Modernisation sidelines rural games

As the urban galore continues to overshadow the rural lifestyle and cultural heritage, indigenous games involving men, animals and birds are being marginalised with the younger generation least known to the favourite sports of their ancestors.

Once an integral part of the local culture, traditional games like bulls race, native wrestling, kabaddi, hide and seek, dog and bear fight and equilibrists jugglery gradually faded away and were replaced by modern and online computer games.

The voices of roosters, partridges, quails, cuckoos and sparrows are also no more heard even at village fairs and festivals, if organised these days.

According to Ahmad Ali Ghabro, a resident of Shujabad. "The onslaught of modern gadgets has out rightly changed the situation. Now, our younger generation only reads books about these sports. Those days are gone when people used to nurture cocks, quails, roosters and cuckoos for their melodious voice and competitions. The winners were awarded prizes.”

Amidst the saga of this dying splendour, Nawab Furqan, the President of the Traditional Sports and Games Community (TS&GC), was upbeat about the revival of traditional games in Pakistan after he recently organised a three-day traditional sports event in the Orakzai district with the support of the government.

District Sports Officer Farooq Latif said the department organises regular competitions of Desi Kushti, Volleyball and Kabaddi.