Boys will be boys. Put an idle bunch together — any place in the world, any time in history — and chances are they will either get up to no good or start playing an improvised game. Sometimes they will do both at the same time.
Dial back to a school corridor on a Monday afternoon in 1984. Three 17-year-old boys were leaning against a wall, bored senseless. One of them was ricocheting a tennis ball off the opposite wall. Another was playing one-handed catch with a bottle of Zippo lighter fluid. The third (me) was staring into space.
What we did next involved no planning or conversation. Seventeen-year-old boys are blessed with a kind of telepathy that tacitly prompts them into unified action. What did we have at our disposal? A ball, lighter fluid and a corridor. We soused the ball with the fluid, lit it and converted the corridor into a field of play. Fireball was born.
Imagine a similar trio of boys in the plains of rural India on a Monday afternoon centuries ago. They are leaning against a banyan tree in a dusty clearing, bored senseless. One is swishing a two-foot-long rounded stick. Another is absently whittling a three-inch-long stick so that it is slightly tapered at each end. The third — by far the best looking of the trio — is staring into space.
Two sticks and a dusty clearing. They draw a circle on the ground, roughly four feet in diameter. The small stick (call it a gilli) is placed in the circle. The first boy hits one end of the gilli with his bat-like stick (call it a danda), propelling the smaller stick into the air. He then thwacks the spinning gilli as far as he can. The other two boys try to catch it. Gilli-danda is born.
It is equally possible that the story was played out in the foothills of the Himalayas or in a village in Cambodia or beside a Venetian canal in the time of Marco Polo. Boys are boys, and sticks are easy to find. Variations of the stick-on-stick game have emerged throughout the world, including the United States, where it is known as pee-wee.
But the modern heartland of the sport is India. In some places it is played interchangeably with cricket, and at first glimpse from a distance it is often difficult to work out if the game in progress is cricket or gilli-danda.
Some Indian nationalists have asserted that gilli-danda is the forerunner of cricket, though it is more likely that the widespread passion for the bat-and-ball game on the subcontinent altered the game play of the traditional pastime, which in turn fed back into cricket.
Indian cricketers are renowned for the wristy way they wield the bat to strike the ball. When you watch a boy using the danda to strike a gilli, you can see the prototype for that distinctive action. Similarly, the catchers in gilli-danda develop unique hand-eye coordination that they take onto the cricket field, leading to success and adulation.
A quarter of a century after my participation in the invention of fireball, I was walking along a street in the Spanish city of Valencia when a firecracker landed in front of me, spewing angry sparks. Instinctively I drew on my experience of kicking a tennis ball wrapped in flames. With a deft flick of my foot, I volleyed the firecracker into the empty road, where it exploded harmlessly.
The games an idle boy plays make the man.
Read This Next
All Reads on This Topic
Read Them All
Introducing
FX Excursions
FX Excursions offers the chance for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in destinations around the world.
#globility
Insta FeedDaily
Mar 28, 2024New Adriatic Yacht Cruise and Tour Itineraries Unveiled for 2025
Set sail through crystal-clear waters and explore ports, islands and more on three new yacht cruise and tour itineraries in the Adriatic Sea from Riviera River Cruises. New 2025 itineraries combine yacht cruises with onboard accommodations and land extensions with hotel stays in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Itineraries also include tours of charming coastal towns and stops in national parks and swimming hole locations.
Sponsored Content
Share Your Travel Preferences with Global Traveler in a Short Survey & Win
Learning more about our readers’ travel habits and preferences ensures Global Traveler delivers the content you desire. As the travel industry has adapted and changed over the last few years, it’s more important than ever to connect. To best meet your short- and long-term travel content needs, please help us!
March 2024
Mar 28, 2024Cruise Lines Elevate the Onboard Fine-Dining Experience
It’s been a long time since the food on cruise ships resembled the bland, uninspired fare that gave onboard dining a bad name. These days, cruise passengers can look forward to menus created by Michelin-starred chefs made with top-quality ingredients served in stunning spaces. Choices abound as well. In addition to elegant main dining rooms, cruise ships have created a huge array of specialty restaurants that focus not only on perfectly executed traditional European and North American dishes but flavors and experiences from around the globe as well. In fact, meals served aboard cruise vessels have gotten so good, they’re drawing passengers onto ships: According to a recent report by luxury travel planning network Virtuoso, advisors report after Europe (specifically Italy and France), the No. 2 dining destination for travelers is aboard an ocean or river cruise. “This shows how cruise lines have really stepped up their culinary game, with consulting chefs and new restaurants and making that a focal point,” said Misty Belles, vice president, Global Public Relations, Virtuoso.
Daily
Mar 28, 2024Athens’ National Museum of Contemporary Art Opens What if Women Ruled the World? Exhibition
National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens was founded in 1997 and is supervised and subsidized by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. The museum began its operation in 2000, when it acquired the first artwork of its collection and the first temporary exhibition took place.
Sponsored Content
Travel Tips to Help Protect Your Health and Your Trip
Five Tips to Help Minimize Potential Travel Problems
Daily
Mar 28, 2024AmaWaterways Debuts Specialty Summer Cruises in Europe
AmaWaterways recently unveiled its lineup of experiences and exclusive offers for its 2024 Summer European river cruise season, and the list includes 20 Celebration of Wine Cruises, with two hosted by Samantha Brown and Chef Joanne Weir; and three Loyalty Appreciation Cruises.
Hotel Indigo La Paz Puerta Cortés Review
eFlyer Reviews
Mar 27, 2024Japan Airlines Purchases 32 Airbus, 10 Boeing
eFlyer News
Mar 27, 2024eFlyer News
Mar 27, 2024China Airlines Expands North American Network with Non-Stop Flights to Seattle
China Airlines will begin offering non-stop flights to Seattle (SEA) from Taipei (TPE) starting July 14. The new route expands the carrier’s passenger services to the northwestern United States by offering five weekly flights via the Airbus A350-900.
Sponsored Content
Why Buy Trip Cancellation Insurance?
Don’t risk losing all the money you’ve spent if you must cancel your trip at the last minute. Allianz Travel Insurance can give you:
eFlyer Deals
Mar 27, 2024Sleep Sanctuary at Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort
In West Florida, indulge in a stay at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. This season, the hotel’s Sleep Sanctuary offer promises premium, beachfront accommodations; and sleep-enhancing amenities. Amenities include two aroma bracelets, a handmade soap, a bath bomb and foaming sugar scrub from Artful Soap Co.
ShareThis