture: tales and narratives, games and songs, music and all the knowledge usually transmitted by oral or sound means, in traditional societies as well as in urban westernized ones”.
No phones, no TV, no tablets, no DVD players, just free play.
Chain cook
Seven tiles (Logorio)
Hopscotch
Marbles
Sticks and stones
Crocodile crocodile
Statue
Langdi
Tallyant Mallyant
Gulli danda
Hu tu tu
Kho kho
What's the time, Mr Wolf
Cat's cradle
Lock and Key
Five stones (fatranim)
: A small circle is drawn on the ground. Each player is given two marbles which are then thrown into the hole. The co-player chooses a marble and the first player is asked to hit the selected marble with another one. The marble is held tautly in the forefinger of the left hand while the left thumb is firmly anchored to the ground. The fore-finger is stretched back like a bow-string using the forefinger of the right hand. The marble is then 'shot' by releasing the finger. If he succeeds in hitting the selected marble and rolling it out of the circle, the marble is his. If not, he loses both. The player with the largest number of marbles is the winner.
Also known as Water and Ice, players who are tagged are "stuck in the mud" or "frozen" and must stand in place with their arms out stretched until they are unfrozen. An unstuck player must re-tag them to unfreeze them.
What's the time, Mr. Wolf? : One player is chosen to be Mr. Wolf and stands facing away from the other players at the opposite end of the playing field. All players except Mr. Wolf chant in unison "What's the time, Mr. Wolf?", and Mr. Wolf will answer in one of two ways: Mr. Wolf may call a time - usually an hour ending in "o'clock". The other players take that many steps towards Mr. Wolf. They then ask the question again. Alternatively Mr. Wolf may call "Dinner time!", and turn and chase the other players back to their starting point. If Mr. Wolf tags a player, that player becomes Mr. Wolf for the next round.
One person (the curator) stands at one end of the play area while everyone else is at the other. Then the curator turns their back to the field, and spells out the word "statue". In the meanwhile, the rest of teh players attempt to race across the play area and tag the curator. When the curator turns around, however, the players must freeze in position and maintain their 'statue' state for as long as the curator looks at them. If a 'statue' is caught moving, they are sent back to the starting line to begin again.
