Modernization pushes rural games to the sidelines

FAISALABAD:

As urban sprawl increasingly overshadows rural lifestyles and cultural heritage, native games involving humans, animals and birds are fading into the background, and the younger generation is least familiar with the favourite sports of their ancestors.

Traditional games such as bull racing, wrestling, kabaddi, hide and seek, dog and bear fighting and juggling, which were once an integral part of local culture, have gradually disappeared, replaced by modern computer games available online.

The voices of roosters, partridges, quails, cuckoos and sparrows are no longer heard even at village fairs and festivals, if they are currently organized.

According to Ahmad Ali Ghabro, a resident of Shujabad, “The flood of modern gadgets has rightly changed the situation. Now our younger generation only reads books about these sports. Gone are the days when people used to keep roosters, quails, cocks and cuckoos for their melodious calls and competitions. Winners were given prizes.”

Amid tales of the fading glory of these traditional games, Nawab Furqan, president of the Traditional Sports and Games Association (TS&GC), was optimistic about the revival of traditional games in Pakistan after the recent organisation of a three-day sports event in Orakzai district with the support of the government.

District Sports Officer Farooq Latif said the department regularly organises desi kushti, volleyball and kabaddi competitions.