Seven Stoned!

Thanks to a bunch of super hypers, after 9 long years I was lugged back to the wonderful world of the game of Seven Stones, (or as it is otherwise known, Lagori or something to that effect). Saturday morning was a morning of dark skies, extreme rain, a dimension sans the intellect, inhibitions, vekkams , hey-shy-is-coming-ya, and other things in that genre. The spirited screams, the victory dances, the team cheers, and the millions of slippery accidents served as a major entertainment element for the whole of Clementi Block 319 and possibly some of its neighbours. Like bharatmatrimoney ads {not STF; age, state, job (or the lack thereof, as it is evident from this blog post embellished with details in brackets following the BODMAS rule) NO BAR}, there were new players (:O) who were nevertheless excited to learn the game and were given orientation by champions with expertise from having played in teams of 10 people each and the experience from various leagues and associations( the ‘KK Nagar 4^th Sec 17^th St Rowdy Boys & Homely Girl’ , ‘Bangalore College Rainy Day Rolling in the Puddle Games Association’). New rules were being jogged from the memory in every round and new guidelines and subsequent arguments followed, wasting a lot of time but adding masala to the already loud drama. But I wanted to write down the principle and guidelines of the game before I play it after another decade when we are all Thoppa Mama s and megaserial housewives so that we can refer to my superblog instead of trying to remember the rules with sentences starting with “Nanga lam kozhandaya irukarche epdi aaduvom therimaaaa…… ?” and then discover new rules and fight about them yet again. Let this serve as the sole guiding light for the generations to come. These are of course not super steadfast and can be changed according to taste, like salt in a cooking recipe.

« PROJECT TITLE : Rules and Guidelines for Rainy Day Seven Stones» Submitted by « Sneha V» U059624N Graduate Body Ex- Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Not at all in connection with The partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Engineering National University of Singapore

ABSTRACT « A short summary of the project emphasising the novelty of the approach adopted, the actual work performed and the important results obtained in preferably one paragraph and no more than 300 words. » << Seven Stones is a traditional Indian game, boasting of a special place in the Indian Culture, spread over a wide region even today. This project outlining the rules has been explored, experimented , concluded and presented with always the end result in the mind – in this case, player satisfaction. This approach hopes to grasp the blah blah of the blah and serves as an innovative technique to blah. Blah. Only the results are important. Sh.>> ACKNOWLEDGMENTS « Give acknowledgment to any advisory or financial assistance received in the course of your work. » The author would like to express her sinceret gratitude towards to the unknown founders of this sacred game and her parents who let her serenade the street practising it, the Govt. Of Tamil Nadu for a traffic free 17th street, and the 1000 pits which made it challenging and in the process transformed into the most englightening learning path, her 100000 jobless friends who embarked on this journey with her. Thank you again, without you all I would not have been where I am today. LIST OF FIGURES: <1 figure, right next to the paragraph ‘Procedure’, from some website.> LIST OF SYMBOLS AND ABBREVIATIONS: <NONE> LIST OF TABLES: <NONE> LITERATURE REVIEW: < NO, NEVER.>

Player Qualificashuns:

1. Name, age, class, gender, language, caste, subcaste, creed, marital status, sexual orientation, annual income, CITIZENSHIP, country of birth, Class of Honours, CAP, GPA, 10^th marks, 12^th marks, CCAs, work experience – NO BAR . Anyone can play this game. In fact from previous experiential episodes, 5 year olds are the sneakiest to complete the game as it is an unexpected genius strategy given their ability to run through players legs swiftly and the gift to bawl the loudest when they are ‘out’ ed by the defenders of the Sacred Stones.
2. Dress code: Strictly no long skirts, wrap arounds, loose pyjamas, flowy dresses billowing in the wind, Marilyn Monroe skirts, Veshtis, Lungis or anything of the category unless adorned in Raj Kiran shtyle (folded above the knees).
3. Team Spirit: This is a purely team game and so every player must scream and bawl and possess thee kuliching patriotism and provide encouragement for the team. Remember, your teammate is always right, if he says he ’s not out, you swear you saw with your 2 perfectly functional eyes that he’s not out.
4. Decent Aim: The ball you throw must fairly hit the target or at least fall in the vicinity.
5. Force: Hit it with all the enthusiasm you can muster and give your 100 %, otherwise you’ll end up being an Uppuku chappa (‘every child is special’).
6. Eye contact: This is a major mode of communication (other than in rare cases of telepathy), and make sure you understand what your teammate is trying to tell you, and where to move.
7. Free time: Easily available with everyone, especially now with the recession and all.
8. Resourcefulness: Find means of playing the game no matter what – the passing vehicles, the cursing neighbours, the barking dogs, the bruises, accidents , falls , lack of materials.
9. Steel Body: The ability to withstand the physical violence and savage madness.

