Tuesday, April 19, 2011

My Childhood Game!!!

hey readers... i hope all of you are enjoying all this interesting stuff!!!
 Today some one asked me... which game you liked playing as a child???
I was thinking for sometime... not because I forgot the game but because I thought would this girl be knowing about the GAME I use to play... I mean use to love to play...
I replied it was Hide & Seek. She got excited and said that everyone played it and loved it haina!!!
Then I came back to my room and went to a thinking trip as usual...
Actually I use to play and love "Pithoo garam" many of you must never heard of this but... I have played and loved it.. would have never given a thought of publishing this on web but... that one question left me wondering... how things have changed... children these days hardly play any outdoor games like PITHOO GARAM... The children now are more busy playing video games, watching IPL,ICL,surfing net... and all such stuff...
Lets come back to the serious issue... game!!!
 People living in Punjab must have played this game... and those who have, their childhood memories might have come alive. And those who haven't must be thinking what the heck is this pithooooo.......
In the game of Pithhoo, as in most sports/games, there are two teams being made which compete with each other. The number of players in each time can be any where from two and more depending upon the number of kids show up in the ground.  The field size is also not defined it can be any where around 1000 sq ft to 10000 sq feet , Usually no one cares about the size of the field. There is no special equipment required for this game except a soft rubber ball and few flat disc stones (usually 5 to 6 are enough). The stones are placed on each other, thus making a small tower and kept in the center of the playground. One of the team is given a chance to be a striker and the other is called fielder team. The captain members of both the teams stand facing each other at a distance of 10 to 15 feet, and the ball being placed between them, respective team members make queue and line up behind their respective team captain. The game is ready to start now.The captain of the striker team tries to hit the stone tower with the ball with a direct hit, If the ball does not hits the stones and is caught by any of the opposite team member after a single bounce, the captain is marked out of the game and have to sit outside the field and wait till his team has finished their turn. This way each member tries of the striker team and if is marked out have to sit outside the field, till all members are out, then the opposite team gets to be the striker team. The interesting part, which is the main fun, happens when the ball hits the stone tower, guess what happens ??.
The stones scatter on the ground and everybody can be seen running around the field. At this time the striker team members try to fix the stone tower back without getting hit by the ball. The job of the fielder team is to hit the ball to as many members of the striker team before the striker team members can buildup the stone tower back up.
You could easily see a lot of co-ordination and teamwork being exercised during this chaos by both teams as both the teams strives hard. This chaos ends if members of striker team are unable to build the stone tower back up and get hit by the ball or they successfully build the tower. If the tower is built back, the striker team can accumulate points or can also call any one member of their team from outside of the field is any one was sent out. Once all the members of the striker team are out, then the opposite team gets a chance to be the striker the game starts again.
Let us know if you have ever played this game in your life , I would like to hear what was your experience and how did you feel about it ?

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