Page 54 - Sanidhya_2024

THE ELASTIC GAME

# DOWN THE MEMORY LANE played world over with differ-
ent names like gummytwist,
In the laps of scenic Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Chinese jump rope etc. The
is the picturesque city of Thimphu. The constricted, game is typically played in a
elongated valley with wild roses, orchards, a group of at least three players
sparkling river and mountains. At the foot of a hill with an elastic about 5-6 me-
lies Lungtenzampa School which has open spaces for ters in length tied into a circle.
children to play and do other co-curricular activities. Two players face each other
As a child back in the late eighties, I had friends from standing 3-4 meters apart,
many parts of the world. Each of them brought with and position the elastic around Smt. Deepa Upadhyay,
him/her, own language, culture, food and a variety of their ankles so that it is taut. The w/o Shri DP Upadhyay,
DIG, COBRA
games. A game I vividly remember and loved playing third player stands between the
was the “elastic” game. It is a low cost game made two sides of the rope and tries to perform a designat-
of sewing elastic or can be easily made with rubber ed series of moves without making an error or paus-
bands , entwining one rubber band with the other. ing. The third player or the jumper stands between
Reminiscing about my childhood, I fondly recall my the two sides of the rope and must perform a series
classmates a British boy Andrew, a Nepalese girl of increasingly difficult moves without making an er-
Prabina , Bhutanese boy Sonam Norbu and some ror. The position of the string is raised as the jumper
Indian friends like Gulshan, Ravi and Vikas and we moves through the levels, from ankle to waist height
all loved this elastic game. Each one of us got a few and higher. Sometimes if a jumper has the ability to
big rubber bands from his/her home and during the jump very high the string is placed on arms raised
games period we used to interweave one rubber band overhead. These movements are great for stretching.
into another, ensuring that it did not get entangled Often a child gets so intrigued with the shapes the
during the process and prepare a long stretchable rope can make that he or she stretches much harder
rope. Then we used to take turns to play the game than he/she would have otherwise.
which started at ankle level and went right up to There are many rhymes that we used to sing while
shoulder level. For the super champions of the game playing, for example:
the level went overhead too. This rope of rubber bands
could hardly bear the assault of footfalls for a week There are many rhymes that we used to sing while
and would break from in between. It was again time playing, for example
to make a new one. Sometimes a generous mother
of anyone of us would buy a few meters of sewing “England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales
elastic that was sturdier and would save us from the Inside, outside
interweaving process. I remember that when I had Puppy dogs’ tails
the duty to carry the elastic or rubber band with me I Several counting chants were also used ,
used to check it whether I had kept it in my bag before like
leaving for school which was never the case with any Charlie Chaplin sat on a pin
book or notebook. Sometimes even the lunchbox How many inches did it go in
was forgotten at home but the endearing stretchable One, two, three, four”
rope was always carefully kept in the pocket of Kira,
the traditional Bhutanese dress, we wore as uniform. We can make indigenous version of this game by
Enclosed here is a picture of the elastic game. adding local rhymes, This game can also be used to
improve linguistics if we sing along tongue twisters
or small rhymes in local language or home language.
HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME

Elastics is a yard game or an outdoor game that
needs little space and is low cost too. It just needs
a few meters of elastic and willing feet. This game is
a combination of hopscotch and jumping ropes. It is