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Childhood games

Hey y’all!

Hard to believe its half-way through Monday already huh?! Even harder, knowing that September is over. But we are ‘cite and looking forward to cooler fall temps. Florida, enough already with the sweltering, hot and humid weather. And hello to gorgeous lower temps. I’d take any weather below 90s. Any day, any time 😉

I had fun reading your comments on Monday Blues. Many shared similar pet peeves and otherwise. One that strikes out in particular to me is where music is ON as soon as you visit a blog or webpage. A huge NO to me. Very annoying. I mean, who could concentrate on reading with such disturbance? I’d rather hear it on MP3 or CD, thank you very much.

Reminiscing childhood

With each year flying by in a speed of light, I love reminiscing some of my favorite childhood memories. Memories of growing up in a joint family and spending quality time with the cousins, were the best time of my life. We all ate, played and studied together. There were no competitiveness. Just sheer fun, laughter and occasional tears. Memories often creep when I am looking for comfort after a long day, or simply missing many of my family and friends back in Malaysia.

I recalled playing many outdoor games together. There weren’t any indoor electronic gaming device those days. Well, there might have been Mario Brothers, played using a cartridge. But it was considered “luxury”. What is the fun of sitting on your butt whole day, while fingers bruised from excessive handling of the joystick? Its sad that many kids these days lock themselves indoor, occupied with electronic gaming devices. I am in no way blaming them. It’s a different era where technology has taken control of our lives. It definitely can’t be compared to being active outdoor, in the nature with friends, making wonderful memories together.

Hailing from Malaysia, we played many common (and otherwise) outdoor games. Let’s take a look at some of the games I enjoyed playing whilst growing up:

Hide and seek (Source)

Many of us are surely familiar with hide-and-seek. No matter how hot the weather was, it was never a reason not to get out in the sweltering heat to play with neighborhood kids.

That’s an easy one, right?

How about those that might be uncommon in your neck-of-woods?

Main getah –  sort of jumping ropes (Source)

Many rubber (elastic) bands is used to weave into a long string. It was played by testing one’s ability to jump over string in numerous heights. With hairy legs, I had my share of blisters playing this one. Sigh. Albeit painful, it was a great form of exercise, endurance, coupled with a rush of adrenaline. Good stuff.

Kite (Wau) flying (Source)

A kid with "wau" - a special kite

More than a game, kite or (wau) in our  neck of woods were such an interesting hobby. I recalled taking a class on wau making and afterwards, taking it for a test on the school field. First, I had trouble getting the wau to float up in the sky. Of course, when I finally got it up, it eventually dropped and got tangled in a tree. Well, at least I have the experience with kite flying. My version, of course. Well, you can’t expect perfection from a kid 😀

Congkak (Source)

Congkak is known as one of Malaysian’s traditional game. It is played with a congkak board, generally carved with mahogany or teak wood.

The word congkak is believed to originate from old Malay “congak“, meaning “mental calculation” which is mainly practiced in this game. It is regarded that an efficient player who mentally calculates a few steps in advance will have an advantage in collecting points to win the gameSource.

Marbles (Source)

We collected many marbles those days. It made our pockets heavy, or in many cases – torn! A game played by creating a border and hitting a single marble used as the “target”. It was usually played during recess 😀

Keting-Ting or Hopscotch (Source)

Hopscotch is played widely around the world. There are many variations in this game.

Batu seremban (Source)

Using smooth stones totaling 5, 7 or 9, the objective is to throw one stone and sweeping the rest while catching the one thrown earlier on. The more stones swept in one sitting, the higher chances of winning. Sounds easy, but it can be difficult to balance.

Gasing or Top spinning (Source)

I don’t recall playing a lot of “gasing“. Perhaps I perceived it more of a male game?

There you have it, a long list of many outdoor games I enjoyed during my childhood. The list is longer than what is outlined, but I wanted to give y’all the opportunity to enlighten me with your favorite childhood games. Ready, set, comment away 😀

{ 24 comments }

1 Saru Singhal October 3, 2011 at 3:26 PM

You brought back memories of good old days. We used to have loads of fun…Beautiful post!

