The Game of Chindro

Each one of us misses our childhood mostly for the games that we used to play and enjoy. Those days indeed used to be the best days of our lives. One such game that each one of us must have played is the game of Chindro, which is popularly known as Stapoo or Kidi Kada.

It is one game that is most commonly played by young, teenage boys and girls. One of the most obvious reasons of its popularity is that it is an extremely cheap game. It doesn’t require any equipment as such. All that you need is a small piece of Chalk or Coal which is used to draw a “Playing Court” and a square or round piece of a flat stone (usually not bigger than 4 inches in diameter) which is used as the playing object. After the “Playing Court” is drawn, every participant takes his/her turn. In the beginning the player needs to stand backwards at one side of the “Playing Court” and then has to throw the piece of stone blindly over her/his head. In case if the stone falls outside the playing court drawn, the player loses his turn. If the stone falls within the designated box, the player stands barefoot with one foot in the air near that piece of stone. The player further pushes the piece of stone with his/her foot and makes an effort of pushing the stone in the adjacent box. This way the player continues this process till he /she arrives at the origin point again. After reaching this point, he/ she can stand on his/her feet again. The game of the player ends on one of the following occasions:

1. The player is unable to stand on one foot any longer.

2. The stone stops at one of the lines.

3. The stone slips out of the playing court.

Chindro is one sport that was fondly played by the Afghan girls. This game got later banned during the Taliban rule.

By: Anuja Arora

Content: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chindro