How often have we heard that life is a game? But have you ever heard that game is a life? Let’s look at it this way: a game is a small period of time where if we play competently and honestly, we do well, and the moment we start cheating trouble occurs. And in almost all the games we get out or in the words of real life, we die.
So we can take our understanding another level up and be assured that life is a game and game is a life. This would mean that if life has taught so much, then surely even games would have taught us something. And it is absolutely safe to assume this.I believe that these games were not only made for our play, but also for teaching young children the rules of life.
Aankh Micholi (Blind Man’s Buff) and Stapu (Hopscotch)
Remember when we wanted to play this game, we would use almost anything as the blindfold ‘cause it’s so tough to find the ideal cloth to cover the eyes. All of the players would accuse the one who was blindfolded, of cheating if he or she caught someone pretty early. And when we were catching other players, we looked like we were doing Tango, except that we were doing it solo. This interesting game has made us realise the value of our visual sense. We are blindfolded for barely a few minutes, and we lose all the sense of direction and are utterly clueless.
We have all experienced the time while playing stapu where we were super stressed to throw the stone in the 3 box. We were so anxious about whether it would go inside or fall outside and we would have to wait for another turn. Besides the relief of landing on the 4th box and keeping both our feet on the ground, this game has given us a prized lesson. The lesson to be grateful for our ability to move around with both our feet.
I think sometimes, the lack of a thing is required to make us realise its value.
It’s almost impossible to not laugh when the person saying statue comes near you to make you move. Then there was this ambiguity if blinking and breathing would count as movement or not. But most of the times we managed to rest our overzealous bodies for quite some time. This game had the motive of making us practice a very important thing.
It wanted us to practice self control. When we became comfortable being a statue, we could then continue to be in the same state for a very long time. We could then control our body. It is like a meditation right in between the world, where we just freeze and observe. And we must learn to do so even now. We drive the body, and not the other way around. Our body should work when we want to. It shouldn’t be like we are working when our body feels like. Even though the latter takes place most of the time.
Oh how much it hurts when the other person who was way far behind when you were in your house wins. A 6 on the dice, on the other hand, is always welcomed. And so is another truth. Even if you do not land on another person’s piece, they may land on your piece and you are sent back to your base. Similarly, if you are good to someone in life, it is not necessary that they too will be nice to you. This doesn’t mean that you should not be nice to someone. Instead it means that you should not expect somebody else to be nice to you. Though I do recommend to land on people’s pieces in ludo 😉 or it will be very difficult for you to win.
Admittedly, I have never in my life played this game. But I sure have heard about it. And studied about it (I had to study about traditional sports in 4th or 5th grade) 😒 I learnt from my dad that the gilli, or the shorter stick is hit at one of the ends, and then struck again while it is still in the air. So sometimes, like the gilli, you need to be struck in life to fly high. The harder you are struck, the higher and farther you fly.
Keep playing and learning!
Gulli Danda as we say in Punjabi was indeed a creative outdoor game I used to play in Chandigarh in 80s
Life is Beautiful
Very good, this time of pandemic is a reflection of games you mentioned …Statue(all stand still,time has stopped), ludo(make your move but you are uncertain of the outcome,how the countries are trying to hold the pandemic), blindfolded game(how the world is trying to know what China is actually planning but have no clue)….Game is life .World is a gaming zone.
Brings a nostalgic feeling
Made me heck nostalgic yet at the same time I realised a lot of things that I had never even noticed.
Hats off to the writer in you!
Gulli-danda, playing sakranti festival in kota City.. We played many years
Found some pretty awesome new words here today !
Oh God ! The topics you choose every time, they are overwhelming. Even this one.. i mean who would have thought back then (while playing all the above mentioned games) that someday we’ll be caged amidst the dead spirited world and Geet would come to our rescue by refreshing our long lost memories that subconsciously became a part of “little things with great meaning” , in our lives !
Thanks for these !
Hope you keep seeking such hidden memory jewels and don’t forget to say ‘dhappa’ 😉