Ethnic sports make a comeback

“How come I never knew such a game existed?” That was the first reaction of Urmila Ekka when she saw the traditional ‘sekkor’ game being played in the villages of Chitti Miti, Chaibasa and Gitilata during her visit to Birbhum district, West Bengal in 2012. What further surprised her was that although it was part of tribal culture, only elders were playing the game and it was not popular among the children.

“I realised that sooner or later this game will become extinct because the children were not carrying it forward,” she recalls. “It was then that I decided to popularise it.”

Ekka, who was then Honorary Secretary, Tribal Culture Society in Jamshedpur, organised a tournament in Chaibasa the same year. Some elders were selected to teach children the game. The first children’s tournament was held in 2016. Today, the indigenous sport of the Ho tribe is being played by 4,000 children and over a thousand elders, says Ekka.

Sekkor is made up of a wooden contraption in the shape of a big top, oval at the head and pointed at the base and is used to match wits between defending and opponent players. Played during the summer season, it is said to be a harbinger of rain.

Kati is another indigenous tribal sport that had almost been forgotten and was seen in just a few villages dominated by the Santhals. Today it is generating enthusiasm among young local boys, thanks to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which started promoting it in villages of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The apparatus for the game of Kati is a half-moon-shaped disc made from the tamarind tree and a seven to eight foot-long wooden stick. Played between two teams, this is used to hit the opponent’s apparatus. Every successful hit fetches a point. TCS has been organising the Kati exhibition match in Jamshedpur and has been promoting it in schools too.

There was a time when Hambi, an indigenous tribal sport, would stir up joyful rivalry among the villages in Karbi Anglong district, Assam. But with passing time, it started losing out to urban games. In order to ensure that the young generation remains in touch with its roots, the Karbi Cultural Society included Hambi in the local youth festival in the early 1980s.

The sport is played with Hambi, nicker beans and what is interesting is that most parts of the body including, eyes, stomach, sides of knees, legs, toes, nose etc, come into play in the game. Dilip Kathar, with the arts and culture department of Karbi, Anglong Autonomous Council, says that in order to popularise the game, competitions are now being held among 24 zones of the Karbi Culture Society during the youth festival from February 15 to 19 every year. It has also been introduced in schools, he says. All three games and Naga style wrestling (which is already popular) were part of the recent tournaments organised by TCS at Jamshedpur.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Delhi

COMMENT NOW