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The story of Hyderabad, the centre of nawabi culture in the south, is the story of change many cities of the country are experiencing today. Fatima Chowdhury reports on an evocative book published recently
Cricket rules Indian sports scene. Period. So in Kashmir too, the days of Lathkinj -Loth or playing with the pebbles are over. Like in other parts of India , it is now the so-called gentleman’s game of willow and cherry that is everywhere, obscuring the once popular and indigenous folk and rural games of this Himalayan region.
Today, the lush green meadows, paddy fields and busy streets have been converted into make-shift playing fields. Even the frozen Dal Lake is not left alone during the winter as young Kashmiris today know more about running between the stumps than about the playing rules of indigenous games like hopping (Soza-Loung) or Tiktaar (water surface playing). Prior to the commercialisation of cricket, these games were played in Kashmir for generations together with a high standard of competition and earnestness.
Today these games seem to have become grist for folklores. Even then, it is interesting to explore some of these indigenous games. Games like tying a straw to a living dragonfly, Auks Bakus (playing with hands and fingers) or Aantali (hide and seek)
The ‘lost games’ had, in fact, much in common with those in the rest of India. Soza-Loung is the Kashmiri version of Paandi in South India ; the Lathkinj-Loth is the Gilli Danda of this vast country. Had they been provided some attention, they would surely have carved a niche for themselves along with cricket and baseball. Similarly Trupas, a game of five pebbles once exclusively played by teenage girls with their delicate hands, amidst the humming of folk songs, now seems to have been lost forever
The game of Ganta-Breir (kite-flying), which was once very common in the valley, is also flying low in Kashmiri sky these days. Similarly, playing with sea-shells ( Haaran Gindun), which was also religiously followed before and after Shiv Ratri festival in Kashmir, has become a thing of past. The folk-game of Jat-tein-tein,( paying adieu to winter) by burning the old Kangris and tossing them in air in a circular motion without getting hurt, is also no more in fashion.
Avtar Krishen Chetan, 65, recalls how all these games were very popular in Kashmir just two decades ago. “Children would often take off to the banks of Jhelum to play indigenous games of Tiktaar, Lathikinj Louth or Souza Loung. Now children talk of funny games like Yo-Yo and Bey-blade which they carry in their hands most of the time.”
Hilal Ahmad Bakshi, a college teacher at Sopore remembers the days when he and his friends would tie straws to dragon-flies in the paddy fields. A player whose dragonfly would fly farthest and highest was traditionally declared the winner. Today, the post-harvest scene shows tiny cricketers, not the dragon-fly catchers. Buzzing over their heads, the flies, however, seem to welcome the changing tastes.
Sameena of village Tarzoo remembers how in her youth she would spin Truppas, toss them up and later scatter all the five pebbles diligently in a sequence and take them back in the palm in ones and twos with an elegant wrist motion without dropping a single one. Such deftness would be a treat to the eyes. “Despite playing most of the times and watching Shaz-Waz shows on cricket channels, my son Rouf fails to catch or spin the ball with that elegance,’’ rues Sameena.
Sanjeev Sharma, a sports journalist, however, argues that in an era of change, such things were bound to happen. “Even those presently breathing cricket, eating and drinking it too, are unaware of the fact that few decades back, the Australians would bowl an eight ball over and those playing five day cricket were provided a rest day also during the match. Those rules are now no more. Surprisingly, the initial one-dayers were of 60-over match. Now we have gone down to 20 over a game also”, informs Sanjeev.
And it’s not the death of these games alone that is happening. Even the typical words used for playing such games are now pushed to the corner. Today’s children have now enriched their vocabulary by adding words like stump vision, snikometer and hokai- showing the movement of the ball. Understandable, of course!
Nawaz of Ikhrajpora-Srinagar recalls his childhood days when he would play games like Soza-Loung by pushing the Soza ( a small baked rounded earthen disc, also called Kater) into eight rectangular portions while hopping (Loung). In order to decide which team was to play the game first, the Soza was made wet on one side and kept dry on the other and then tossed up in the air. The team leader was given an option to call for Tresh or Taaph (dry or wet side), remembers Nawaz. Now it is the game of head and tail, tossing away words like tresh and taaph or thar ( head) and Nanuk (tail) through the window.
Similarly while playing Lathkinj-Louth, the team leaders would start the game with barish by turns. Barish means the number of times one is able to toss the lathkinj ( gilli) in the air with the help of louth ( danda or stick) without letting it fall to the ground. The one who made a bigger count, would first call the shots.
Interestingly, while playing all such games, the children would also recite folk songs and lores among themselves. Popular birds like Katij (Swallow), Poshnool ( Golden Oriole) , Bilbichur ( Bulbul) or Kotur ( pigeon) used to be the characters of such folk songs, with Kaw (crow) the main hero among all birds. Children used to play and murmur songs like Kaw Karaan Taw Taw , meaning that the crow is calling.
Today, the young have other heroes - Jeff and Martin Crowe! But then, that’s how the cookie crumbles.
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