KREEDA’S PLANS

Kreeda sees the need for a great deal of effort to research these games, their history, origin and rules.

• Efforts are on to co-ordinate with old age homes to try and tap childhood memories of the aged. After all we have a lot to learn from them. This not only teaches us new games but also gives us an insight into the role games played in the lives of the people. This information has been carefully documented.
• Kreeda has is in touch with many NGOs working in rural and tribal areas to tap these pockets where the games are more likely to survive
• Kreeda also hopes to involve the media in an effort to have both children and adults help in research. Children could be encouraged to speak to their grandparents about games they played. This will also serve the purpose of building a bond between children and their grandparents.
• Efforts are also on to document some of the old songs which were sung with the games as they add to the overall experience.

Kreeda makes an appeal to all those who can remember these old games to come forward and share their experiences as many of these games are in danger of being forgotten.

REVIVAL – KREEDA’S AIMS

Kreeda realizes the need to make these games available to children. Research alone will not suffice. People must start playing these games again. From this context, Kreeda has designed developed and marketed about 16 games and plans are on to develop many many more.

Kreeda also realizes the importance of reviving not only the games, but the spirit in which they were played.

• Our traditional games were by and large environment friendly. They were not bought on the store but were played with material available around us.
• These were games played not by children alone but by families together. Young and old would share the experience which ended with laughter and cleared the air and soothed the emotions.

To Kreeda, this spirit of play is as important as the games themselves. At Kreeda we have a mantra – Did you Kreeda today? Here Kreeda has come to mean more than just the game but a game played in the spirit that our traditional games were played.

CREATING AWARENESS

Kreeda has been conducting doing a series of workshops in schools and lecture demonstrations for a number of groups of people.

Workshop for the School Teachers 

Workshops for children at Schools sponsored by the Hindu Newspaper in Education Programme: 

Interschool competition for schools in three games – Aadu Puli Aatam, Pallanguzhi and Tamarind seeds

Lecture - Demonstration

• Indira Nagar Ladies Club
• International Women’s Association
• Avvai Kalai Kazhagam – A group for women and children in Royapuram - Chennai

A stall at Mylapore Festival conducted by Mylapore Times

INTER- SCHOOL COMPETITION

For perhaps the first time, an interschool competition was conducted on traditional Indian games. This was sponsored by The Hindu - Young World as part of its Newspaper in Education Programme. Held on March 1, 2002 at the Amethyst in Chennai, nine schools participated in the competition. Workshops had been conducted at these schools earlier in the year. The competition was based on three games selected to challenge a variety of skills in the children.

• The first game was Aadu Puli Aatam. This is a strategy game requiring concentration, thinking and planning.
• The second game was a version of Pallanguzhi called Seethaipandi. This is a speed game and tests the child's reflexes and nimbleness.
• The third game involved blowing and picking tamarind seeds. While the other two games required some prior practice this could be picked up immediately.

The enthusiasm of the children was infectious and it was greatly rewarding to watch the teachers and children play the games while awaiting their turn. 

What Kreeda had to do in addition to organizing the event was to formulate certain tournament rules regarding duration, draw etc. A lot of research and effort went into this and the event was a success. 

The success of the event has made us at Kreeda anxious to conduct more such programmes in an effort to revive traditional games.
Would you be interested in contacting us for workshops,

Contact

Address: 755, Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002.

Phone : 28591791/2/3; 28591784; 28528730; 28555573; 28524725 
(weekdays between 9.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.)

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