One of the things that make up a culture are the games played by natives. Often, cultures share the basic game structure albeit with slight variation in rules and names. Finland is quite big on board, card and outdoor games. In India, at least in my community, board games and card games are played not as often. The busy city life does not allow it.

One game I learnt about in Finland was a car-sighting game called kymppirekkari, where you punch the friend you are walking with if you see a car with a number plate that adds up to ten. I also learnt about another car game called Keltanen Auto (the Finnish version of The Yellow Car Game). Here if you see a yellow car, you punch your friend- a lot of violence, I know. 

I loved playing these games and annoying my friends by lying about seeing a yellow car. Or I would see any other colored car, punch them and run away screaming “I’M/YOU’RE COLORBLIND”. It was stupid yes, it was also fun and is a fond memory.

These are the things you miss. Now that I am back here, it’s quite different. Each day on my way home from school, for example, I see a yellow car parked. The car is there every day, as am I.

Often I instinctively turn to punch someone- only that they are not there anymore, so I keep on walking.