A Game Exchange

The second day of the conference was a fascinating experience. We were in a large park in Aranda, around a central area resembling a large basketball court, where all of us had set up our games to demonstrate and play. It was a heady experience, having people from different countries come and try out our games, teaching them, and seeing Kreeda being played in a park in Spain. 

It was hard to convey everything at times, but some English speakers and willing translators were curious and eager to learn. What surprised me was that two people actually wanted to buy my book. I had brought a few copies, thinking I would give them away, but they refused to take them for free and actually paid for them. It left me feeling enthralled that my book would be read in places across the world, from Portugal to Spain and beyond. 

It was great fun playing my games with other people. Families with people of all ages participated; in fact, adults enjoyed it almost as much as the children. Very often, when it comes to games, adults tend to leave the children to play while they congregate and sit down. Here, though, it was different. People of all ages were out playing, trying their hand at unusual games. 

One game being played near mine involved a series of discs or flattened bottle caps. The trick was to get them into a square or a circle, with the one coming closest to a chosen point being the winner. Similar to the game of marbles in some ways, this game reminded me of a lovely folk game played with dried mango seeds after mango season. All it required was a basket of dried mango seeds and an open space. I tried my hand at this game and was amused to find that the discs were heavier, whereas mango seeds, being light, sometimes became harder to handle and aim.  

Other similar games were played, such as stilt walking. When I demonstrated how to walk on coconut shells, a team from Portugal came over with two large sticks for stilt walking. They urged me to try. Though I was nervous about breaking bones, I was assured they would help me. 

In India, stilt walking is part of many folk sports and activities, but the stilts are rather tall, making it difficult for children to experiment. Here, the stilts were shorter and easier to maneuver, though they still required a lot of skill. 

Another game was Batu also from Portugal. It was similar to Gilli Danda except the shorter stick is dropped by one player while the other hits it while it is in the air. I enjoyed the game and was so successful at hitting it that they gifted me a Batu set.

At the end of the day was this feeling of joy echoing my long-felt belief that cultures could be different, but we could be united by our games.