PLAYING THE NAUGHTY INNINGS

From Sampath’s Desk:

PLAYING THE NAUGHTY INNINGS

 

Ours was a middle-class family but I had rich experiences of a boyhood life full of fun and frolic in a paradise of our own with joy of sorts shared among and along with my friends and peers, which I have always cherished in my memory.

 

Angry parents would chide their children thus, “You people are more seen on streets playing than at home”. The ‘you people’ were nothing but we, a flock of 20-25 boys hailing from in and around particular streets, lanes and by-lanes living in Chepauk/Triplicane, Chennai (near MA Chidambaram Cricket Stadium), one of the most congested areas in the city near the Marina Beach even in the 1960-1970s. Even now, seeing children playing in streets would shuttle me into a nostalgic navigation where I would be able to recall many of our naughty boyhood indulgences perceiving them to be innocuous. Nearby Government Guest House compound, Coovam canal road, and sites near the Chepauk Palace, vast vacant sites then, and rarely the Island Grounds, a little far away, offered us a perfect play pitch.

 

School time over, every evening boys who gathered in our street would be divided into two teams through lots, one for ‘strong players’ and another for ‘mediocre players’ for making the two teams evenly balanced. Street-cricket would go on despite protests from the local people, passers-by, moving vehicles, stick holding cowherds prodding their cattle along, street vendors, and cart-pullers! A ball or other flying saucers hitting the passers-by, striking windows in the vicinity, balls getting into a house through the windows or lost in the nearby bushes/garden/grove, etc. were common. Once darkness descended, we would get home with sweat transuding only to get mouthful from parents and elders!

 

While street Cricket was the norm, during Sundays and other holidays, the nearby Marina beach offered us sport rendezvous either on the inner road or on the improvised pitches then available in the middle of sandy stretch for us to play braving any weather conditions except rains.

 

Hard-nut-to-crack parents of a couple of our friends would never allow their children to come out of the house and play. If a parent saw boys near their house, he/she would thunder, “Don’t disturb him; he is doing home-work and will not join you today.” Hesitant to go near that house, one of us would send a paper rocket into the house through the open window and our friend on getting a cue and clue would somehow manage to come out.  

  

We used to play games like kite-flying, piggy-back, leapfrog, Kabaddi, ice-boy, cricket, tennis, volley ball, ‘nondi’ (hopscotch), Gilli Danda, Lattu or Bambaram (spinning tops), among others, the vernacular terms of which cannot be correctly translated here into English, ‘Antakshari’ being a rarity.

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Victory or defeat, playing gave us joy hitting a crescendo with winning team making ear-blasting pooh-poohing shouts hailing the victory and counter-shouts from the less fortunate team.

 

Bicycle hiring was 3-paise for half-an-hour and 5-paise for an hour. The irony was that whenever I took the help of my ‘learned colleague’ to teach me cycling, he would take a Lion's share of the hiring time for himself for a pleasure-ride. Only thereafter he would oblige me!

 

We were fond of sweetmeats and roasted nuts. Once, my elder cousin brother and I (who would always be together in all activities) turned desperate having nothing to eat. Wisdom dawning, we went to the nearby Corporation medical clinic with a complaint of ‘mouth ulcer’. For, we knew well that mouth ulcer patient(s) would be given sweet yeast tablets.  Sweet Glycerine liquid would also be applied on our tongues. An innovative way to sweeten our tongue!

During ‘Navaratri’, we used to stroll across and would knock at the doors of houses where ‘Kolu’ (display of dolls and figurines) was organized for getting something to eat especially ‘Sundal’ (tempered tentils, grains and pulses). If any household denied it to us, boys would yell, howl, and heckle for a minute before moving to the next destination (behavioural etiquettes and decorum excuse us). Now I repent for our perceivably innocent and innocuous yet impertinent behaviour!

 

Few impish boys used to call by names and make fun of a 90-plus frail lady who used to walk here and there in our area with a walking stick and stammering in somewhat hazy voice due to aging. Right-thinking boys and I would advise them, “Don’t behave like goons or ruffians. Old-age, diseases and/or memory loss are common to everyone! Will you behave like this with your Grandma?” The erring boys would soon blushingly realize their mistake and make amends.

 

There could be heated exchanges among boys on different matters and different occasions, but there would be no show of muscle power. There would be mutual trust and understanding and peaceful co-existence among us. Group studies were common helping each other in our studies.

 

I would advise the present generation children to engage themselves in games that required physical exertions instead of sticking themselves on to the TV, games enabled by electronic gadgets, mobile phones and/or other modern devices. Also eat more home-made food items rather than junk ones outside which of course can be a rare exception rather than rule. Physical activity is the key to one's body and mind robust.

 

 

 

R.SAMPATH