" Amma naan vilayaada poren" "Intha cofeeyai kudichuttu enge venumnaalum poi tholai". This will change depending upon the time i say i am going out to play. When i come out on the street there already will be three or four boys who had decided what we should we play on that day. And the decision depends on who is there on that day. If the person who owns a cricket bat is there then it will be cricket on that day. if a person who owns a tennis ball is there then it will be Pullayar Pandhu. If a person who owns lot of marbles is there then it will be the game called "Bendha". If no such persons are available then it will be "Thorattu kuchi" which all of us will be having. Except cricket all other things will be played in our street itself. Cricket will be played in the midst of river cauvery where the clay forms a ground like structure called "Thittu". The centre of the pitch will be in that thittu at a higher level. The space in the thittu was not sufficient to place all the fielders. So only wicket keeper, bowler, two slips, leg slip and short leg will be in the thittu. all other fielders will be standing away at the sand. At times the head of the long on fielder will be even to the top of the thittu. This will lead to anomalous situations. A batsman will hit the ball at his ankle hight. When it reaches the fielder it will over his head leading to easy catch. The leg umpire has to decide whether the ball touched the ground. At times we used to play cricket ball matches. Then the rules of the game will be changed to suit our conditions. First conditions there will be two captains. One captain is called winning captain. Normally the person who owns a bat will be appointed in this position. He will sign the score card if we win the match. The other will be losing captain. Normally he will be the person who is in the team at the mercy of the winning captain and mostly will be the 12th man. He will be given a chance to field whenever the captain feels little bit tired. This happens when the team is on the verge of losing. There will be groves surrounding the thittu. they will be little bit away from the pitch. Second condition is whoever is hitting the ball into the grove will be given ten minutes. If he is not able to retrieve the ball within that time the team is considered lost. So most of the people will refrain from hitting sixers. Moreover, the team to which the batsman belongs has to replace the ball with a new one. Unfortunately you may have to go to thanjavur for purchase of a new ball as the ball was not available in Thirukkattupalli at that time. This involves additional cost and few people have to guts to tell their parents that they have to go to Thanjavur for this purpose. One team has to bring the bat and the other has to bring the ball. No lunch or drinks will be provided by any team. The teams have to bring their own score card and declare the names of the team members in the previous evening itself. Only at the most extraordinary circumstances the teams will be permitted to make one or two changes. There is an unwritten law that always in any match the ball owner will be the opening bowler ( he may even bowl underarn) and the bat owner will be the opening batsman. Normally the match will be played till one team wins. In the event of a call from home for the owner of the bat or ball in the midst of the match, the match will be continued on the next holiday unless otherwise exams are on the way.

My father who is 90 now, used to say that my grand children are intelligent. They dont waste their energy by going out in the sun to play. He does not know that my grand children are playing their games in PC and Mobile ‪#‎rskpolambals‬#