Long Lost Childhood Games - Lagori / Pittu

Get ready for a nostalgic drive, for am taking you to the memory lanes of our childhood days. 

We all have plenty of fond memories attached to those bygone days. Apart from school, one major work we used to do as kids was to play, play and play whether its indoor or outdoor. The  outdoor games have almost become extinct now, thanks to the busy and hectic lifestyle. And we hardly find any unoccupied plots or open grounds like earlier.

These are in fact, the forgotten games, the traditional Indian games which today's kids hardly play and can never connect to. However, here is a small attempt to revive those lost childhood games which we used to play and enjoy as kids. 

So far I have covered Channe Mane, Spinning Top (Bugari),  Kancha (Goli) and  Gilli Danda (Chinni Dandu)

Next in the series is Lagori . It is called by different names in different parts of the country like Pittu (Haryana),  Yedu penkulata, Dikori or Pittu (Andhra Pradesh), dabba kali (Kerala),"ezhu kallu) Tamil Nadu), sitoliya (Rajasthan), or satodiyu (Gujarat) etc.

This is one of my personal favorites, we used to play this game a lot every evening, after school. There are a lot of variations of this game and you might find the following explanation vary with the version what you have played. But in general the game goes like this...

Rules of the game:

1. Two teams of equal players are to be formed. One team is Hitters(A), the other team chases(B).

2. At the start of the game, a stack of seven stones is piled up at the center of the field. A player from one team tries to hit the ball from a distance(after a crease line) with the aim to knock down the pile. A player from the opposite team stands as a wicket keeper beyond the pile at a convenient position to catch the ball.

3. Each player gets 3 chances to hit the pile. If the player(A) hits the pile and the opposite player(B) catches the ball, the entire team is out and the teams switch places.


4. If the player (A) hits the pile and the B team player doesn't catch the ball, the real game begins. Now the aim of the A team is to rearrange the stack while of the B team is to fetch the ball and try to hit the A team players thus making them 'out' so that they don't succeed in rearranging the pile of stones.

5. The players(A) who get 'out' have to stand out of the team while the remaining members continue their stint with rebuilding.

6. If the team A manages to rebuild all the stones they win, and if the team B manages to hit all the players 'out' before re-stacking, they win. Each winning team gets one point.

7. Once the re-stacking is done, the team calls out 'Laogir' 3 times or trace the circle around the pile 3 times with fingers. 

Trivia: while the game involves a lot of skills - throwing, evading the ball, distracting the opp team, re-building strategy etc. the major smart move still vests with the player who hits the pile initially. He has to hit the ball skillfully so as to disrupt the pile as little as possible, preferably only the top most stone. If you aim the pile with a powerful direct hit, smashing all the stones scattered in all directions, then you are in serious trouble!! Also, the throwing should be as such, the ball travels a farther distance, so that you get enough time to rebuild, while the other team fetches the ball.  

Do share your experiences if you have played this game. Tune in for more such games!

Other Long Lost Childhood Games - Channe Mane  |  Kancha (Goli)  | Spinning Top (Bugari)  |  Gilli Danda(Chinni Dandu)

Long Lost Childhood Games - Gilli Danda / Chinni Dandu

Get ready for a nostalgic drive, for am taking you to the memory lanes of our childhood days. 

We all have plenty of fond memories attached to those bygone days. Apart from school, one major work we used to do as kids was to play, play and play whether its indoor or outdoor. The  outdoor games have almost become extinct now, thanks to the busy and hectic lifestyle. And we hardly find any unoccupied plots or open grounds like earlier.

These are in fact, the forgotten games which today's kids will never going to play or connect to. However, here is a small attempt to revive those lost childhood games or Indian Traditional games which we used to play and enjoy as kids. 

So far I have covered Channe Mane, Spinning Top (Bugari),  Kancha (Goli), Lagori (Pittu). Next in the series is Gilli Danda . We call it Chinni Dandu in Kannada. 

It is known by various other names like Tipcat in English, dānggűli in Bengali & Assamese, kuttiyum kolum in Malayalam, viti-dandu in Marathi, kitti-pul in Tamil, Gooti-Billa / Karra-Billa / Billam-Godu in Telugu, Gulli-Danda in Punjabi etc. It used to be one of the popular street games of India once upon a time.  

