बिट्या - कण्हेरि च्या बिया - Part II .

 बिट्या - कण्हेरि च्या बिया - Part II .Thevetia peruviana Seeds. - Morning walk vignettes.

 Quite a lot of my blogs are under the heading "Morning walk vignettes" because I like writing about good, bad, interesting or indifferent things I see along the route of the walk. 

Introduction to  बिट्या was covered in "बिट्या - कण्हेरि च्या बिया - Part I" to read it click here .

I had mentioned game of bittya was played by boys as well as girls.  here is how the girls played it.

Girls 

Girls played indoors on nicely swept smooth and level floors. 

Girls used to get together decide on the number of bittya to play with about a maximum of 10 or less.

All girls sat forming a rough circle. One of the girls, generally the girl in whose house the game was being held, started the play.

In the first move, Bittyas were thrown within the circle. 

A beginner did not know that this throw was of vital importance. The throw had to be such that bittya were not too scattered nor were they too close to each other. How important is this throw was soon learned by the beginner as she progressed in the game. Finally, it dawns on every girl that this first throw at the beginning of every round was important and your chances of a win or loss depended on how you throw them. The skill of a good throw came only with the experience of a few years of playing

In the first round, after the initial throw, one bitty was tossed up and while it was in the air the player had to pick up one bitty and catch the thrown up bitty before it fell to the ground. If the tossed up bitty fell to the ground before you have cleanly picked up 1 bitty from the ground or if you caught the tossed up bitty but failed to pick up 1 bitty cleanly from the ground you were out. If you cleanly picked up 1 bitty and also caught the tossed up bitty, you continue to play. The process of tossing up the bitty and collecting one bitty continued till all 10 bitties were picked up. If you successfully collect all the 10 bittys one by one, you progressed to the second round. 

In the second round after the initial throw, the game progresses exactly like the first round. The only difference is that in the second round instead of cleanly picking up 1 bitty you had to pick up 2 bittys. Again if you do not pick up 2 bittys cleanly and move or touch any other bitty you were out. If all goes well and you pick all 10 bittys were picked up.

I the same manner game continues with picking up 3 bittys in the third round. In this round, three bittys are picked up in the first three throws and the remaining 1 bitty in the fourth, ie last throw.

In the 4th round, 4 bittys have to be picked up in the first 2 throws and the remaining 2 bittys in the last throw. The game continues with picking up an increasing number of bittys till in the last round all the 10 bittys have to be picked up.  

If you successfully complete all the rounds and in the last round collect all the 10 bittys, amid cheers of fellow players, have won the game. 

Normally with the number of bittys as large as 10, generally no one won. The most popular figure for the game was around 5 or max 6. 

As the game progresses the importance of the initial throw dawns on a player after the second round. If they were too far apart collecting more than 2 bittys became difficult before the tossed up thrown bitty was on the way down and you had to catch it, 

Reaching and finishing the game by collecting all 10 bitties while abiding by all the restrictions was very very very difficult. Normally with the number of bittys as large as 10, generally no one won. Players rotated pretty fast and that is what kept the game extremely interesting and enjoyable.

I am sure even now the girls in far-flung rural areas play the game of bitty as an enjoyable pastime.