One of my earliest memories are of having oil bath early in the morning on Sundays and running outside to our compound even before my mother could towel my long hair dry. I couldn't wait to go outside to call out to my upstairs neighbour girl and then continue along to my 2 boy friends who stayed next door. I used to be scared of my boy friend's mom, so would stand at the foot of the stairs and shout his name, if I saw his mom approaching, I would run & hide inside my house. If there were no parental obstructions, we four would gang up and go collect a few more of our friends down the road.
Our playground was our common compound where we could run from 3rd main to 4th main full speed with no traffic to stop us. Playtime on Sun began early in the morning with usually something vigorous like I spy you, lagori or cricket ( we even had a french variation of this). Then followed cycling or pushing an old tire with a stick from one end to the other. By the time lunch came around, we each had to be literally dragged in to eat or be scolded repeatedly before we yielded. Having gobbled down our food in a jiffy all the while thinking of what we were going to play next, we would assemble outside within a matter of minutes.
Afternoons were usually a big headache, with adults wanting to take a nap and not tolerating all the yelling and screaming that we indulged in. Our games had to be restrained and at times confined to playing with marbles or cowrie shells or making our own wind mills, paper planes, kites or paper boats.
Evening brought with it total freedom as we were allowed to scream and yell to our hearts content. This usually reached a crescendo if there was a power cut and we were exempted homework time. Hop scotch, in the pond on the bank, crocodile crossing the river were some of our favorites as was I spy you. We never tired of this game in particular with all the narrow gulleys and nooks around the washing stone where we could hide. By the time it was dinner, we would be exhausted with barely enough energy to shovel some food in our mouths and collapse onto our bed.
None of us had any big collection of toys or gadgets to boast off, we all were happy coming up with new games and rules, chasing each other in the open air screaming our lungs out. The simplest of things gave us great joy, paper planes, paper kites, old tires, these were things which we found around the house, didn't cost much but gave us the most amount of satisfaction. More important we were outdoors and free, adults didn't interfere in our fights nor did we constantly stray in their paths and become a nuisance. It was a win win situation for all.
When I look at some of the children in this new land that I call home, it breaks my heart to see them cooped up in their home alone with their parents, an array of colorful toys surround them, but what I don't see is the free spirit shining through their eyes, the joy, fun and laughter that only comes when you share it with friends of the same age. It is sad that play dates are scheduled and group sports is so competitive. What an irony it is that we had no toys but had the most fun while kids now a days have the best toys and the least fun !
Those were indeed fun times! These days the change in children's play habits are apparent in India as well. Especially amongst the nouveau riche upper middle class, that are cooped up in their apartments and gated communities. Kids seem to prefer playing video games than trying to "invent" and improvise fun games.
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