Gilli Danda can be called as the original cricket, but without a ball. It is played with two wooden sticks, a smaller one called the Gilli, of about 3 inches long and the longer one, a Danda which is about 2 feet long. The Gilli is tapered at the ends to get a good grip for striking it. The greatest challenge and fantasy lies in how well and how far one can strike the spinning gilli in air. 

Rules of the game:

Two teams are formed, one team bats, the other fields. The batsman stands inside the circle and the fielders at various positions to catch the gilli. It is also played by individual players. This game has a lot of regional variations. Below explained is one version of the game.

A small circle is drawn and the batsman stands inside the circle with Gilli placed across a small hole dug up on the ground (as in the fig). Sometimes, kids balance the Gilli on a stone in an inclined position, with one end touching the ground and the other in air. (Dont remember exactly, why this difference)

To start with, the first player (batsman) lifts the gilli from its position using danda and quickly tosses in the air and strikes it. If a fielder catches the gilli before it hits the ground, the player is out. Else, the distance is measured from the centre point to the point where the gilli has fallen. They measure this distance using danda. 1 danda = 1 point.

The game continues, with a bowler tossing the gilli (standing from the position where it had fallen) to the batsman and he tries to hit it. If he misses to hit while it is in the air, he will tap the tapered end and tries to hit it from the ground. He gets 3 chances to hit. If he misses or gets caught, the next player will bat. The game continues till all the players of one team are out. 

Next, the other team bats in the same way and the team with highest points wins the game.  

Variations of the game:

Shorter one is Gilli and longer one is Danda

In another variation of the game, scoring depends on how many times the gilli was hit in the air. If the player strikes two mid-air strikes, the points get doubled. 

In some versions, the player who has hit the gilli initially is required to run and and reach the pre-set position outside the circle, before the opponents retrieve the gilli. (similar to cricket!)

Found a cute little video on Youturbe, of guys playing Gilli Danda on road....watch it!

Do share your experiences if you have played this game. Tune in for more such games!

Other Long Lost Childhood Games - Channe Mane  |  Kancha (Goli)  | Spinning Top (Bugari)  |  Lagori (Pittu)  |Hide-and-Seek / Chuppa Chuppi

Long Lost Childhood Games - Spinning Top / Lattu / Bugari

Get ready for a nostalgic drive, for am taking you to the memory lanes of our childhood days. 

We all have plenty of fond memories attached to those bygone days. Apart from school, one major work we used to do as kids was play, play and play whether its indoor or outdoor. The  outdoor games have almost become extinct now, thanks to the busy and hectic lifestyle. And we hardly find any unoccupied plots or open grounds like earlier.

Here is a small attempt to revive those lost childhood games or Indian Traditional games which we used to play and enjoy as kids. 

Next in the series is Spinning top or Lattu. We call it Bugari in Kannada. It used to be one of the popular street games of India. I believe at least this game is still played in the rural parts unlike Channe Mane and Kancha (Goli), Gilli Danda (Chinni Dandu), Lagori (Pittu), Hide-and-Seek / Chuppa Chuppi which are almost extinct. 

Photo by Ahyon

Rules of the game:

The game involves spinning a wooden toy called 'top' which is spherical at the top and tapering at the bottom.  A string is used to wrap around the the top to spin it. It was knotted at the end to hold between the fingers. 

I remember how boys used to make different styles and actions while throwing the wrapped top in the air.  If I remember properly, two boys would throw the spinning top on ground and would see whose top  spun  for more time.
Not only that they would also pick up the spinning top on to the palm while it is still spinning and pass it on to others also. It was fun to watch. 

Girls rarely played this game.
Do you have any interesting experience with this game? Do share in the comments.
Tune in for more of these games.

Long Lost Childhood Games - Channe Mane  |  Kancha (Goli)  |  Gilli Danda (Chinni Dandu)  |  Lagori (Pittu)  |  Hide-and-Seek / Chuppa Chuppi

Long Lost Childhood Games - Kancha (Goli)

In the series of Long Lost Childhood Games, after Channe Mane, here comes the second game called, Kancha or Goti or Goli. 

