A short write up on the indigenous sport of India Mallakhamb by our student Aashna Suvarna.

Aashna is 13 years old young writer from Mumbai. We are proud to have her as a student of the Little Kathakar Program, an Online Public Speaking through Applied Storytelling & Theatre Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Aashna for this exemplary true self-expression.

The Game of Mallakhamb

Ambling – “The world reveals itself to those who travel on foot.” It applied well in the case of the enchanting and mesmerizing sight that unraveled itself in front of my eyes. The moist earth brushed against the soles of my shoes. The thick petrichor of my surroundings set my senses into a daze. The viridescent and lush vegetation, with occasional hazel-colored and shriveled leaves set upon the robust branches, caressed my cheeks.

It was just the three of us, but I seemed unaware of everything except the forest. I was walking deep into it to discover the mysteries it held. Every direction held something revitalized and alive. The fragile creepers seemed to have a great need to trip me as the vicious poison ivy scratched my boots. The high-pitched buzzing of cicadas and the chirping of different birds filled my ears. The towering oaks, maples, and willows were desperately attempting to engulf them.

Suddenly, splashes of water invaded our ears. My friend, Ishan, released a sigh of relief after desperately trying to figure out where we were while the rest of us were busy admiring our environment. “Welcome to Beryl River. I at least now know where we are. “Going ahead will be easy,” he said. True to its name, the pale emerald-colored water gurgled as it passed over the moss-clad rocks. But traces of blue and yellow seemed to be getting mixed in its waves. The water echoed my image as its glacial waves hit the back of my hand. They flowed delicately over my palm, leaving behind a flimsy sensation. The more I stayed, the more the comforting feeling filled my heart.

But we had to move on. I walked on and on till Ishan stopped. As an experienced trekker, the low growling and the crinkling of leaves did not go amiss in his ears. ” It might be a tiger. Be all eyes and ears from now on. “We are entering the tiger zone,” he whispered. ” But the officer said that the wild animals here are pretty peaceful and there are no canines.” I retorted. ” Did you already forget the snake incident? Is there any trouble with being careful? ” I rolled my eyes at his better-safe-than-sorry attitude. The slick and slimy feeling around my legs still terrified me. ” Will you stop it, both of you?” said our scared cat friend Kavita. I huffed and followed them.

We walked on till we saw a shadow cover the ground. ” Here is your tiger, Ishan,” I said while pointing at the rusty-spotted cat that lay on the ground and bursting into peals of laughter. A wounded brown-furred and rusty-spotted cat was softly moaning, sounding more like growling. We quickly treated it and moved on ahead. It had been three days since we had been trudging through these enigmatic yet lovely woods. We were weary and exhausted, but they always say, “There are no shortcuts to any place worth going to.”

Cut to three weeks later, I look at the distant greenery through the translucent, smooth glass of our train. Memories hit hard through my soul, making me immensely crestfallen and regret leaving this place. Suddenly, a brown, soft-furred, and spotted creature waved a paw at us, hiding behind the bushes near the station. Before we could react, Ishan quickly ran out of our train and popped back into it carrying the cat.  Kavita and I were aghast at his sudden change in nature. He just brushed it aside and went back to petting his new pal. I glanced at the vista for a final time. Maybe it is rightly said, “After a day’s walk, everything has twice its usual value.”

“This was an attempt from my side to share a short glimpse of the Indian game of Mallakhamb. Hope you enjoyed the information in a story form.”-Aashna

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A short writeup on the indigenous game of India- Gilli Danda, written by our student Aryan Singhal.

Aryan is 10 years old, a young orator from Gurugram. We are proud to have him as a student of the Little Kathakar Program, an Online Public Speaking through Applied Storytelling & Theatre Program under the mentorship of Trainer Khusshbo Chokhaani. We congratulate Aryan for this exemplary true self-expression.

The Game of Gilli Danda

Have you ever thought of a game in which two sticks are fighting with each other or supporting each other? Hello, everyone. My name is Aryan and today I will be talking about one of the ancient games of India called Gilli Danda.

