Women playing a game of Helkustinda!

As I sat down on a bench at Bangalore's lovey Cubbon Park after a long and tiring day in the city, I almost dozed off. But the silent giggle of the uncle sitting in front of me woke me up. He was looking right at me and laughing out loud, but on closer inspection realised that he was not looking at me but looking past me! And now I could hear some more giggles, of women and children which filled up the open space of the garden :)

Women playing tug-of-war in Bangalore!

As I turned around, I saw something that I had never quite seen before. There was a family having a ball on a Saturday evening. While the boring men of the family sat in the corner and played with their phones, the women got together with the kids and were having the best possible time. Ever!

As the team on the left won the first round in tug-of-war, the team on the right felt challenged to do better than the last time and played multiple more rounds! They lost every time but I loved the enthusiasm with which they got up from the ground and quickly got ready for the next round!



Enjoy some pictures of their fun times together :)

All energies are into the game :)

...till one of the teams lost the grip!

And fell flat on the ground :)

By the way did you know that tug of war is an ancient game which was played by Egyptians, Greeks and Chinese? It was believed that Sun and Moon play tug of war over light and darkness. The game was called Helkustinda by the Greeks (and hence the title of the post), and was quite a serious sport back then!

The game was also popular in India in the 12th century, especially in the Eastern part of the country. There are carvings on the walls of Konark's Sun temple which depict the game in actions :)