Page 56 - Sanidhya 2024

THE ELASTIC GAME

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