Reading about the games of dice made me nostalgic. I remember the summer holidays when I and mom would go to my grandparents’ house. I would get bored in the noon (stepping out in the summer heat was not even an option), so we would sit and play board games.
Sometimes it was me and grandpa and other times it was with my cousins (two of them). My mother bought this big chart for me- we call it Vaikuntapali in Telugu. It’s basically the Snakes & Ladders. The other side had ludo, called Ashta Chemma (I’ll come back to this one later).
With cooler in full blast, we would sit on the floor fighting over choosing our favorite colors as chips. The game would go on for two or three hours with bickering, pouting and laughing thrown in. Mom or aunt would make some juice for us and sit reading a magazine or doing embroidery (my aunt was amazing with a needle).
But we did not use the dice always. We instead had shells- four big brown shells of equal size. The count would invariably change. It was 1, 2, 3, 4 & 8. The 4’s & 8’s got double chances just like the 6’s in dice. And this is where the ludo comes in. Ashta is 8 and Chemma is 4.
Ludo is, of course, a strategic game where we have to escape from being killed, kill the opponents’ chips and reach the house first to win. We were pretty competitive. There were times we would fight like monkeys and swear not to talk to each other. The fact that we would go out together barely an hour after the fight was entirely a different matter. Sometimes, they would coax and drag me along (I was the most stubborn).
Talking about Ashta Chemma always makes me smile. You see, there is a movie of the same name. It is a rom-com with more emphasis on comedy. It is a lovely film to watch and laugh until our tummies ache. The comedy is clean and refreshing. The director was influenced by Oscar Wilde and it shows on screen.
The storyline is pretty simple with melodious songs. The movie was shot half in the city and half in a village in Andhra. With four main characters and a bunch of side characters and decidedly no negative roles, the movie is as good as the evening breeze.
I and my sister (cousin) went to watch this movie during a trip for her brother’s marriage. We had our favorite mini onion samosas, dilpasand (it’s a jam and nuts stuffed bun) and Pepsi to give us company as we laughed in the cinema theater and on our way home.
Life during holidays was entirely a different experience and I do miss it sometimes.
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ReplyDeleteLudo was our favorite game too in summer break when my aunt and cousins visited.We played late into the night despite dad's yelling. You bring those memories back to me.
ReplyDeletesara
Thank you. :)
DeleteHolidays are so much fun.
Ludo was my favourite summer game. My cousins and I used to play it (and Rummy) endlessly. This was a lovely memory of the games you played, and I especially loved how you gave us the Telugu variants of them. And using shells to count reminded me of when the astrologer would come to my grandmother's house and read all our horoscopes using a chalk-drawn chart and a handful of seashells. Weaving in glimpses of your mother and aunt was a nice way to anchor the events within your family.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Asha. :)
DeleteWe played Rummy as well. I omitted adding it here. ;)
My grandpa was very good at cards.