Example 8: Easy and indigenous ideas of indigenous games:

For Children, games are a source of moderate exercise, either physical or mental or even both and are essential for their health and development.

Games brings laughter and joy, that are most precious for their mental well-being at this special time period.

Below some popular idea of indigenous games of Bengal.

• Antakshari- One child sings the first two lines of a song and the second child sings a song starting with the last letter or word

• Dumb Charade- One child describes any animals, a tree or a natural phenomenon, any action like reading, watering plants, playing football, swinging, etc. with only gestures and being mute. Other children guess the right answer. Only ‘yes-no’ questions can be asked by the other children and the child describing can only use gestures to answer.

• Name, Place, Animal, Things- (Can be done both in Bengali and English)- Four words have to be written as headings in four columns. Then words have to be written in the four columns with the same letter under the headings.

• Raja-Mantri-Chor-Sipahi (King-Minister-Thief-Soldier): Chits are made for raja (1000 points), mantri (500 points), chor (0 points) and sipahi (100 points). These chits are then thrown in the middle and four players pick one each. The one who gets the chit with ‘raja’ written in it declares that he / she has become ‘raja’, the king, and then exclaims ‘Who is my mantri?’ The mantri, the minister, responds, and he/she is then asked by the raja to identify the chor, the thief, from the remaining two players. If the mantri guesses correctly, then he/she retains the points; else, the points are surrendered to the chor. Each round continues like this and a cumulative scorecard is maintained. The player with the highest points wins in the end.

• Ghuti khela (playing with marbles, small balls or marble like seeds):Goli (marbles): This game is played with glass balls or marbles or similar seeds. Each player has to have a goli. On even ground, a little hole is dug with the heel of the foot. The players position themselves about two yards away from the hole. Then they kneel down and try to send the marble into the hole. The marble is held tightly against the forefinger of the left hand. The finger is stretched back like a bow-string by the pressure of the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. When the finger is released, the goli goes forward, often overshooting the hole. One has to strike out of the way the golis thrown by the other player or, with a gentle blow from one’s goli, push the other golis, so that they drift into the hole. Whoever is the first to get all the golis into the hole, is the winner of all the golis. The game can take several hours, and can be very intoxicating; children can spend hours over it.

• Ekka-dokka (hopscotch): It is played with a round flat stone. A rectangle about three yards long and two yards wide is drawn. This rectangle is divided into six squares. The fourth and the sixth squares are each subdivided into two squares and these are crossed diagonally from side to side. The first player stands before the starting line and tosses her stone into the first square. Then s/he skips the first square, hopping to square number two and continues hopping up to square six. Then s/he turns around and hops back. S/he stops in square number two, picks up the stone, hops over square one and comes out. S/he continues playing by tossing the stone in square number two, and so on till the sixth square. All the hopping is done on one foot, except for those squares that are divided into two and drawn side by side. S/he puts both her feet down into the two squares with one foot in each of them. The player must hop over or skip the square where the stone has been placed. A player is declared ‘out’ if the stone fails to land in the appropriate (progressively higher) square, or the player steps on a line, or loses balance while bending to pick up the stone, or puts the other hand or foot down or steps into the square into which the stone has been tossed. It can be played at roof or verandah or courtyard.

• Lukochuri (hide-and-seek): One player is to be given time to hide. Then it is the duty of the other to find out the hiding player.

• Lattoo (top):A lattoo is a beautiful pear-shaped toy made of wood (plastic ones are also available), with a metal pin at the bottom. This is set into motion by aid of a string, turned around the round surface of the top, with a hard jerk and releasing onto a hard surface to spin. This is a game which can also be enjoyed alone for hours.

• Rumal chor (hanky thief): This game can be played indoor as well as outdoor by maintaining proper physical distancing. One of the team players is decided to be the chor (thief). The rest sit facing one another in a circle keeping distance from each other with their eyes closed or open for some time. Within this period the chor runs behind the circle with the rumal (hanky) in his/her hand and suddenly leaves the rumal (hanky) behind one of the sitting players. On some signal from the chor everybody starts looking for the rumal behind them. The one who finds it at his/her back, takes it and runs after the chor to catch him/her. The chor runs around in circle and tries to save him/herself from being caught and takes the vacant seat of the person chasing him/her (with the rumal). If the chor is caught by the person with the rumal, s/he again becomes the chor or else the other person becomes the new chor. In this way the game continues.

• Gulli danda (two sticks): It is played with a danda (stick) usually about 2 feet in length and a smaller piece of stick called gulli, which is about 4 inches. A groove is made in the ground in which the gulli is kept at an angle. Often a circle is made on the mud around where the gulli is kept. The gulli is hit with a stick and while it is in the air, the striker has to hit it with the danda. If the gulli is caught by the opponents in the air, then the player is out, otherwise the player and his team gets the points which is equal to the measurement of the distance traversed by the gulli as measured with the danda. While the gulli is in the air, the player can also attempt to toss it a few times with the danda before finally hitting it away. This is a great skill and enables the player to get the points as a multiple of the times s/he tosses the gulli.