Activities during summer

It was a Thursday and it was like any other normal day. I left office at 6:30, after the day's work, went home and was browsing through the channels on TV when my 4 year old daughter threatened me to change the channel to POGO as she wanted to see Mr. Bean (The animated series). I obliged as always and had my dinner.

I fed her while she was watching the lousy cartoon and once she was done and slept, I decided to call it a day.

It was 10 pm when the power went off. Cursing the EB, I called them to find out when the power will come and they said it will take an hour.

With the help of a candle, I made tea for myself and sat in the balcony when all the kids came out to play Hide and Seek.

Seeing them play, I was reminded of the summer vacation at my aunt's house at Trichy where we used to play 24/7. Yeah, I am serious. We used to play word game after going to bed, till my aunt scolded us for keeping awake so late and to sleep immediately.

These were the activities that we used to have all day long...

 

1. Motta Madi (Terrace) Cricket

    We played Cricket at the terrace where we used to draw the stumps with a chalk on the parapet wall. I was an all-rounder and was popularly called as Ajay Jadeja (Stop laughing)...My knees were never without bruises and all I did about it was to apply a drop of thengai ennai (coconut oil) on the latest bruise I got while playing.

2. Cards

   It was ultimate fun when we played Bluff or Trump with some ten people. My Patti used to invent games with her own rules and claim that such a game exists. I still do not know if there is a game called 'Vrogen' which she taught us. Other games include Rammi, Card cricket, Mangatha and the list goes on.

3. Cycling

   My cousin sisters being pros in riding cycle promised that they will teach me how to ride a cycle. We used to hire a cycle for 1 rupee from a cycle shop which we can use for an hour.

4. Haircut!

   My mom was dead against me cutting my hair short and I always wanted a short shoulder length hair. When my two cousins and I inform my aunt about our plan to trim (read: rip) our hair, she asks us to do anything (read: sprinkled water) but outside the house. So we equip ourselves with a pair of scissors, combs of all sizes, a hand mirror, towel, water etc and get to work…nee enakku pannu, naan avalukku panren, ava unakku pannuvaal (I will do for you, you do for her, she will do for me!)...As in the old monkey story, we will keep trimming our hairs till it attains a length that we are satisfied with and which my mom can never imagine seeing me.  I am sure you can imagine the scene on returning to my home town.

5. Paper ball TT

  We used to tie a rope on the two windows of a room which will act as the net. We will play TT with a writing pad and a crushed paper ball.

We played in the scorching sun, not bothering about the dirt; we didn’t have a curfew time when we should be at home studying for the next term during vacation; we didn’t have umpteen classes to attend during vacation. Willingly or unwillingly, kids are forced to attend Swimming, Karate, Tennis and what not!

The video games and Xboxes will never replace the authentic Gilli, Golli and Mangatha…and the future kids will never know their significance! Leave alone the significance…they will not know their names in the first place.