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The world has changed a lot before my eyes. When I was young, I never thought I will be going out of Cuddalore to study and work. At Cuddalore, I was a normal kid playing kittipul, cricket, thief games and all the fun of playing on the riverside. The world to me was extremely small with all the playful stuff. I was never heard of competition. The school was even more fun because there wasn’t much rigorous competition in studies.But it was 10th standard public examination which changed my fate.
Now, I study at NTU, Singapore. I go back to Cuddalore, my friends say I still remember the same Tamil I used to speak to them. But to my eyes, there are so much of change happened in Cuddalore. I don't see young people playing traditional games like kittipul, Koli, thief games and all other games. They have totally forgotten those games and sports, moved to video games and computer games. Internet penetration is also high in villages in Tamil Nadu. It is really good to see a lot of young children using internet jargons at young age. I get to use computer only at 10th standard but I am still privileged compared to millions of Indians.
There is obviously nothing to lament but something is irking me because we tend to move totally from our traditional values. Cuddalore used to have a lot of medieval monuments but those are destroyed to construct new buildings. We are not preserving our ancient culture or monuments to show the young generations how the old generations have suffered and eke out for living. If we do that, there will be enough inspiration for young people to act that will overcome the complacency. It is good to see India changing at the fastest rate.
Well, firstly i disagree that there was no or little competition among children when you were young. Being born in a more remote village than you, I would say that the competitiveness among the children in my place was very high.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I would put forward for the diminishing of traditional games is the inevitability of Globalization. When I returned to my village last month, I could not recognize many over there as many have started to find new avenues, moving to cities and traveling overseas. As such, the population size in villages are shrinking and as a result, there aren't many who are willing to take up the traditional games that you have mention earlier.
Well the only game that I feel that is surviving in tamil nadu villages is the Cricket... Even then not many are playing it as a leisure like I used to when I was young...
Whirlwinds of change- we need to get used to it! :P
ReplyDelete@maran I agree with u on the perception of change but I disagree with u on the competitive levels in village. These days villages are getting shattered, there is absolutely no hope because people are moving to cities and also facilities provided to villages are also diminishing.
ReplyDelete@velan: As a whole, kids playtime is much lesser than it was before. Keeping our traditions alive is good, but moving with the times is important too. People are moving to the cities in search of livelihood and better lifestyle. This has been happening like forever.
ReplyDeleteTake our own lives for instance, most of blogging here are staying in Indian metros or abroad away from parents. Is that good or bad? There have been many days when I wished for not only me, but for all my cousins to live in the same city like our parents' times. Sadly, that's not gonna happen. Development will take its natural toll.
I am not against the development that why I ended the entry by saying there is nothing to lament but we can protect some of our traditional buildings or games.I totally agree with your migration concept and it will never end unless we do something to villages.
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