Nov 9th rainy slow post !!
A Patchy week end and a patchy blog post as well !!
Rains -- dampness -- Cannot go outdoors --
The weekend was damp -- Rains were persistent-- Few planned events got moved / cancelled -- All of us wanted to avoid going out -- What do you do -- Need to keep everyone engaged and also the fact that you suddenly find so much of time available to spend indoors !!
I did some reading ( in fact made progress on some books that have been staring at me for a long time )-- More on that as i complete reading them -- But on to a indoor game that can be played when you are on sticky weekends as this one was ..
there is no other indoor game that can be interesting as the game of "Thayakattai " or the game of dice - Here is how the square looks like
During my childhood days , we used to draw the squares using a chalk on the floor ( cement floor no marble or tiles and there used to be a fight as to who will clean the floor of the chalk ) -- But now my wife has asbestos sheet over which the square has been drawn and we just to pull the sheet up and squat on the floor and start with the dices -- Coins for each member / team are so easy to decide -- You get Sapota seeds or Tamarind ( Puliankottai ) seeds or sea shells or it can be even stones( small pebbles ) at times !! You need two members to play and the game can end quickly if there are only two members -- As you get teams formed ( max four ) it becomes very interesting and can be taxing and tense -- As the dice is rolled , there are expectations of what number you want to either "cut " a rival coin and or move in to safety zones -- The game is a roller coaster ride throughout - Luck decides the fate of the game but you need to be smart in moving the coins based on the number that you get on the dice that is rolled , so there is intelligence and smartness that is needed as well to play to win.
I enjoyed a game this week end when to my surprise the dice was loaded in my team;s favour and we won against my wife's team ( this is a rarity ) -- My wife , her family side are experts in analysing the square and in moving the coins -- I wish i could draw this board out for the blog but it is a struggle to me at this point --
Would not have ventured in to this if not for the rains !! Rains Bless !!
Rains -- dampness -- Cannot go outdoors --
The weekend was damp -- Rains were persistent-- Few planned events got moved / cancelled -- All of us wanted to avoid going out -- What do you do -- Need to keep everyone engaged and also the fact that you suddenly find so much of time available to spend indoors !!
I did some reading ( in fact made progress on some books that have been staring at me for a long time )-- More on that as i complete reading them -- But on to a indoor game that can be played when you are on sticky weekends as this one was ..
there is no other indoor game that can be interesting as the game of "Thayakattai " or the game of dice - Here is how the square looks like
During my childhood days , we used to draw the squares using a chalk on the floor ( cement floor no marble or tiles and there used to be a fight as to who will clean the floor of the chalk ) -- But now my wife has asbestos sheet over which the square has been drawn and we just to pull the sheet up and squat on the floor and start with the dices -- Coins for each member / team are so easy to decide -- You get Sapota seeds or Tamarind ( Puliankottai ) seeds or sea shells or it can be even stones( small pebbles ) at times !! You need two members to play and the game can end quickly if there are only two members -- As you get teams formed ( max four ) it becomes very interesting and can be taxing and tense -- As the dice is rolled , there are expectations of what number you want to either "cut " a rival coin and or move in to safety zones -- The game is a roller coaster ride throughout - Luck decides the fate of the game but you need to be smart in moving the coins based on the number that you get on the dice that is rolled , so there is intelligence and smartness that is needed as well to play to win.I enjoyed a game this week end when to my surprise the dice was loaded in my team;s favour and we won against my wife's team ( this is a rarity ) -- My wife , her family side are experts in analysing the square and in moving the coins -- I wish i could draw this board out for the blog but it is a struggle to me at this point --
Would not have ventured in to this if not for the rains !! Rains Bless !!
Comments
I guess a lot of people from this region are very good with numbers because of games like this. I remmeber someone in Bangkok calling me a genius because I added couple of three digit numbers without writing them. Sadly my kids are not so interested in these games. And, I don't know why but they are not so good with mental maths!