The “lovely & mighty”carrom board!

I grew up in a house full of siblings and sundry cousins, some staying with us and some coming over for visits. Needless to say, much chaos happened during summer vacations and it was a mammoth task for all sets of parents to ensure that the kids are occupied “constructively “ and generally, kept out of the way of adults. This would often result in them buying us books, board games, taking us out on trips, enrolling us for classes, organising play dates & picnics and a whole lot of other activities including forced “afternoon naps”.

As time passed by, the mode of entertainment and the ways one would keep oneself busy during summer vacations, changed.All of us discovered what we liked to do and what we would not do even if bribed to do! As a result, adults no longer had to intervene and we were conveniently on our own. So, while my sister found her calling in the “artsy” things, my brother discovered that he would rather be out of the house than be caught interacting with the other kids in the house – after all, it would be such a shame for him to be caught doing that if his friends dropped over suddenly!

Some of my cousins, who were my age, would visit us during summer vacations and we would do the usual things that kids do – play hide &seek, read comics, go out for walks in the park, fight with each other, watch TV, play board games like monopoly, ludo and the likes.However, much to my dismay, I discovered that I had a similar amount of liking and disliking for everything that I did. So, while I enjoyed reading , I would get bored if I had to do that for more than 20 minutes.Similarly,while I loved to play board games, I would obviously lose interest if I was not able to win. TV held little attraction for me ( even as a kid) and being one of the youngest of the lot, I could not even indulge in and spend time fighting with elder siblings as they would invariably have an upper hand .

I was, therefore, a source of concern for my parents who had to keep thinking of new ways to keep me entertained and occupied. However, one fine day, God decided to settle their dilemma forever. I discovered an old forgotten carrom board lying somewhere and after lot of cajoling and convincing and crying and tantrum-throwing, I managed to pursue my brother to teach me how to play carrom.That was it! Not only I, the entire brat pack got hooked on to it from that day onwards. We would play carrom for whole days and nights and not bother parents with any demands except for never-ending supplies of Boric acid.

Soon, the adult population also got engulfed by carrom fever and I think, the simple yet interesting game of carrom became a much loved daily ritual in my home .Much family bonding happened over endless game sessions and brought lots of fun, togetherness, laughter and joy to all. This went on for a couple of years before other things took over and left one with practically no time to indulge in such simple pleasures in life.

Cut to present, some of my team members in office organised a carrom competition in the team. And after playing a couple of matches, I can see that the power of this simple board game has not diminished any bit over the years. It still brings the same joy, laughter and fun to all as it did in childhood. Team members ,who would otherwise, not bother to look at each other, were suddenly found campaigning for and colluding with each other, if paired together as partners .The whole team experienced a new sense of camaraderie and bonding over the matches spread over a week or so – something unparalleled in its achievement when compared to the fancy “team building “exercises that one hears of these days.!Really, who needs those complex outdoor icebreakers and trainings and offsite meetings to build a strong bonding between the team members when the mighty carrom board is there!