2 Heavenly Housewife October 3, 2011 at 3:39 PM

I always hated any kind of sports except for swimming, which we could only do in the summer. For me, the best “game” was Barbies.
*kisses* HH
Heavenly Housewife recently posted..Pierre Herme Macarons Book Review + Herme for Dummies

3 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 5:38 PM

HH,
Barbies? I wish we could have afforded those, growing up 😀

4 Aakash Kokz October 3, 2011 at 10:32 PM

Wonderful post! The pics especially of marbles and top spinning reminded me of the beautiful childhood days.
Aakash Kokz recently posted..I Want The One

5 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 5:41 PM

Aakash,
Thanks for the compliments. I would say the best times in my life was during childhood. Nothing tops that 🙂

6 Liana Jacinta October 3, 2011 at 11:18 PM

babe.. i think i played getah with you, was in wau making class, played batu seremban, keting-ting… geesh, how I wish we could go back to those days just to relive it one more time!!!

7 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 5:42 PM

Babe! You are too funny! I agree. Wish there was a “time machine” of sort. Aahh.. those were the glorious days 😀

8 jayendra sharan October 4, 2011 at 1:29 AM

Well, in childhood, we tried to show ourselves as more mature than really we were, we did not like to play games you mentioned, except one or two, considering it was either for girls or for small kids (i was kid too but with lots of mind i guess 😛 😛 😛 ). So, we used to play cricket, football and badminton, and about those who played these kind of games you mentioned, we considered them younger…kid’s mind 🙂
Needless to say you brought back memories 🙂
jayendra sharan recently posted..Birthdays 🙂

9 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 6:57 PM

Jayendra,
More mature? Even when you were less than 10 years old? Boy, that’s a tough childhood 😉 so much competition! This post served as a reminder of childhood memories, not teenage games 😉

10 Destination Infinity October 4, 2011 at 1:54 AM

We played more types of games than one could imagine – Golf(!), Cycle racing (Slow), Gilli-danda, French Cricket, Ice boys, Risk, and the list will just go on……….. Maybe I should write about some of them in my blog.

Destination Infinity
Destination Infinity recently posted..Government Egmore Museum in Chennai

11 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 6:58 PM

DI,
You should write about those childhood games. Would love to read it 🙂

12 Rosa October 4, 2011 at 2:10 PM

I remember playing jumping rope/elastic a lot when I was a child! That was my favorite game back then.

Cheers,

Rosa

13 carolinaheartstrings October 4, 2011 at 6:17 PM

Great post with great pictures. Thanks for sharing the memories.
carolinaheartstrings recently posted..MOM VS. BREAST CANCER

14 Rochelle October 5, 2011 at 10:10 AM

Great post. Thanks for reminding me of all my childhood memories. Hide and seek was my fav, and I loved marbles!

15 Gayatri October 5, 2011 at 11:26 AM

Hide n seek and hopscotch were my favorites. Especially since I was a hopscotch pro! Great post Kiran. Brought back a lot of memories 🙂
Gayatri recently posted..Recent Read: Henna for the Broken-Hearted

16 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 7:20 PM

Gayatri,
Thanks honey! Glad to know you were a hopscotch pro 🙂

17 chopinandmysaucepan October 7, 2011 at 1:01 AM

This is quite hilarious and you really transported me back to my childhood in Kuala Lumpur, especially with the marbles and top!
chopinandmysaucepan recently posted..Day 7 ‘Get Your Jelly On’: Antipasto pyramid with rocket salad

18 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 7:21 PM

I am so glad this post brought back great memories of KL 🙂

19 Katy October 8, 2011 at 7:36 AM

Hide and seek. Refreshing my memories!
Those were the days…
Katy recently posted..Physical Therapist Assistant

20 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 7:16 PM

Katy,
Welcome to Chatterbox and thanks for commenting 🙂 I am glad this post had you back into those childhood memories..

21 Harsha October 9, 2011 at 2:20 AM

Lovely post! 🙂 I played hide and seek many a times. But, most of my childhood I played on my computer and I still do. Sigh! I Never experienced outdoor games as much.

22 Kiran October 11, 2011 at 7:21 PM

Harsha,
Most of your childhood you played on computer? Gal, you are missing the outdoors!

23 Simply Life October 9, 2011 at 8:02 AM

oh I’m loving those old photos!
Simply Life recently posted..How To Create a Healthy, Inexpensive Comfort Meal: Vegetable Pot Pie

24 sujatha sathya October 9, 2011 at 9:27 AM

childhoods are so wonderful 🙂

lovely snap there Kiran
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