Rural games enthrall children, elders

As one draws closer, the noise of drums, pipes, whistles and cheer only explained that traditional sports are popular with the children, youth and women here.
Children were seen taking part in tyre chasing, pulling their companions with ‘spathe puller.’ Given the pace of the game it proved to be a big draw.

No less popular is ‘lagori’, a game where one team tries to build a tower of small stone slabs while the other team tries to prevent it by striking the first team’s players with a ball. Women were seen chasing creeper-made tyres (‘maaderi booru’ in Tulu) and were seem to be enjoying the game. “We used to play this game when we were children. However, now it is fast disappearing and our children have no idea of it,”  said a woman participant.

‘Gaamatebedi’ (a traditional gun), wherein one has to put wet paper balls or certain wild nuts into a bamboo shoot and push them with a thin stick to get the sound of a cracker. Interestingly, there will be no waste of money, no pollution!
Pulling ‘gaadi’ made of circular wooden slices was also a new source of pleasure for children.

Crowd pullers
As it was second Saturday, the Sammelana proved a mega crowd puller. Thousands of people seen rushing towards the convention venue from the early morning.
Traffic jams were a common scene, especially from the direction of Mangalore. The buses plying towards Ujire were jam packed throughout the day.

Compared to the last two days, the crowd had almost doubled on Saturday. The crowd is expected increase further on Sunday, the last of the convention. In fact, ‘Atilda Aragane’ (the rural food festival) and the ‘Tulugrama’ were the major crowd magnets. As the crowd began to rise, more number of volunteers were sent to these venues facilitating smooth movement of the visitors.

At  ‘Atilda Aragane,’ there was great demand for ‘Basale pundi’ prepared by Navachethana Jnanavikasa Kendra of Kadaba, Noojibalthila. The  ‘Basale pundi’ got over within half an hour. Organisers said more than a lakh people have visited the ‘Atilda Aragane’ so far. The stalls were kept open till 11 pm to clear the rush. The visitors could avail any cuisine of their choice for just Rs 5 per item.