trichy it was a couple of decades ago that children in rural and semiurban areas were found spending their holidays by playing traditional indian games in the course of time interests in those games have dwindled and now they have been replaced by some western games and video games leading to the gradual death of those favourite childhood games gilli danda tipcat goli gundu marbles pambaram top and nondi hopscotch were some of the games close to the hearts of all children in the past lately sighting children playing such games will be a feast to the eyes as they have gradually moved to popular events like cricket while many are seen glued to playing games on their mobiles or latest electronic gadgets gilli danda is a game played with a long wooden stick danda and a small ovalshaped seesaw like wood gilli the player has to hit gilli with the danda and hit it again when it is in the air to send it to a distance as much as possible this game proves the concentration power of the player and by playing it the player can improve his focus likewise goli gundu is one of such game which need a lot of attention to strike the round marble stone with another in the past children were eager to play the game in rural areas another fading game pambaram was once a popular game among the teenagers unfortunately all those games are becoming a thing of past and the physical education teachers in schools are concerned about the worrying trend it is not a healthy trend that some of our traditional games are vanishing if it continues such games will disappear in near future gilli goli pambram are useful to sharpen their concentration level which will help them in studies said 63yearold retired physical director r sankar in trichy he blamed the media for promoting few games and neglecting the traditional games and apart from that the pressure for studies also has been more the children are burdened with their syllabus so the teachers are taking efforts to complete the lessons in time and also the parents are pressurising their children to focus more on studies hence the students chose to play games on their electronic gadgets said a sivakami physical director of girls higher secondary school in srirangam many say that popularity of cricket has dealt a blow to the traditional games you can find 90 per cent of the students are interested to play cricket so to revive the traditional games we need to promote it properly with tournaments to attract students said cyril joseph physical education teacher government girls higher secondary school town hall trichy experts also said that some of the traditional games like silambam vaal veechu etc got a new lease of life after they were taken to the next level so they want the government to give importance to such dying games to prevent them from vanishing