Gilli Danda” is an ancient sport of India, possibly with origins over 2500 years ago. In India, the origin of Gilli Danda dates back to the period of Mauryan Empire. Historical references suggest that common people played the game on the streets, sometimes being accompanied by members of the royal family. Over time, social stigma made higher social strata to abandon it, making it common man’s game.

India was a vast country with a major portion of South Asia under its belt. But as the geographical boundaries were drawn, India was divided, and new countries came into existence. However, people never lost the fervor for Gilli Danda. The original game spreads from India to its neighboring countries and it came to be known as “Danguli” in Bangladesh, “Dandi-Biyo” in Nepal, “Lappa-Duggi” in Afghanistan and “Kitti-Pullu” in Sri Lanka. Do you know Gilli Danda is a also played in Combodia and Itlay?. Gilli Danda is known by various other names like “Tipcat” in English, “Alak-Doulak” in Persion and many similar names in Indian regional languages.  But with different names came different regional rules. Players played as per their own rules and thus, there was no uniform expansion of the game. It continued to remain as an amateur game, only played for entertainment and fun. It was in 2016 that the countries playing Gilli Danda came under the aegis of Gilli Danda International Federation headquartered in Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

“Gilli Danda” is played with two pieces of equipment – a Danda, being a long wooden stick, and a Gilli, a small oval-shaped piece of wood. It is played with four or more players of even numbers. Standing in a small circle, the player balances the Gilli on a stone in an inclined manner with one end of the Gilli touching the ground while the other end is in the air. The player then uses the Danda to hit the Gilli at the raised end, which flips it into the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the Gilli, hitting it as far as possible. Having struck the Gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the Gilli is retrieved by an opponent. There is no such official number of players. Gilli Danda can be played individually or between two teams. Gilli Danda is believed to be the origin of Western games such as Cricket, Baseball and Softball.

Gilli Danda also improves the skills like hand and eye co-ordination, judgement, calculation etc.  Do you know The Bollywood movie, Lagaan mentions the traditional youth sport of Gilli-Danda as being similar to cricket.

Eminent Hindi writer Premchand wrote a short story named “Gilli-Danda” in which he compares old simple times and emotions to modern values and also hints at caste inequalities in India. The protagonist and narrator of the story recounts his inability to play Gilli-Danda well in his youth. He remembers a friend who could control the Gilli as he wished. He goes away and comes back as an adult and a government officer. He searches for his old friend and finds him – he is very poor and says “Where do we get the time?” when asked by the protagonist whether he plays Gilli-Danda. The protagonist convinces him to play but he cheats at every opportunity, but his friend meekly submits, even though he would not have let him get away with such deceit in his youth. After being defeated, the friend invites him to a Gilli-Danda match the next day.

The protagonist is shocked when he sees his friend play just as well as before and realizes that he had indulged him because he knew that he had forgotten the basics of Gilli-Danda. The protagonist feels very small and goes back to the city humiliated. As an amateur youth sport, Gilli Danda has many regional variations. In some versions, the number of points a striker score depends on the distance the Gilli falls from the striking point. The distance is measured in terms of the length of the Danda, or in some cases the length of the Gilli. Scoring also depends on how many times the Gilli was hit in the air in one strike. If it travels a certain distance with two mid-air strikes, the total points are doubled. If the Gilli is not struck far enough the player has to pick it up and try again.

Shobhit Maurya is the world champion of Gilli Danda with several world records in his name. He is one of the famous Indians in all time of history. The UNESCO Advisory committee and the International Council of Traditional Sports and Games (ICTSG) are keen to revive and promote all such traditional sports which are almost dying in the World. The Advisory committees are a structured way for individual citizens to share their opinions and perspectives, study issues, and develop recommendations in a focused, small group structure.  In the end I would like to say that Gilli Danda is one of the best Indian games.

“This was an attempt from my side to share a short glimpse of the Indian game of Gilli Danda. Hope you enjoyed the information.”-Aryan

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