Skip to main content

Games People Play or I Hate Blogger!

NOTE: Blogger has gone stark crazy. So, excuse my poor blog if it is showing weird posts, new title with old post, etc. Lunatic Blogger. Chah. The post:


…And we are back! I would have loved to fake it and say I am back from a vacation, or a fancy office camp/off site, or a work filled office tour or a fleeting visit to South Africa where I possibly caught some football action live. But I won’t say all that. I am back, basically, from the dreary, daily mundane routine of slapping myself up, dragging myself to work, donkeying around and then heaving myself back home in the heat and collapsing on the bed at night. That and loads of lethargy. And also, the fact that the poor blog deserves a pampering every once in a while. Hence, this post.

It might help to know a little bit about me, before we plunge in to the Gyaan that the post will offer. I am an Adult, but a Pseudo Adult. Being the youngest in the house, the team and the office doesn’t help one bit in this context. Lollypops, toy stores and pranks are my guilty pleasures. And so, the other day, when I saw a group of happy-go-lucky children kick off their slippers and run on to the grass to play, I felt pangs of jealousy, hard to explain in writing. That was when this khurafaati mind of mine started running amok with wild theories which can make adult life so simple and fun, just like a child’s! Stay with me and read on. This might just win me a Nobel in Sociology or Psychology. Or not. Either way, it’s a Monday and you got nothing better to do! So read on.

The theory is this. As children, we have all played games, right? Numerous games. Running around, catching each other, hiding and what not. What if we treated every situation in adult life, like a game? I know I am confusing you. So, I went through the pains of coming up with some use cases to help you simulate and imagine the situation, the way I am visualizing it, through some popular games.


GAME 1: “Tag” or “Catch Me if You Can”
Situation: In office, when a Project is failing and the blame game is on.
Rules: Simple. At the very first sign of the project failing, the most senior project manager starts running and tags the next person, who he feels should take the fall. This person then becomes the “it” and starts running after his team members and so on. The last person taking the tag takes the entire blame of the project and gets thrown out. Teeheeee. Simple, effective and fool-proof.

GAME 2: “Chain Chain”
Situation: In office, when a massive, very difficult Project comes up with no takers.
Rules: The original game has an “it” running around to catch others. Everyone who gets tagged, hold hands and run in a chain to catch the others, till the chain becomes very long and unmanageable and everyone just tumbles and fall on each other. The exact same rules apply in this situation. Difficult project is assigned to one angry Manager. He or she then runs around tagging other unwilling colleagues, till finally, there is a long chain of unhappy, unwilling, cribbing workers on this difficult project. The tumble usually erupts into shrieks of joy from children. I hope the same happens here too. Guahaaahaaa! :D

GAME 3: “Land or Water”/”Oonch Neech”
Situation: Work-Life Balance
Rules: This is an intense game involving choice. The song before the game involves asking the “it” a question:
“Oonch neech ka paapda.
Gadhe ne maara jhaapda.
Oonch ki neech?”
To which, the “it” chooses one. If the choice is “Oonch” or Land, the players hang on the land and try crossing over through the water or “Neech”. The “it” tries catching you during the transit.

Now simulate this in our situation. Basically, the managers choose between “Work or Life” after the song. Invariably, he chooses work. The players or the team members have to hang on to work, but every time they try making a jump, they cross “life” and they get caught! Cool. Smart. Fun! :D

Did you get the hang of the theory? Any games you played as kids can be easily replicated in your adult life. Did you ever think how much fun life could be that way? On a more serious note and here’s where I dole out a bit of advice: Life is one happy game. You lose some, you win some. But like those kids, it is more fun to get up, let go, brush yourself and run again! Like my god, Calvin says:
“If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.”

On that note,
Signing out on a dreary Monday morning,
Playful and happy, (Note the irony!)

 
 
 
 
 
 
PS: New smileys await you in the Comments Section! Check them out now! Hurry! :D
Also, how's my new signature?
PS Piyu: Sorry, I lost your comments again!! :(
PPS: I am SO miffed with Blogger, I don't have words. This would be the 1st time, Google would disappoint me. Aaarrgghhhh...

Comments

  1. Innovative...
    I don't know about games but you don't happen to be the character of JD from Scrubs, in real life, do you? :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. And yeah. Love blogs with smileys. :g
    Cool signature :n
    Bad with the moderation. Can't see my smileys in action :r

    ReplyDelete
  3. You've suffered enough!

    Move to WP ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. heheh love the way you write your posts...really refreshing and straight from the heart :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Your kuraafaati dimaag is too much. A truly hilarious post you master of humor :c Pseudo adult! I hate the word adult. I love the teens :a (which I am no more :b)You should try for a Nobel in literature :a Oh and I so loved the Calvin quote. Leave Blogger if it gets mad the next time and come to WordPress :a

    ReplyDelete
  6. comments not working yet? :(

    ReplyDelete
  7. @Piyu: Siggggghhhh! :b :f
    First commeent in days! Looks like it is finally working! Need to move to Wordpress ASAP!

