Nabiha Tahsin Nuha

Childhood games: Memories to cherish Part-1 Nabiha Tahsin Nuha “Old is gold”- this longevous quote itself holds a very special place in our heart. Even though we all grow up someday, we never miss an opportunity to reminiscence about those days when we were free from every responsibility. We surely want to go back to the past again and live those happy moments which were mostly connected to that time, when we had plenty of scopes to play our favorite games with our friends and family members. Our childhood days were generally full of these interesting activities. However, situation has changed now. Today’s generation is much more devoted to play online games than going outside. Thus, all these games are now residing in our memories as they are on the verge of extinction due to online games and its attentive players. So, to revive those golden days, we are going to make a series of those games and this is the very first segment of it. All the games that had made our childhood more interesting were mostly folk games. These folk games really did make a difference in our urban lives. Mostly, during the evening, all the kids used to come at the playground and play different games, such as- “Lukochuri” (Hide & seek), “Kanamachi” (Blind bee), “Borof Pani” and so on. Among them, one of the most interesting was- “Kanamachi”. This game was not only popular in village areas but also kids from city used to fully enjoy this. To play this game, minimum 2 players are needed. However, the more people involve in this game, the more interesting it becomes. This amusement is exceptionally comparable to blind man’s bluff. One player has a scarf tied circular his or her eyes. The other players move like ‘bees' around the 'blind' player. The bees delicately strike the daze player, recounting the rhyme: “Kanamachi bhon bhon, jaake pabi take chon (Buzzing dazzle bee! Touch us if you can!)”. The blind player tries to catch or tag one of the bees. The player who gets tagged by the 'blind' player, becomes the blind bee within the another circular. Since this game cannot be played in one place, every player has to run in order to save themselves. Thus, it not only gives amusement but also helps to build up muscle and making blood circulation more efficient. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, kids nowadays are more into online games than playing physically which makes them unfit bodily and mentally. Since technology has improved so much, parents do also rely on giving their children a mobile phone rather than encouraging them to play outside. This becomes a serious case once they grow up as their eyesight becomes blurry and they cannot focus on anything except online games. It also makes them aggressive and mentally disturbed. According to an article published on the “Daily Sun”, “It is found that the children who stay connected with the sun even a little, have their eyesight better than those who stay inside, let alone those kids who are busy with software games.” (Rahman, 2018). Therefore, it’s extremely important for parents to give access to phone or any sort of gaming devices to their children only if they don’t play it excessively. Also, children should be encouraged to play outside with other kids and this can be done by teachers as well. Thus, these kids won’t grow up as machines but as humans. Childhood is one of the best times of everyone’s life. Most people reminiscence their childhood memories when they grow up. Though those days never come back, but memories do. So, it’s really important for the kids specially, to enjoy the best days of their lives as much as they can. So that, after being an adult, on one midnight, they can also cherish those days and continue living their life to the fullest.