Gaaji mannan..

'2-G', 'dokku', 'baby over', 'kaava', 'waitees'.. These words dominated my childhood as the next Indian boy. Reading them here (link is http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_cricket) I felt some pretty special memories creeping back - almost being run over by cars, breaking window panes, ill-fated-Rhodes-inspired dives that land you on a rusty nail...! I couldn't believe however, that there was no mention about 'Book Cricket' - probably the most widely played sport in Indian classrooms, during Chemistry/ Accounting classes.
So I thought I'd write this up on this single activity that sharpens our collective mathematical brains:
The game is played with the any book (more pages the better) with a minimum of two opponents. Batting team representative opens a page in the book randomly and records the score (last digit) on the even-numbered page (2, 4, 6 or 8). A 0 ('zero') signals the long walk back to the pavillion. At the end of innings, book is handed over to other team representative. Game depends on luck, requires minimal skill and can be played during boring lectures worldwide, regardless of weather.Whilst doing wonders to arithmetic skills, it also requires the 'bowling team representative' to keep a sharp eye on the batsman, who may be too eager to turn away from getting caught out.
Link via Rajan.