Category: Madrid Diaries

It was the day of the conference. A phone call from Madras woke me up at4:30 in the morning. It was unimportant, but I could not go back to sleep There was a sense of excitement, fear, and anticipation. I pottered around the room. doing nothing. until I finally dressed up to go. I’d initially…

As I wandered around the old city, there was a fear at the back of my mind nagging at me. While it was fun to dismiss the need for language while playing a game, I realized that I would struggle to deliver the presentation I had planned. My presentation was about the game of Dahdi…

Aranda de Duero is the capital of Ribera del Duero and lies on the River Duero.  We walked around admiring the Santa María la Real built during the 15th and 16th centuries and San Juan, a church older than Santa Maria in the gothic style, which still has its fortified defensive tower.  The quaint town…

The next day dawned bright and sunshiny, and I decided to don my Kreeda avatar. I wore my recycled jewellery and dresses adorned with icons of traditional games. There was much wowing when they saw the lovely snakes and ladders representing our wonderful Parama Padam or Moksha Patam. There was a lot of animated conversation…

The conference was scheduled to take place in a town called Aranda de Duero, about two hours from Madrid. I was arriving in Aranda at 10:00 at night, almost 24 hours after leaving India. I assumed that everyone else would be asleep and that I would simply go to my room, freshen up, grab a…

Soon, I was met at the coffee shop by Jhavier our cheerful, ruddy-faced taxi driver, and another delegate from Poland. He spoke numerous languages and ended up being our personal translator for the trip. He understood the value of traditional games and sports and had built a platform where numerous organizations across the world could…

It would soon be time to go. I brought down my suitcases secretly so as to not alarm my dog who would go into depression when he realised someone was travelling. I sneaked around when he was not there packing everything I need for the trip. I organised things at home and bought food and…

It was exciting enough to go to Spain, but this time I needed to see the Book of Games. I reached out to the conference organisers, and I waited… And I waited… and waited… but still nothing. When I asked, I was told that they were working on it. Patience is not my virtue. I…

I am always amazed at how much rubbish one accumulates when running a business. Kreeda was no different. We had damaged game pieces, throw pieces, boards, cartons and much much more. I never had the heart to throw out anything, but it kept adding up and taking valuable space. Something had to be done. A…