Mangalore: Reviving Memories of Traditional Games
by Rajesh S 
Pics by Prajwal Ukkuda
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN)

Mangalore, Jan 21: The traditional culture of our rural areas might perish with  the advent of modernity and this is a fear amongst folk artists and scholars. 

The traditional games that rural children used to play seem to have become far and few. Cricket has taken the place of honour on village grounds.

Most of the traditional games have their own rules and styles of play. Most of the games exercise both the brain and the body.

Our ancestors  who played traditional games were strong enough for both mental and physical labour. Nowadays, children are familiar with only internationally-recognized games and do not take an interest in traditional games which were helpful to the entire development of a child. 

In Polali, Rajashree  Yuvaka Mandala recently conducted  an  event  to revive the memories of these games. “Our  culture starts  from traditional games. They were a good pastime and helped relax after a hard day’s work,” said Lokesh, president of Rajashree  Yuvaka  Mandala. 

These games are non-expensive and make use of stones, and broken tiles. ‘Channe Mane’, ‘Gundu Kallu’ (Kallata), ‘Lagori’, and ‘Jibili’ are the games which were common  in  those days. In ‘channe mane’, a wooden board and some seeds (‘manjotti’) are used for play.

‘Gundu kallu’ or ‘kallata’ is played with stones that are round in shape. ‘Lagori’ is played with a rubber ball and some small pieces of tiles. In earlier days, before the rubber ball came into existence, round nuts which were found in the forest were used. The dry paddy fields and the space in front of homes were the play areas.

‘Jubuli’, a version of hopscotch, played with a piece of tile on flat ground, is yet another of the traditional games. 

Along with these games, the Rajashree  Yuvaka Mandala also organized competitions such as singing, ‘paddhana’(folklore), three-legged race, musical chairs, water drinking contest, beedi-rolling and weaving of coconut leaves. 

The people who participated in this competition expressed joy and displayed their enthusiasm.