Disclaimer: These thoughts are only for satire and are not to be taken to heart.
People world over have seen Indians closely and continue to see them as they are now probably seen in every country of the world. Indians or Desis as they are known come across as very harmless or timid bunch for the most part who do not indulge in other people’s matters and at times even stay away from mainstream confined to their own herd.
People who grew up in India or for that matter, subcontinent or anywhere in a Desi household would attest to the fact that there are some desi traits which are hard to leave behind. These desi traits travel the world where people go.
I have always done an analysis of how these behavioral traits get woven in our daily fabric and how they become one’s second nature. I looked at few games which have their roots in the desi culture and upon carefully studying the nuances, how these have striking resemblances to the daily desi life. How some of the characteristics of a desi person (gender independent) get embedded in development of these games. Scope of my analysis included Kabaddi, Kho-Kho, Lagori/Satodu/Pitthu and the origin of Chess.
I am sure everyone has spent time with desis more than once in their life, be it professional or recreational. As I said earlier, desis are a relatively low maintenance, low hindrance, almost no nuisance types and love to keep to themselves. They are competitive yet collaborative but with not with their own tribe. Desis remind you of those herds which return to their homes at the end of a grazing tour and to an outsider, would seem like walking with each other. But what an outsider tends to overlook is the unity in diversity, a phrase rather abused in the subcontinent.
Typical mindset of desis revolves around working in a group but guess what, desis work better in a group when they collaborate to stop the third person from moving forward, a trait which is the foundation of Kabaddi or Hu Tu Tu. The game was designed where one person goes to the location of the other team and how they gang up against the one. More detailed analysis and you will see how no other countries had thought of inventing a game like this.
A game like kho-kho for instance, there are multiple variations but the common premise if the same. While the world of athletics has seen the members of the team sharing the baton, kho-kho is built on the other super trait of desis – passing the buck. Desis love to pass the buck figuratively not literally. They excel in this characteristic. In Kho-kho, members of the team instead of completing the task end up passing the buck while they take their spot.
Game like lagori which has multiple names across the entire country and is one of the most popular games of India as like Kabaddi and Kho-Kho, benefits from zero cost and can be played anywhere in the open area. In Lagori, one of the team breaks the seven stone tower and other team tries to stop them from putting it back together.
Last but not the least, game of Shatranj or chess was originated in India and now this game is played all over the globe and Russians and Chinese are even better chess exponents than the Indians. But this is again is the best strategy game to come out of Indian stables and most importantly, chess had its formations in an ancient Indian war line-up and how the opposing armies compete in a battlefield. Obviously, this is one of the easiest games to setup and one of the most popular brain stimulating Indian game to come out.
