Where have they gone???

Just as I am wondering about all the very sophisticated and very professional sports that we play, on the other side, where has all our traditional Indian household games gone? From time in memorial, India has been quite a shy society and this has been reflected from the ways of behavior and culture.Talking of this kind of an set up, we always believed in a balanced household where the men of the family went out to work and the women folk stayed at home to takecare of the her family and the house. During days of yore, there were child marriages and it was approxinmately at the age of ten that litlle girls got maried and were sent off to their husbands home.Once they were married they werent aloowed to run around and play freely, but how else would they keep themselves engaged in some for of recreational activity? It was now that our traditional home games came into being that kept all our patis engrossed for a certain number of hrs during the day. Games like "daayakattai" , "palankuzhi","aadupuli","paandi" are by far the most played games by girls at home. Young and little boys played "gilli danda" , flew kites and tops.After the daily chores of the house are over, casually women in houses nearby got together at somebody's place and played these much to their delight. Today, these little games have lost their relevance in our lives and but so bad is not the case as with flying kites. It still is prevalent in certain areas like near the beach where litlle boys play around flying kites. This too now has drastically reduced because of the number of dangerous accidents being casued by the use of the thread of the kites. Apart from this, flying kites outside homes has seen a dip, primarily independant houses have gone and multi storey falts have cropped up and it is definitely not adviseable to send children to the terraces of these scary sky scrapping buildings just to fly kites.Sad!!!

So whatever said and done at the end of it all, our age old games have slowly faded out of our homes and we have moved onto a fast paced world where we find no time for such leisure and fun activties.Where are we all heading to???? Makes me wonder!!

Meet Wenlock and Mandeville

awwww..damn cute!!! is the first impression that I gave when I saw Wenlock and Mandeville...Who are they?? None other than the super duper cool official mascots for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games ,respectively to be held in London. The mascots were born from the last steel pieces that were used to build the stadiums in London and thats precisely why they are shiny all the time.Little Wenlock, the Olympic mascot derives its name from Much Wenlock in Shropshire, a town that is at the heart of Olympic history.Wenlock loves discovering new things and is eagerly waiting for the games. Little Mandeville , the Paralympic mascot derives its name Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire, the birthplace of the Paralympic Games.Mandeville loves taking up challenges and trying its best to succeed in all of them. Want to know more about them.....Catch them them in London in 2012!!!.

Getting back to the present...The whole concept of has fascinated me beyond words.The whole idea of the mascots and the way they have been portrayed is truly amazing.With, just two main characters, there is a wonderful story being woven around it and it has been shot so beautifully. Personally, I would say it is the best set of mascots I have seen till date.Hats off for the idea conceptualization , the animations, the sound effects etc. The entire objective of grabbing the attention of the viewer and even those who wouldn't be interested in the Olympics would be inquisitive to know more about it thanks to the mascots.Unlike the usual mascots of created during sporting events that have a simple background to its credit....these mascots are far ahead of their previous counterparts. There is a whole history behind their creation, the reason for their creation and their purposes are different as well.Its like a little fairy tale that is told to every child before it goes to sleep...the creation of these mascots are just that......wait and watch!!!

Sporty weddings?

Sports and weddings...Ah..Hold on...I am not talking about sports celebrities and their weddings...but...but…but…how weddings today are sports based!! How innovative and interesting could that get I thought when I chanced upon an article that was entirely dedicated to this theme. Whoa…Felt this was a whole new concept that hasn't come to limelight in India, and if it did…Rather when it does, I can already imagine the kind of show and pomp that a wedding scenario would witness. Having a theme for weddings is not something new abroad and more so now in India as well, modern couples today have theme based weddings that try to blend tradition and contemporary styles, but having a sports based wedding is I think for the whole new NXG. It might sound very lame to those who aren't ardent sports lovers but for those who are, this is a wonderful idea. Right from the pre wedding procedures to the final ceremony having a tinge of anything related to your favorite sport, or sports star or anything for that matter is I feel a very cute thing!! It is usually this cliché norm we hear, especially in Indian weddings where the girls go out of the way and engage themselves in the pre weddings and wedding plans...Now would this sporty wedding themes interest guys to pitch in??? Only wish it would...What could be better if the couple are both passionate about sports? Right from their costumes, to their venue of their wedding and the post wedding celebrations could be sports correlated. Like for example if the bride and groom both like basketball or are players themselves, they could probably take their favorite team jersey colors and use it in their wedding costumes. Like wise there could be n number of ways they could experiment with a gamut of options available. For the post wedding celebrations, apart from the normal rituals of games that are played during the Indian weddings, a casual game involving the families and friends could be arranged for. The wedding itself could be set up in the made shift set of the favorite sport etc. Such innovative themes and ideas break monotony and could be a lovely icebreaker for family members and could help in bonding with each other as well. Fascinating and wacky??? That is what the NXG is heading to anyways! One doesn’t need to be a celebrity to grab eye balls during their weddings; everybody can wed like a celebrity and make heads turn with this fresh idea.