KOCHI: Using broken bricks to sketch boxes on the ground or a flat surface, this was one of those games that used to take up hours of our childhood. Popularly known as Nondi or Pandi in Tamil Nadu, it was a staple among everybody when they were small. Yes! We are referring to the hopscotch.
Today, we find kids playing many games like lock and key or chain cut, but it is a little hard to find anyone playing hopscotch. Two vertical columns with 4 grids each was the ideal way to play this game.
“We played this game in many different ways — two columns of 4 grids was one, but we always used our creativity and shuffled the grids and played in our own ways too,” says Ramesh Raghavan, who recalls this game as his favourite during his childhood.
The game was usually played by sketching the traditional hopscotch diagram on a flat surface and numbering the grids by using either a stone or twig or any object that could stay firm on the ground. The player starts the game by throwing the object on the first grid and hopping his way through them. Oh, but you have to make sure you don’t step on the grid where you have placed your object. Once the player reaches the end of the grid, they must return to the point where they started, but this time they need to pick up the object from the grid they threw it on to.
“If the player falls down, steps on the grid with the object or loses his/her balance and places both his/her feet on one grid, they are out. Well, I had a bit of fun when I used to bite the person near me and run away when they said I was out,” laughs Jayashree, as she gets nostalgic on seeing kids in her colony play the same game.
While this was the way pandi was played, today there are many other variations. “Kids today set a time frame for the player and the challenge is to finish as many grids as possible. Another addition to this traditional game is to kick the object rather than to throw it at the grid,” shared Mangala Venkatesh, who is a teacher and has observed kids play in her school.