Page 69 - Sanidhya_2024

THE ELASTIC GAME

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