Equipment Needed:

1. A Ball: Tennis or the rubber kinds.
2. 7 stones: If not, suitable substitutes. (In the Great Game of 30^th May, 2009 at the Clementi block 319 badminton court, the irritatingly clean landscape provided no means to find stones and hence a pile of slippers was used instead: the material – or the smell, does not matter. Only the desire to win does.)
3. Minimum 2 players in each team. But it is much more fun with a lot more.

Procedure:

1. Players can adopt one of the numerous methods currently already in use for the process of selection of the captains and the teams ( Sha Boo 3, Ingy Pingy Pongy, oh god please tell me, etc… ) .New avenues in this area is also highly recommended.
2. After the teams have been selected, the toss is carried out, either using a coin or using the popular stone method, especially for the pocket-money deprived. One of the players holds a small stone in his hands and skilfully rotates his arm round and round in order to deceive the player of the opposition to lose track of the stone in his closed palms. The opposing team player then has to guess if the stone is still in or out. If he or she is right, that team can choose to defend or attack the stones. If not, this privilege goes to the other team.
3. The seven stones are piled on top each other within a circle and the defending team is in position wicket keeping behind the stones and each player of the attacking team lines up behind a crease line which is an appropriate distance away from the pile of stones, and has 3 chances to hit the pile of stones with the ball (Under or Overams) to disturb it.
4. If all the chances are over, then the defending and attacking team interchange places and continue to play, with 1 point for the formerly defending team in view of the worstu aiming skills of the formerly attacking team.
5. As soon as the ball disturbs the pile of stones, the defenders catch hold of the ball and try to get the opposing players ‘out’ by hitting them with the ball below their knee, in their legs.
6. The aim of the attacking team is to rearrange the pile of stones and trace the circle 3 times with their fingers before the other team can make all the players out. If they succeed in doing that , their team gets 1 point and they get the chance to throw the ball again. But if all the players are out, then the defending team now throws after gaining 1 point.

Rules:

1. The defending team player can only pivot with the ball and not move around. The maximum time he is permitted to have the ball in his hands is about 50 seconds. He has to pass the ball to other members of his team who will attempt the same – to make a player that they are marking ‘out’ by hitting their leg with a ball below the knee. People with the ball, however can dodge.
2. The stones have to fall within the circle only. If they fall outside the circle, then its again 1 point for the defending team plus they get to throw the ball now.
3. If any defending team player catches the ball after it has touched the pile of stones and before it has bounced, then they get 1 point and the teams interchange places.
4. The player of the attacking team can shield himself from the ball, by hitting it away from the main area, so that time is wasted when the opposing team player fetches it from far away. However, the palm should not be used and only a closed fist can be used to push the ball away.

Strategies:

Highly confidential content. Available upon request. (or buy the book ‘How to beat the Seven Stones during trying times: ISBN 0000000000 – 16 SGD only! Hurry, till stocks last! Now, also home delivering.)

The game can be played upto any number of points and double the fun when played on rainy days.

Future Works:

This project promises a lot of scope for future works, as people keeping having children, the target market for this objective.

Conclusion:

The game has been explained and the ideas explored. The challenges that were faced in the course of this served as an enhancement to the learning process and stepping stones to achieve the end result, whatever it is.

References:

Word of mouth. From many knowledgeable mouths.