Mygooi an Event management company organized an event on the 2500 year old Indian game “Gilli-Danda” at City Center in Chennai on 13th May 2014.
Gilli-Danda is an amateur sport played in the rural areas and small towns all over Bangladesh, India and Pakistan as well as Cambodia and Italy. The game is played with two sticks. Large one called a danda, which is used to hit a smaller one, the gilli.
Gilli Danda is an ancient sport of India, possibly with origins over 2500 years ago. It is believed to be the origin of Western games such as cricket, baseball and softball.
“Gilli Danda” is played with two pieces of equipment – a danda, being a long wooden stick, and a gilli, a small oval-shaped piece of wood.
Standing in a small circle, the player balances the gilli on a stone in an inclined manner (somewhat like a see-saw) with one end of the gilli touching the ground while the other end is in the air. The player then uses the danda to hit the gilli at the raised end, which flips it into the air. While it is in the air, the player strikes the gilli, hitting it as far as possible. Having struck the gilli, the player is required to run and touch a pre-agreed point outside the circle before the gilli is retrieved by an opponent. This aspect of the game is similar to runs in cricket or home-runs in baseball.
There is no official maximum number of players or teams. Gilli-danda can be played where each individual plays for themselves, or between two teams.
As generation keeps changing, parents encourage children to show interest on games that are given importance on TV Channels. Obviously children prefer to give importance to Cricket, Tennis, and Badminton. Few children play Football. Nowadays, children are becoming lazy and very much interested to play video games on TV or Computers.
To create an awareness on the ancient Indian game “Gilli-Dand”, “Mygooi” an event management company organized the game at City Center in Chennai. Hundreds of people of both sexes consisting of students, youths, office goers and few old aged people participated and played “Gilli-Danda”. The staffs of “Mygooi” were seen wearing Polo Neck Banians named “Mygooi” on it.
This event really created an interest and awareness for many to play the ancient “Gilli-Danda” game.
