For many reasons, today was a very stressful day at Kreeda. Many things didn’t go right. I was waiting to get answers to certain questions. My computer was having a problem. Just a number of little things but when they all come together, they make for a terrible day. It’s easy to assume that because in a company like ours its all just fun and games, but that’s simply not true. Yes, our games are fun. Yes, we love what we do, but we have terrible days like everyone else.
I remember this little girl coming to our office. Although we are not a retail store, a number of people like to drop in at our office to buy the games, to see them, touch them, play with them and to have us talk about them. This family had come in with their little girl who was about eight years old. She was looking wide eyed at all the games piled up on the table that her parents were actually willing to buy her.
So, after playing a few games she was pottering around the office while the grown-ups were busy with the business of actually completing the sale.
“Aunty,” she said, “I love your office. I want to work here when I grow up.”
I was amused. “Why do you want to work here?”
“Because all I have to do is play,” she said. I laughed at her but didn’t set her right.
I too, at one time had illusions like her, but we all grew up. Today that little girl has grown up too and probably knows a little more about what goes on in an office than just playing games.
I am reminded of that little girl today when nothing is fun and games. However, a smile wipes the frown from my face because at the end of the day, that’s what Kreeda has always been about – games, play, smiles and laughter.
I often try this experiment in big groups. I tell people to close their eyes and think of their favourite memory of childhood. Most of the time those memories are about play and about having fun with friends. People always smile after this exercise because that’s the power of play. Think about it now, even as you are reading this. Don’t you find a little memory stealing into your mind and a smile touching your lips?
It doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are, you tend to smile when you start playing. I don’t think there is anybody to whom we have shown our games, be it a senior citizen of over 90 years who went on a nostalgia trip, or this little young girl, who did not start smiling. The one thing we see in all our photos of events across 20 years is that people were smiling when they saw our games and played our games. It was perhaps the only thing they had in common.
I sometimes like to think that for 20 years we’ve done a lot more than only bringing traditional games back into focus. I like to believe we have also brought smiles to the faces of so many people. Even as I write this blog, my frown lessens, the weight of the day seems to dissipate, and I end this blog with a smile. And wherever that young girl is today, my memory of her, and her ideas about our job will always bring a smile to my face.
Keep smiling and let us Kreeda today.
Ripples Of Life and Time 