I have had too many requests from my fan following, so here I go.
The other day, I saw my daughter Tanisha, playing with Anirudh and was reminded of all the childhood games we used to play. In fact, Vidya and I had a blast teaching both of them "Una Dozy", "Ice-cream soda" and other stuff. These hand clapping games used to be the staple of all us girls when we were little. Now, also they haven't lost their charm. Something simple, in a complicated life... AAAAhhh!!
I was telling Veensey the other day that I miss those card game sessions we used to have, back at Narottam Nivas. Periappa (Veensey and Vinod's dad) was a master at inventing new games. One of my best memories, is the "Short Game". I still remember very clearly, the night he got this game out for all of us to learn and play. We were all sitting in that hall room in Narottam Nivas (noisy place, full of flies, Girish used to call it "Eeechai Nivas"). Night, it was quieter. Periappa had returned from one of his trips to Taloja or Uran or something. He said he saw a bunch of guys playing this in the train. The rules were simple. You deal out 6 or 8 cards to each member, the rest is kept in a stack in the middle. One card is thrown in the center, you got to put the same set ka card (diamond pe diamond, klaver pe klaver and so on). If u don't have any, you can take one from the pile in the center. But then, you get next turn. The player with max no of cards is the loser. One by one, players will finish their cards. He didn't catch the name, so we came up with Short Game. Now, I think we should have patented it. Hmm... there's still time.. can make tons of money, you know ;-)
I loved those card nights, because you got be adults then! You were allowed to stay up late and got to listen to interesting conversation amongst the big people. Weird, now I would rather be a child!! My mom is another card buff. I learnt most of the games from her. Rummy, Paach-Teen-Don (5-3-2, it's how two is said in Marathi, not the English "Don" for those who don't know), Ladies (pronunced as Laa-dis, for some strange reason), Bluffmaster or Challenge.. etc, etc. She was my card coach. Nowadays, people prefer playing online cards or Uno. I'm hoping at the next reunion, we can all play cards and our kids can learn the same!!
Some childhood games never leave us. Veensey, Shilps and me had a weird dance, we did when we were together. It was our special thing. The last time I did it now, was at Veensey's marriage (it was our goodbye dance). Hopefully, we can pass the legacy on to our kids too.
Sandhya and me, well what can I say!! Folks still remember the "Faaanddhyaaaa, thayiru vennamaa?!!". She hated curds and I loved teasing her about it. I used to tease Shilpu also about it, still remember I fooled her into thinking that "Mambaza Moorkootan" was actually "Aamras" with too much milk in it!!! Shilpu and I had a special game too, "Only Corners", you had to walk only along the corners (as the name suggests) and catch the other person, who could run only along the corners!! The little nook between the sofas was the "time-please" zone! And who can forget Vinod named me "S-B-W" (Story Book Worm). The name stuck on for a long, long time!! Vidya and Shilpu played a game once on all of us and got locked into that "beero" in Sahakar's back balcony. We searched for an hour, before we found them. Then got a sound yelling from Manni (I understand them getting the yelling, but really couldn't get why we got yelled at anyway, we weren't involved you know). I think, all 3 of us (Sandhya, Shilpa and I) cannot forget the million times we flicked Manni's saris to play "Saas-bahu" (yeeeeeccchhh!!!). Neither can Veena, Shilpa and I forget those "Shop-Shop" or "Ghar-Ghar" games in the corner between sofas at NN. Being the oldest sibling in the house, helps memory wise. You are the guinea pig, but you get more memoirs than the younger ones!!
OK, gotta get back to business now. Adulthood calls, childhood is alas, way in the past now...
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