It used to be one of the favorites of young boys. Kancha or golis are the balls made of glass in various colors with a diameter of 1/2 inch. They even came in tiny and bigger sizes too (used rarely to accomplish challenging tasks!) I remember my brothers counting the golis or marbles every time they returned from their successful battles. Am sure every boy had his favorite and lucky marble. 

Now to the rules.

The game had its own modus operandi. There used to be various versions ranging from easy to more complicated ones. Basically the players had to hit the selected target ‘kancha’ using their own marble. The winner takes all Kanchas of rest of the players.

There were techniques involved in hitting the marbles. In simpler versions the guy hitting had to just focus on the set target marble (among the marbles inside the circle) from a distance. He usually used to  focus with one eye closed and hit. 

In another version, on a leveled even ground, a  small hole will be dug up. Then position will be   taken about two yards away from the hole. The player will kneel down and try  to send  the marble into the hole using a different technique from the previous one.

The marble had to be held tightly to the forefinger of the left hand. Then, stretch the finger back  by the pressure of the forefinger of the right hand. When the finger is released the marble goes forward, often crossing the hole. One has to strike out of the way the marble  thrown by the other boy. or with a gentle blow from one’s marble, push the other marble, so that it drifts into the hole. Then opponent gets his turn to strike the other person’s goli. The person who gets  all the golis into the hole, is declared first as winner.

Right now, I can think of only these versions. If you remember any other, pls feel free to share. 
The collection of marbles used to cross few hundreds sometimes. There used to be a competition amongst the boys as to who owns the maximum number of golis. 

Other Long Lost Childhood Games - Channe Mane  |  Spinning Top (Bugari)  |  Gilli Danda (Chinni Dandu)  | Lagori (Pittu)  |  Hide-and-Seek / Chuppa Chuppi

Long lost childhood games - Channe Mane

Get ready for a nostalgic drive, for am taking you to the memory lanes of our childhood days. We all have plenty of fond memories attached to those bygone days. 

- school days, burdensome school bags, never ending home works, tests and exams jitters, results, school competitions, nervous stage performances, friends and foes, so called groupisms, inter-colony cricket matches, summer holidays, visiting grandparents, the list goes on....

But one major work we used to do as kids was play, play and play whether its indoor or outdoor. The  outdoor games have almost become extinct now, thanks to the busy and hectic lifestyle. And we hardly find any unoccupied plots or open grounds like earlier.

Here is a small attempt to revive those lost childhood games and traditional Indian games which we used to play and enjoy as kids. 

The first in the series is a game called Channe Mane. Some people might know this game as Atkuni Mane, Aleguli Mane, Gundpale (Konkani) and so on.

I will tell you the rules briefly. 

The board or the Mane looks like this. Usually it is played using tamarind seeds. But any other seeds can also be used. At the start of the game each hole contains five seeds.

1. The first player picks up the seeds of one of his holes and distributes them into the following holes one by one anti-clockwise.
2. After dropping the last seed into a hole, the contents of the following hole are distributed in another lap.
3. The move ends when the following hole is empty. This is called "saada".
4. If the hole is empty, the player captures the contents of the succeeding hole. In addition, he captures the contents of the hole opposite to that hole.
5. Each turn a player may move twice, if he captures in his first move. Then his term ends after two "saadas".
6. A player must move unless he has nothing to play with.
7. The game is finished when all counters are taken.
8. The player who has collected most counters wins the game.
9. In the next round, each player tries to fill his holes with five counters from his winnings. These holes which cannot be filled are marked with a pebble or a twig and are avoided for further play. The match is continued until one player is unable to fill even one hole.

It is such an addictive game. Do share your experiences if you have played this game or if you still have this at home. 

Tune in for more such games!

Other Long Lost Childhood Games -   Kancha (Goli)  | Spinning Top (Bugari)  |  Gilli Danda (Chinni Dandu)  |  Lagori / Pittu  | Hide-and-Seek / Chuppa Chuppi