The world of Book Cricket

4..2..6..8..err..1..2..outtttttttt....2.1...outt.......4..6..6...6..6...6...4..(sooper da)...4...outt...
total 168. Nee aadu (~you play)

Even the recently introduced 20-20 matches take 3 hours to complete and wont be as fun & run filled like this form of cricket. There are no special One-day clothes to wear, just the regular clothes would work. And you dont have to wear helmets or pads while playing this form of cricket, actually there is no ball or bat or fielders in this form of cricket.

Its still fun and its the World of Book cricket. This was the elementary school mantra in my school going days. I dont know if school going kids still play this form of cricket, but I hope the rich tradition is passed on and its still a game that kids enjoy during a boring Geography class (where you read about the type of rocks present in the tropical rainforest in Savannah), or a Moral Science class where they teach morals you already know. (Like - "The God gave Raman all the three spears because he was not greedy"). Did your school also tested you on Moral Science ? Every set of examinations started of with Moral Science, why do they test me on Moral Science stories? What good does it do to test me on this subject?

Anyways, coming back to the book cricket, the rules are very simple - flip the pages and see the last digit of the page number, thats the amount of run you score. If its a 0 you are out, if its a 8 its not eight runs (no! you did not hit the ball outside the stadium :) but just a single run. This game has always been unfair to the trios - no 3 runs in this game. But for such a good time-pass game this can be excused. The rules might be simple, but there are a lot of NO-NO's:

1. Since this game is high-frequency flipping, pages tend to wear out, and sometimes you can deliberately make sure the "sixer" page is easy to find. Thats a strict NO-NO.
2. It should not attract the attention of the teacher. There would be multiple tournaments going on simultaneoulsy in the class and its everyone's responsibility to make sure our Mam is happy to see us deeply involved with the book. If you do get her attention though, you have to remain in the "kneel down position" for the rest of the class and if you are shrewd enough, you can take your "partner in crime" also with you :)
3. When you are winning a match, make sure you win it without dubious claims. The other guy whos losing the match would be waiting to say "deii, nee page a madichutta - poda bongu naan othukka maatten, bongu bongu".

Ivvlo risk irunthaalum intha game aadarathunala konjam advantages iruku:

1. You can play mixed-cricket, since girls and boys sat in random order and not as flocks of sheep those days, you get to pick a girl partner to play with. Enna than 3rd/4th standard naalum, its fun all the way. :)
2. Page flip panrathunaala the book tends to wear out and veetla amma appa paartha thittu vizhaathu. They would actually be proud that "nee padichu kizhichu irukka" nnu. :) "Nalla padikkaraiya da kanna" nnu aasaiya keppaanga. Adhuvum report card vara varaikum thaan. :)

Later (with more dare-devil sports.)
P.

ps: Whats your record breaking score?