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The games they played

From cricket to softball, baseball and marbles, there was a game that suited every child

BE A SPORT Walking on stilts was a favourite pastime for children even then Photo: Akilesh Kumar

Fifty years ago, boys and girls had to make their own games. So while the boys worked out ingenuous strategies, the girls planned new steps for their dance groups, played with the dolls and wooden toys, and all the while they schemed about how they could do all the things that their brothers were doing: climbing trees, raiding fruit orchards, teasing the old gardeners with dirty songs and more — the kids did all this, besides playing formally organised games of cricket, softball and baseball. A number of girls were fond of playing badminton and there were regular games played in some homes and clubs. In fact one of the clubs started with just two badminton courts in the open.

Cricket was a great draw even then and many a young man fancied playing for the state or country. The twin cities had enough role models to copy and the boys did just that — how Jaisimha walked, how his collar was always up and so on. All this and more was copied besides the styles of bowling and batting.

Regular matches between groups were the done thing on Sunday mornings. It is a relief to know that even then the Parade grounds and Gymkhana grounds were as busy on a Sunday morning.

It may come as a surprise to many that basketball, softball and baseball were also regular features in Secunderabad. They all seem to have died a natural death. Softball was similar to the American baseball, except for the size of the ball. There were official teams of various schools and they competed against each other. Official tournaments used to be organised quite regularly.

Every self-respecting boy had a collection of marbles. You could win some, you could lose some, but you could never say that you had "no marbles at all". Besides the present day connotation, meaning you have no brains/ gumption, it sort of put you down in the eyes of your peers. A handful of glass marbles were more or less mandatory. There were two kinds of marbles that they played.

We have all seen the glass marbles with fancy colourful designs, but how many have played with steel marbles? The boys in Marredpally did. The marbles looked like large ball bearings and were heavy. The rules were more or less the same although playing with steel marbles must have been rather `upper crust'!

Walk in the clouds!

Hula-hoops and stilts were also popular. There were hula-hoop races and competitions on the length of time one could rotate the hoop. Races on stilts were also popular and some boys used to get their stilts made to suit their sizes. The hoops are no longer there although one does get to see the stilt walkers in the exhibitions sometimes.

Of course, when there were no stilts, there was always the game of `jharbandar'! The kids went up on the trees (obviously there were far more trees then!). The `den' had to find and chase them away from the trees! Just to think of the exercise that the little legs got! And then there was the innocuous game of `seven stones'. Seven stones of progressively larger sizes would be placed one on top of the other and the one who could dislodge all of them with one throw of the tennis ball would be the winner.

Playing games was a regular phenomenon. There were fights, disagreements, arguments and harsh words. Yet the next day, they were back comparing notes and sharing confidences. If you fought with a friend, you worked it out so that you got back on an even keel at the earliest.

The elders never interfered in what the children were doing. The fights amongst the kids never went home and the elders never went to talk to the others parents unless it was a serious matter.

They ensured that the boys and girls went out to play every evening — of course the girls had to be close to the house. Both boys and girls had to be home before the streetlights came on.

SHYAMOLA KHANNA

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