Day 4

Just for the sake of you two guys and blip

Fourth day of Tourism Festival. Today's indigenous game : Mukna Kangjei, a mixture of hockey & mukna(wrestling), nearest western equivalent of rugby. But the ball here is the hockey ball rigged from the hardest roots of bamboo and the hockey stick is also one of the hardest seasoned bamboo including its roots on the curved tip.

Costume : Nil, except for a short half pant or 'khudei' and a belt made of stout clothing wrapped around the waist anchoring in between the thighs. Game is played barefooted! (sometimes the hard ball hits the naked ankle! Ouch!)

Players : Seven on each side.

Referee : Five numbers.

Ground : Size equivalent approximately to the standard football field.

Goalpost : No posts and bars. Only two flags on the goalmouth.

Game : Players of both team are lined up in the centre. The centre referee throws the ball high up in the air and the game started. Players can hit the ball while still in the air towards the goalmouth. He can also grab hold of the ball with one hand and run towards the goalmouth. If he's lucky, he could reach the goal-line where he should put down the ball and convert it into a goal by hitting with his stick. However, it's not so easy as that since his opponent will resist him from doing so by clinging to his belt. Then the tussle begin. Sometimes, it also happens that the ball lies elsewhere unattended while everybody is busy wrestling! There are also instances when one player throws the opponent down on the ground or hoist him up on his shoulders and run towards the ball! Thus, the game is full of laughter from the audience, sometimes even from the players themselves!


One match today. Shot a CF 8 GB memory card full load of images. Found some interesting shots. However, to break the monotony, these two intense fellow cameramen were caputred along with the game, keeping blip specially in mind!

Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading this far!