    ReplyDelete
  8. What about hide and seek, when you are trying to hide away from your boss who is looking for a sacrificial goat , who will get the impossible done in an unbelievable short period of time , so that he can play the hero in front of his boss, while you sulk away in a corner, with your social life going down the drain or trying in vain and becoming the sacrificial goat who has to be killed since he couldn't get to the stars in time.. !!!!!
    its kinda similar to the hide and seek game, where the first person out either tries to get others out as well or get his catcher "dhapa" by one of his fellows.... Alas the dhapa condition i have never seen in an office... :f

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Truth..: Lol! :c
    Man, you seem to have suffered too much! :e
    I did think of the Hide-n-Seek thing, but then I felt it was too obvious. The way you explained it sounds way better than I had imagined it to be! :a

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice to know you Preeti :t !! Keep us updating from the other side...:h

    ReplyDelete
  11. @giribala: Thanks! :h Welcome here, hope to see you more often!:a

    ReplyDelete
  12. The world has definitely changed...from the days of playing games like 'I spy' which I thought for ages was spelled as Ice pice and the likes of 'Pithoo', Ice and water or Vish Amrit...the games has come full circle to the evolution of cyber games. Some how along the time line, I miss the innocence and sheer delight of the bygone era. Your post brought the memory tumbling all the way back...nice post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. @Calvy: Hehe! Yeah, I missed out on Vish/Amrit and Pithoo! Awesome games these were! Glad you liked the post.. Welcome here.. :h

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wow... another good read. You write about eclectic stuff... and thats what makes your blog so readable and entertaing too :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Roshmi: Thanks! :h
    Glad to have found a dedicated reader in thou! :a

    ReplyDelete
  16. Hey! Where is my comment now???? :|

    ReplyDelete
  17. I remember reading about the games and maroing some smart comment...*Sigh*..Now I just remember that I loved the post :i

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Choco: Siggh..Sad story it is. Blogger, it seems, went mad for a couple of days. I lost some comments, some posts and a lot of patience! :f
    Finally some normalcy seems to have returned! :p
    Glad you liked the post though! :h

    ReplyDelete
  19. @All who commented earlier: Thanks for the comments! :h

    ReplyDelete
  20. @Lazy Pinneaple: Thanks! :a

    ReplyDelete
  21. :b :b
    I hate this blogger too, ate up my comment! :(
    I was saying you should write a management/corporate gyan book with similar humorous undertones, and that will get me reading non-fiction :b
    Third time I am typing, so it is more like a summary of what I wrote

    ReplyDelete
  22. @DI: :b Sorry about the lost comment! Thanks for still trying to comment! :a
    Its not that bad an idea, you know, about the book? But the irony will be too strong to ignore - Someone who has never ever read a non fiction, writing a non fiction! :c That's me!

    ReplyDelete
  23. lol..that was one funny post..

    So how about..Tippy tippy tap..what colour do you want.. The Boss says 'Project A' and everyone scrambles to get on that project because that is high visibility and will get you to the next promotion the fastest..

    PS: Move..move to WP..it is so much better..

    ReplyDelete
  24. @Comfy: Wow! You got the exact gist of my thought process! "Tippy tippy tap tap" is a brilliant concept! :c

    Yah, planning to move. Will take me a lot of convincing! :b

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Them 90s Things - 1 - iTV Music Channel

Starting a random series of all things from a 90s childhood, just so I have a record of these memories for posterity. Do you remember a channel called iTV?  The 1999 Cricket World Cup was when our extremely middle-class, government quarters colony rose to the challenge of cable tv. Till then, we were happily adjusting our antennas and watching wholesome family entertainment on the two channels of DD1 and DD2. Then came the cable wale bhaiya, with his fancy earring, a few TV guides stacked under his arms along with long ropes of cable, promising unlimited entertainment for the entire colony. And just like that, we all got lured. Cable TV bought with it a lot of changes, many of which I assume will get covered in this series. But, today's post is about 1 particular memory which every 90s kid can relate to. A huge letter I revolving on the TV in anticipation of a new song being chosen. Yep. The iTV generation. Not MTv. It was all about iTV. I still don't know what that channel was

Drumrolls and All That

In crass Hindi, this moment would have been aptly defined as "Laut ke buddhu, ghar ko aaye".  Exact translation would mount to "Fools return home" and that's what this post is. So, after taking a break from work, doing a second Masters, getting a job in Singapore and moving countries, I am back on the blog.  Who would have thunk? An year back, I had no idea this is what I would be doing in an year. But then again, do we know what we will be doing an year from now?  Lesson learnt. No planning, no guessing.  Just keep exploring, keep doing new things, keep learning, keep meeting new people. Things will happen. Trust. Like a fool (who returned home!) So, while I discover this part of my life, Singapore, I thought I need the blog more than the blog needs me. Because moving countries is not in the least as glamorous as it sounds.  There's the whole deal with selling all belongings which you have hoarded lovingly over the years. A

Letters to the Upparwalla!

(Wow! BlogAdda made my day! :) ) Prologue: I have been SO so SO so lazy, busy and blank, that I stopped writing posts altogether. But then, on reflection, I thought I owed this one to the unseen forces above. Hence, this post! LETTER #1 To The Gods Above, 1, "All Roads Lead to Heaven" Road, Heaven - 000000 15.06.2010 From Un Faithful Earthling Somewhere on Earth - Does the pin code matter? Sir/Ma'am, SUB: Complaint Regarding Services Rendered             This is to bring to your kind attention, the highly unsatisfactory services being rendered to me, not at all in keeping with the Contract signed during my release to the Earth. Further, I wish to register a complaint regarding the following key issues: Interaction With Irritating People : According to Clause 4 of my Contract which you have also signed, it was mutually agreed by both parties, that during my peaceful stay on Earth, my interaction with irritating people would be kept to as minimum as possi