SHILLONG: The Nongthymmai Sports & Cultural Club has made efforts to revive the indigenous games of the Khasi community by coming up with games such as Mawpoin, Mawkynting and Siatkhnam as part of its yearlong Platinum Jubilee celebration.
Speaking to the press, general secretary of the club John Cajee said the club aims to revive the games, therefore, coming up with the Indigenous Games Committee.
“These are games played in the yesteryears, but we have seen that for the last 10-20 years, these games are not played with much enthusiasm. So, we sat down for a meeting and decided to why not bring the games back during the celebration of Platinum Jubilee and, hence, we formed the Indigenous Games Committee,” he said.
According to Cajee, it is important for the people to not only concentrate on football or cricket but also to turn their attention to the indigenous sporting activities played in the past.
He said, “This is a wake-up call for our friends in the Khasi community about the importance of preserving the games, to keep in touch with our roots as well and also to be physically fit as it is a sports activity”.
There are other games such as Dienghai, kite flying and tug of war, to be played on January 25.
“The jaitbynriew will remember these games and every year such games will be held. On seeing the participation, we need to hold them every year,” Cajee said.
When asked, he said that there are certain elderly people who know about these games, and came up with the ideas to start the games.
He called upon cooperation with other like-minded people who are interested to resuscitate the games to join hands with the Sports club.
For Cajee, he said it is not hard to explain the game rules of Mawpoin, Mawkynting and Siatkhnam to the players as they are keen to follow, and their passion for sports makes it easier for them to understand the rules.
“There is no dearth of talent in our state and once we explain the game rules, they know and go ahead to play”, he said.
