“Aai (mom), I’m bored. What should I do?” asked my son as he plonked on the sofa, munching on a packet of chips. I’m generally able to answer the questions hurled at me every now and then by him. But, this question has always left me bewildered, dumbstruck and humbled (I don’t know the answer to every question). So, when he asked me this question for the umpteenth time, it triggered my thinking. It achieved the same effort that is created when a stone is thrown into a steady body of water- it created numerous ripples. It made me comb through the pages of my childhood. Did I ever get ‘bored’ when I was a child? What were the centres of attraction of my generation (1980s – 90s) What were we hooked onto? What games did we play?
Well, for our generation, when the clock struck six, it signalled the time to go ‘out’ to play. Similarly, the onset of darkness meant that we had to go home. It was as simple as that. These were some of the universal rules just like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. One of our friends was entrusted with the responsibility of calling everyone. He won this prerogative because he would call us by producing a certain ‘tockkkk’ sound. I wish he had patented this sound before it became the trademark of the hero ‘Faster Fene’ (detective fiction) by B.R. Bhagwat. Sometimes he would actually barge into friends’ homes for calling them. Friends had the undisputed right to get into one another’s homes even at an odd hour. Unlike now, it wasn’t necessary to seek prior permission.
When all of us assembled, there would be an array of games to choose from. The common trait that they all shared was the fact that they were ‘no-tech’ games! Some of the quintessential games of my generation were ‘Hide and Seek’, ‘Hopscotch’ (usually played and mastered by girls),‘Vishaamrut’ (a chasing game played in large groups; its western counterpart is ‘Lock and Key’), just to name a few. Some team games that we played were ‘Lagori’ aka Seven Stones, volleyball, Kho-kho and kabaddi. These games unobtrusively made us agile, gave an outlet to our spirit of adventure, taught us aiming skills (Lagori), how to work in teams, and coordinate and compete in a healthy environment.
Summers were synonymous with cricket and bicycle riding. Cricket was a perennial favourite as it can be played with bare minimum equipment. For us a ‘paat’ (a plank of wood) wouldserve as stumps. Somebody would get a ball and a bat. Whatelse does one need to play apart from a lot of energy and enthusiasm that we all had? Another unwritten rule-the owner of the bat would bat first. It was a luxury to have a decent bat those days and the friend who walked on the pitch with this coveted tool was no less revered than a king. Sometimes I imagined he wore a crown instead of a helmet (just a cap in our case). By the way, I was quite good at batting (I was tomboyish then! Can’t believe it, right?) and playing for the country (too ambitious ??) was one of my childhood dreams/aspirations which vanished on that quaint little pitch.
As stated earlier, riding a bicycle was also a favourite passtime in summers. I still have a vivid memory of riding a rented bicycle with friends. The charges: a meagre 25 and 50 paisa for half and one hour respectively. Sometimes riding would be in groups and at other times it would be alone. When on a solitary ride, I would often wander into a different,more enchanting world. As I would race against the wind, I would map my journey, as if scripting my destiny as I passed by scenic beauty around me, turning at bylanes; overcoming hurdles on the way. Oh, what unadulterated joy it was as I paddled, firmly rooted to the ground but feeling on cloud nine...speaking of it, it was the solemn duty of friends to teach you riding among many other trivial and serious nuggets about life you learnt from them.
One more activity reserved for the summer vacation was going jogging with friends. We would leave the house at the crack of dawn (shocking for parents as it was done only during vacations!), climb up the hills fast to get a glimpse of the sunrise. When we would sweat out to watch the sun God appear in his chariot, the ordinary sunrise would suddenly transform into an extraordinary phenomenon. Themesmerizing beauty of the scene as the day would cast away the cloak of night, the surroundings would be bathed and blessed in its yellowish orange light. We would be enveloped by the positive vibes of the Lord inside out!
All these were the simple pleasures of my childhood. Gameskept us fit, healthy, and in shape. The concept of the zero figure had not caught the fancy of the youth then. Gyms were few and far between and were not for us (middle-class people). Group games were an exercise in team-building and leadership. We learnt the nuances of Soft Skills through games. We never attended summer workshops on art and craft or leadership skills. The only outlet we got to showcase ourcreativity was during Diwali when all of us made a ‘killa’ (mud fort).
What pleasure it was to build it step by step, to decorate it with warriors and grass… We never got a yucky feeling when our hands were covered with mud. In fact, the activity shapedus; it developed our aesthetic sense; sharpened our eye for details. The wet sweet smell of the mud as I made the mud fort still lingers on my mind!
We learnt most of the lessons of life by mingling with actualpeople, not avatars in computer games. Not that we never argued or fought with friends, but we resolved our conflicts on our own. We learnt people & negotiation skills on the ground. Parents never interfered in our matters. They had better things to do. Nor did they ever nurse our egos. Praise in public was a rare occurrence! (They were good at reprimanding us in public, though! It still happens!) After a dispute, just a pat on the back by an estranged friend would melt our hearts. As simple as that! We never carried the baggage…
I am so thankful that I had my childhood before the onslaught of technology. There was no time to feel ‘bored’! We played hard, fell often, got bruised, healed faster, slept tight and chased our dreams. I wish I could go back to those old days and respond to the “tockkkk” sound again.
As I grow and become more mature, I pray that the memory of my childhood and the child in me remain intact...Amen!
Dr. Shraddha Joshi
Senior Full-time faculty, ELTIS