INTRODUCTION:

For a very long time, I must say from ancient times, different sports are played in every corner of the world. At that time sports were played for entertainment purposes and to show who is stronger than whom. This thing is not changed in today’s sports scenarios but now it is more than that, it is about showing their true self to them. But as the sports has developed and many new sports are coming up in today’s world. People are forgetting about the old games that our father, mother, and grandparents have played in their time, there are lots of games that no one plays now or very few people use to play it one such game is ‘GILLI DANDA’ or ‘GULLI DANDA’.

GRANDPARENTS STORIES:

Whenever you go to your grandparents or whenever you ask your parents about what they used to play in their childhood, they tell you the games that they used to play and story about them like, kanchey, pitthu, stapu, etc. and many other games some time they tell you the games that we have never listen to the name of that game but they have grown up playing this games, we don’t know this games because we have never played it or they have been buried in time and now no one wants to play them. But did you ever notice that one game they always played and mentioned in their story was ‘gilli danda’? Our parents and our grandparents always used to play this game on the ground and spent hours playing it. They often mention that he and his friends every day play gilli danda and when they get tired they use to drink ‘nimbu panni’ in summer times. They use to tell that “those were the days when we use to play gilli danda on fields. Nowadays children use to play cricket and football and other sports. Every generation is playing games of their time. But isn’t it's better if we relive our old games and play them with our parents and grandparents? What do you think?

‘GILLI- DANDA’ HISTORY:

Gilli Danda is a game which is not only played in India but around the world, it is played in Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Cuba, and Italy.

Gillii danda was played back in the times of the Mauryan Empire. At that time people play this game with their family members and royal friends, but latter on this game become so popular that it is played by everyone, this is the reason why the royal family stops playing the game and it become the common people game played by everyone because of its simple rules and simple playing.

The playing of the game continues after the end of Empire. After the geographic boundaries were drawn India gets divided into many parts and new countries emerged. After the partition of the countries, people didn’t forget to play the game. The game was continued by the natives of the country. It was spread from India and went to other countries. People call it by different names in their native language like; in Bangladesh, it is Danguli, Dandi-Biyo in Nepal, Lappa-Dungi in Afghanistan, and Pullu in Sri Lanka, Billarda in Spain, in Italy its Lippa, Pee-Wee in the United States. Like this, it is spread around the world with different names but the rules are not rigid in this game, every country has its own rule every people who play this game make their own rules. People play this game today also but not too many people play it. If we go to village areas it is possible to see children playing gill danda but in city areas, it is very rare.

LET’S PLAY NOW:

The game of gilli danda is simple basically there is no rule that you have to play in teams. For playing you need to stick one small and oval shape called ‘gilli’ and one long one called ‘danda’. The gilli is placed on a rock or in a small hole in a see-saw position in a 4 diameter circle, the fielder team stands in a position to catch the gilli. The batsman hits the raised end of the gilli and hits it in the air. If the fielder catches the gilli the batsman is out. If the fielder misses it batsman gets another chance. Fielder though the gilli towards the batsman and the batsman has to hit it, if he misses he has to raise the gilli from the ground from his danda and hit it. Batsman gets three chances, if he is not able to his the gilli he is out. It is just like a baseball. The aspects of the run are similar to cricket and baseball, batsmen have to run to the pre-agreed point. At last, the team with high runs wins the game.

WHAT CHANGED:

What changed in years and why gilli danda start vanishing from India? As long as I thought about this reason I came to know different answers to the question. But the main reason I think g is the rule of British that changed everything before the rule of British the game of gilli danda was played by people of India. When the British come to India they don’t like the game of gilli danda and they substituted it with cricket to get more entertainment and slowly Indians also start loving the game stop playing gilli danda, and here we are one of the best teams in cricket but the point is not that. We all have seen ‘lagan’ in which the English people demand to play cricket. In which they are best at, then why not Indians demand for the gilli danda. The reason is that English people wanted to play cricket and wanted that Indians also play cricket for any reason.

WHAT HAPPEN NOW:

The game has become very unpopular but is still played in some parts of the country and in some village areas there are some people who like to play gilli danda and there are some bodies which are keeping them alive ‘gilli danda international federation’ and ‘Indian gilli danda federation’ are some bodies are keeping it alive.

If you want to play gilli danda just find some friend or your brother or sister or take your grandparents with you, it is better to play with them rather listen to their old days' stories.

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